Nigeria’s inflation rate continues its relentless climb, hitting 34.60% in November 2024, up from 33.88% in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS report highlighted a 0.72% increase in the headline inflation rate month-on-month.
On a year-on-year basis, it’s even more alarming, the inflation rate jumped by 6.40% compared to November 2023, when it stood at 28.20%. Clearly, the country’s economic crisis is not just deepening, it’s getting out of control.
The situation is even worse when it comes to food inflation. In November 2024, food inflation reached 39.93%, a sharp increase from 32.84% in November 2023. Month-on-month, food prices inched up again by 2.98%, marginally higher than October’s 2.94%. The cause? Everyday staples like rice, yam flour, dried fish, eggs, and even powdered milk are now luxuries for many. I mean big luxuries that many can’t afford.
International financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF maintain their narrative, the removal of energy subsidies and a floating naira were supposed to “save” Nigeria. But for ordinary Nigerians, these policies have been a disaster. When President Bola Tinubu removed the petrol subsidy in May 2023 and floated the naira, Nigerians braced themselves. What they didn’t anticipate was the crazy speed at which the economy would crumble. Petrol prices skipped from under N200 per litre to over N1,100, while the naira plummeted from N700/$ to N1,600/$.
The effect of this is devastating. With food and commodity prices rising, Nigerians are struggling with what might be the worst cost-of-living crisis in the country’s history. Sixty-four years after independence, the dream of economic self-sufficiency feels like a joke.
