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Citizens Groan As Rice Hits N77,000 Per Bag

Published

2 years ago

February 11, 2024

This is not the best of times for Nigerian families, who have had to adopt bizarre cost-cutting measures to cope with the recent hardship occasioned by the dramatic hike in the prices of goods and services.

Several of them lamented that their income could no longer take care of their daily needs, adding that the prices of staples had almost tripled in the market. Rice, which is arguably one of the commonest consumed staples in the country, has risen to N77,000 per bag.

In December, the National Bureau of Statistics stated that the country’s inflation rate hit a 27-year high as headline inflation rose to 28.9 per cent.

The December headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 percent when compared to the previous month’s rate.

In recent years, food prices have been on the rise across Nigeria. The situation deteriorated due to the impact of government policies such as the removal of subsidy on petrol and the free fall of the naira in the foreign exchange market.

Foodstuffs sellers in major cities, who spoke to The PUNCH, lamented that the cost of a bag of rice had risen almost 200 per cent.

The PUNCH gathered that long grain rice, which used to sell for between N45,000 and N50,000 in November, now costs over N70,000, putting a huge pressure on the consumers.

The unprecedented increase in the prices of commodities has caused nationwide hardship, with residents of some major cities taking to the streets to register their displeasure.

From Kano to Niger, Rivers to and Osun, residents protested the hardship on the streets.

In Niger State, for instance, residents of Suleja took to the street last Wednesday to register their displeasure over the high cost of living in the country.

Wednesday’s protest came two days after a similar protest in Minna, the state capital.

The Organised Labour on Friday insisted on embarking on an industrial action to register its displeasure over the current economic hardship in the country.

Although the Federal Government has ordered the distribution of grains and other items to cushion the effects of the economic crisis across the country, citizens are still grappling with the hike in the prices of commodities.

Lagos residents lament

In Lagos, some residents, who spoke to one of The PUNCH, lamented that the incessant increase in the prices of foodstuffs had strained their finances.

This is as they urged the government to intervene before things got out of hand.

A mother of two, Mrs Mede Orunmade, said this present situation had made life unbearable for her and her family.

Orunmade stated that it was as though the country was at war, adding that the hike in the prices of foodstuffs was continuous.

She said, “It has been a hard time for me and my family. The country hasn’t been in the right position for the past eight months. I have been struggling with my family to clear up our electricity bills. Coupled with the ever-rising price of foodstuffs, I don’t know if I am going to survive.

“I used to operate an online business but it has packed up. There’s no gain on any business in Nigeria like before anymore. I am just striving to survive.

“The surprising thing is that a small carton of noodles is now N7,000 to N7,800. We used to buy it for between N1,900 and N2,000 in the past. It is so shocking that the price of a bag of rice continues to change almost every minute.

“A bag of rice five months ago was around N49,000, but it increased to N68,000. As of yesterday (Thursday), my supplier said it had risen to N70,000. The cheapest thing we used to buy before, garri, is now N2,500 for a paint bucket. It was N800 before.”

Another Lagos resident and father of four, Mr Taiwo Babatunde, said he could no longer afford to feed his family like he used to.

He asked the government to come to her aid, as her suffering was becoming too much.

A housewife simply identified as Wunmi said, “The government needs to come to our aid now as everything is very hard. A bag of beans is now N65,000, which is three times the price it used to be. Also, groundnut oil is now N8,400 for four litres, and a bag of rice is now N70,000.

“This is getting too much. We hope the government will come to help us.”

Further findings by our correspondents revealed that a kilogramme of Semovita, which sold for N800 four months ago, now sells for N1,200.

The price of beans also increased from around N1,500 to N4,200 per tin.

Some women, who spoke to one of our correspondents at the Ibafo Market, Ogun State, lamented the difficulties they were facing in purchasing items from the market with little resources.

A trader, Mrs Bamise Olaiya, said, “The prices of the foodstuffs are just annoying. I came to the market with N8,000 to buy some food items but the prices have changed between last week and now. Just last week, I bought three portions of tomatoes for N1,200 and pepper for N1,000, but today I have spent N4,200 for the same items. Pepper grinding has also increased from N200 to N300.”

Businesses struggling – Traders

Entrepreneurs across various sectors are feeling the pinch as they struggle to navigate through the challenging times.

A skincare consultant, Mr Damilola Olasunkanmi, said the current economic situation had almost put her out of business.

“I don’t get customers like I used to. My customers are cutting down on skincare purchases to prioritise other essentials like food and transportation, and that is affecting sales significantly. Restocking has become a daunting task as costs continue to soar,” he said.

Similarly, a dental therapist managing a private clinic in Iwo, Osun State, Dr Oluwafemi Ogunsakin, noted that the surge in the cost of his services had deterred patients from seeking dental care.

A foodstuffs retailer, Mrs Ore Ilerioluwa, lamented that the increase in prices had continued to threaten the operation of her business.

She said, “I buy foodstuffs from the market wholesale and sell them in a little shop I run at home. But these daily changes in the prices of items are affecting me so much that I find it difficult to buy the items.

“Do you know that three days ago I bought a carton of spaghetti for N13,000, today I was told it was N14,000. Now, when you add to the cost of each one today, by the time you return, the prices will have gone up again.

“So, you will be forced to add more money. A bag of beans is now N120,000, whereas it was N70,000 before. People are going for anything cheap now. Many families are hungry.”

Another foodstuffs seller at the Magboro Market in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area, Ogun State, Sukurat Akanni, complained that prices of many items had doubled.

Another trader, Adeola Israel, noted that a bag of brown beans had increased to N62,000, while a paint rubber now costs N6,200.

She lamented that she no longer made as much sales as she used to in the past.

Govt concerned – A’Ibom

The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, said that his administration had concluded plans to establish a bulk purchase agency to regulate prices of foodstuffs and bring them within the reach of the citizens.

The governor announced this on Friday during the Nigerian Unity Conference 2024 tagged, ‘That We May be One’, organised by the 10th Episcopal District, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, at the Ibom Hall, Uyo.

He said that a bill to establish the agency would soon be sent to the state House of Assembly for legal backing to enable the agency to intervene and stem skyrocketing food prices in the state.

Anambra residents groan

Residents of Anambra State are battling with the soaring costs of food items like rice, beans, garri, palm oil, tomatoes, onions, fruits, and others in the various markets across the state.

When The PUNCH correspondent spoke to residents and marketers in Awka, the state capital, and Onitsha on Saturday, gathered that the high cost of items was attributed to the rise in the value of the dollar, just as the situation dampened the mood of the people and forced them to ration food.

A visit to the Relief Market in Onitsha, and the Eke-Awka Market in Awka, showed that a 50kg bag of foreign rice was sold for N72,000 as against N51,000 a month ago. A full bag of iron beans was sold for N110,000 as against N89,000 a month ago.

PUNCH

News

OPINION: APC’s Slave-raiding Expeditions

Published

17 hours ago

October 20, 2025

Editor

By Lasisi Olagunju

In mid-19th-century Ibadan, military expeditions under Balogun Ibikunle were so successful in slave-catching that by 1859, the city was gripped in the apprehension that it had harvested more slaves than it could control. Professor Bolanle Awe, citing missionary Hinderer’s Half-Yearly Report of Ibadan Station for that year, wrote that the oracle of Oke Badan had to intervene with a decree that Ibadan should desist from going to war for some time because there were “too many strange people in the town.”

People choke on their own success. If you doubt this, read Awe’s ‘Ajele System: A Study of Ibadan Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century’, published in December 1964. Power that eats with ten fingers, that feeds on endless acquisition will, sooner or later, find itself choking on its own gluttony.

At about the same period Ibadan trembled over the spectre of a slave insurrection, similar fears were roiling the American South. In May, 1939, distinguished professor of history, Harvey Wish (4 September, 1909 – 7 March, 1968), published his ‘The Slave Insurrection Panic of 1856’. In 1856, according to Wish, Stewart and Montgomery counties in Tennessee were gripped by panic. The combined slave population in those places stood at about 12,000 against 19,000 whites, but in many localities, the enslaved outnumbered their masters. In the iron districts along the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, eight to ten thousand slaves laboured in mines and furnaces under a handful of overseers. A house stuffed with captives soon loses peace especially when the enslaved start demanding rights. The fear that the captives in those American communities might rise became as real as the chains that bound them.

The twin anxieties of Ibadan and Tennessee of the 1850s should speak to today’s All Progressives Congress (APC), which seems to have embarked on its own form of political slave-raiding expeditions, capturing opposition governors, lawmakers, and chieftains in a frenzy of conquest. History teaches that those who live by conquest often reel in pains of indigestion. Ask Afonja of Ilorin. The slaves he encouraged to defect into his army proved his nemesis.

There is that Nigerian comedian who combs his bald head. He is there online feasting on APC’s defection binge. The jester’s conclusion is that by 2027, Nigeria’s epic contest will be between APC and APC, a scenario he says will burst the belly of the overfed. There is a limit to how much the human stomach can hold before it rebels against its own greed. All manner of gluttony, including the political, have their limits and dangers. What Tennessee feared in 1856 did, indeed, happen in some places. Read Harvey Wish.

The Yoruba have sweet street slangs. You’ve heard of curing madness with madness (“wèrè l’a fi nwo wèrè”). You’ve not heard of “ko were, ko were.” Packing all sorts into all sorts; orísirísi. The Yoruba word ‘were’ means madness or the mad themselves. In some contexts ‘were’ also means idiocy/idiot; stupid/stupidity. “Ko were, ko were” is what my village friends call men who go for anything in a skirt. It is also what the rapacious do with their molue: Forty-nine sitting, ninety-nine standing. The bus is “fully full”, yet, the driver and conductor still yell to the street to hop in: “Wolé! Enter! No change!” It is never enough until some cranial vessels yield to bursting.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: ‘Federal Highways of Horror’

Shakespeare’s Angelo says in ‘Measure for Measure’ that “we must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey…” We do that here. All our laws are scared and afraid of power. People break the law and dare the law to say something.

A tributary is a smaller river or stream that flows into a larger river or lake. River Oba is a tributary of the Osun River; it flows into it. The law says you can divorce River Oba, if you like, but you cannot give Oba’s child to Osun, your new husband. The powerful can snatch the wife of the weak, but he cannot snatch the child of the weak. Our constitution expressly forbids lawmakers from hopping from bed to bed, party to party, doing what common prostitutes do. Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution bars senators and Reps from contracting the syphilis of defection. Section 109(1)(g) prescribes the same taboo for lawmakers at the state level. Those two sections say if you insist on courting leprosy, you must be prepared to live in a leper colony, alone.

Our constitution says that a legislator who strays from the banner that bore him to victory must surrender his seat.

That law is dead here even when the exception to the rule is not present. The exception, the law says, is that defection is allowed only when there is a division within the legislator’s party or the party has merged with another. There is no division, there is no merger, yet lawmakers after lawmakers have changed parties like pants without consequences.

When is a democracy dead? It is dead when opposition sells itself to power. It is dead when law is dead, or whenever it is helpless; when rule of men replaces the rule of law; when government of men overthrows government of laws. Rule of men is a personal rule; it is what sits on the throne in an unaccountable society; a society in the mouth of dogs.

Aristotle wrote that “It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens.” American professor of Law, Paul Gowder, in the winter of 2018 wrote ‘Resisting the Rule of Men’. Gowder contrasts “the rule of men” to “the rule of law.” He says “I will say that we have ‘the rule of men’ or ‘personal rule’ when those who wield the power of the state are not obliged to give reasons to those over whom that power is being wielded—from the standpoint of the ruled, the rulers may simply act on their brute desires.” Is that not what politicians do when, with impunity, they cross the road and dash their husbands’ children to their more powerful, wealthy lover across the street? Yet, they say this is a democracy.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION Generals, Marabouts And Boko Haram

“Democracy—What Is It?” Theodore M. Hart in a 1948 edition of The Georgia Review asked as he threw the question at a class of veterans. He got 32 answers. The last of the answers, he says, is the “farthest thing from a definition that could well be imagined.” This is it: “The right to defy a ruler, the right to believe in the right, the right to read the truth, the right to speak the truth, the sky free of destruction, the water free of danger, the trees, the earth, the house I live in, my friends and relatives, the school I go to, the church I attend – that’s Democracy.” It is a mouthful. Before that definition, there have been shorter ones that we won’t like to teach our kids here. One of them says ‘Democracy’ is “that no man should have more power than another.” Another says it is “a government in which the source of authority (political) must be and remain in the people and not in the ruler.” The opposite holds sway here. Ruling party politicians are the law; it is into their maximum ocean that all rivers must empty their waters.

Politicians, governors and lawmakers of all tendencies are massing into one party, the ruling party, like the forces of Julius Caesar whose feet are already in the Rubicon. There is also the perception that the judiciary is collapsing (or has collapsed) its structures into the ruling party.

It is futile as it is dangerous, self-destructive and self-destructing to seek to have a Kabiyesi presidency, a democracy without opposition. French philosopher, Montesquieu, in his Esprit des Lois, published in I748, wrote: “There would be an end of everything if one man or one body, whether of princes, nobles, or people exercised these three powers: that of making the laws, of executing the public resolutions, and of judging the cases of individuals.”

William Shakespeare in ‘Measure for Measure’ warns that possessing great power tempts one toward tyranny.

Shakespeare’s character, Isabella, tells power-drunk Angelo, deputy to the Duke of Vienna:

“O! it is excellent

To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous

To use it like a giant.”

Now, what is the value and essence of a presidential power that cannot crush, enslave or imprison governors? Where is the value?

In George Orwell’s novel, ‘1984’ we are shown that the party’s omnipotence is not freedom but imprisonment. The story teller asks humanity to accept that the pursuit of total power, total control over thought, over history, and reality, traps power and the power wielder in perpetual manipulation.

But power is powerful; it never listens to reason. Ikem Osodi, Chinua Achebe’s radical character says in ‘Anthills of the Savannah’ that “The prime failure of rulers is to forget that they are human.” Are rulers really human? In Yoruba history and belief, they are ‘alase’ (executive) deputy of the gods. Before Achebe there was Lord Acton who famously said that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Someone said power, when unrestrained, imprisons its possessor in illusion.

It is not the fault of power that it extends and distends and stretches itself thin. It is because the world seductively craves the king’s dominance. So, let us not blame power; we should blame the people as they query the worth of freedom that bears no food. Because literature is life, it is there in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Brothers Karamazov’. There, we read in The Grand Inquisitor’s monologue, a story within a story: “For who can rule men if not he who holds their conscience and their bread in his hands?” The Inquisitor informs the Lord that humanity had “taken the sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course, have rejected Thee and followed him.” They will always follow Caesar because he alone has bread to distribute from north to south.

The devil is not a liar; if he is a liar, he won’t say the truth. And what is the truth? It is in the Inquisitor’s mouth, it is that seeing freedom and bread walking together is inconceivable; that no science will give the people bread “so long as they remain free.” Governors, senators, Reps – all have surrendered to the bread and butter of power. Automatic tickets, automatic victory at the polls, cheap victory over the people. What power is saying in silence is said loudly by Dostoevsky’s Inquisitor: “In the end, they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, ‘Make us your slaves, but feed us.’”

News

JUST IN: NLC Gives FG Four Weeks To Resolve ASUU Crisis

Published

19 hours ago

October 20, 2025

Editor

The Nigeria Labour Congress has resolved to issue a four-week ultimatum to the Federal Government should it fail to conclude negotiations with all tertiary institutions-based unions.

The NLC also condemned the no-work-no-pay policy introduced by the government as a form of sanction to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities for daring to embark on a nationwide strike.

The president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero made this known in an ongoing interactive session with labour correspondents in Abuja.

The interactive session followed the meeting between the NLC and leaders of tertiary institutions’ based unions at the NLC headquarters in Abuja.

“We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU.

“That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NEC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country will be involved so that we get to the root of all this.

“ The era of signing agreements, negotiations and threatening the unions involved, that era has come to an end.

“The policy, the so-called policy of no work, no pay, will henceforth be no pay, no work. You can’t benefit from an action you instigated. We have discovered that most, 90% of strike actions in this country are caused by failure to obey agreements,” Ajaero said.

The Nigerian higher education system has been faced with chronic instability, the latest leading to the closure of universities nationwide due to the ongoing strike by ASUU.

Recall that ASUU National President Professor Chris Piwuna announced the strike at a press briefing at the University of Abuja on Sunday, following the expiry of a 14-day ultimatum issued to the government on September 28. The union cited unresolved issues relating to staff welfare, infrastructure, salary arrears, and the implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement.

Negotiations in recent weeks failed to avert industrial action. Education Minister Tunji Alausa said two weeks ago that talks had reached a final phase, noting the government had released N50bn for earned academic allowances and allocated N150bn in the 2025 budget for a needs assessment to be disbursed in three instalments. However, ASUU rejected these measures as insufficient.

The union is demanding full implementation of the 2009 agreement, release of three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries, sustainable funding for universities, protection against victimisation, payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, and release of withheld deductions for cooperatives and union contributions.

The NLC emphasised its full solidarity with ASUU and other tertiary education unions, calling for robust participation from all union leaders.

It also highlighted the principle of a converse stance, “No Pay, No Work”, urging the government to honour collective agreements and respect the rights of workers.

The emergency meeting is expected to chart the next steps for industrial action and explore strategies to safeguard the welfare of university staff, as well as the quality and continuity of public tertiary education in Nigeria.

News

JUST IN: NLC Begins Meeting With ASUU, Other Unions Over Strike

Published

20 hours ago

October 20, 2025

Editor

The Nigeria Labour Congress has commenced a meeting with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics among others over the ongoing strike in universities and other concerns raised by workers in tertiary institutions nationwide.

The meeting is currently holding at the NLC national headquarters in Abuja.

Recall that the NLC in a letter invited all union leaders across various tertiary institutions of learning nationwide to a meeting to find lasting solutions to issues stemmed from failed negotiations with the Federal Government.

Nigerian higher education system has been faced with chronic instability, the latest leading to closure of universities nationwide due to the ongoing strike by ASUU.

The NLC emphasised its full solidarity with ASUU and other tertiary education unions, calling for robust participation from all union leaders. It also highlighted the principle of a converse stance, “No Pay, No Work”, urging the government to honour collective agreements and respect the rights of workers.