Food Prices Are Not Coming Down — Nigerians Disagree With Presidency

The Presidency’s statement that prices of foodstuffs have been falling recently has been rejected by Nigerians.

The Senior Special Assistant on Citizenship and Leadership to President Bola Tinubu, Rinsola Abiola, while speaking on AIT Weekend Show, on Saturday (10 August), said online vendors confirmed that food prices have started decreasing.

Mrs Abiola said the decrease in the prices of foodstuffs is a testament to the federal government’s initiatives towards addressing economic hardship and hunger, which are yielding results.

Nigerians on social media, X platform, said the statement from the Presidency did not tally with what is obtainable in the markets.

Nigerians made their opinions while reacting to a poll by Obianuju Udeh, known as DJ Switch, one of the leaders of the #Endsars protest.

DJ Switch, on Friday, wrote, “I have come across some tweets and a report saying food prices are down. My question is, is it true prices are down? If so, that would be good news. Please share what you are experiencing on ground.”

In reaction, Nigerians disagreed with the position of Rinsola Abiola. They said prices of food remained the same. On tomatoes price Mrs Abiola said came down from ₦180,000 to ₦35,000; an X user, Chinedu Okoli said there was more supply in the market due to the harvest period and not actually as a result of government policies.

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For IBEZYMAKO, @Bis_realibeh, “Prices of food items remain the same. Transportation fare is on the increase because of cost of PMS and nobody is talking about it. Government of deceptive propaganda.”

Ozagu. enterprises, @OzaguE98786, argued that “it is only in the Tinubu market that items are cheap. Semo 10kg a year ago ₦6400, two months ago ₦12,300, now ₦16000-₦18000, Beans ₦5000, Yam(3) ₦7500, Milo refill ₦5500, Garri ₦2000, Rice bag ₦78000. The truth is, most have stopped eating a lot of food; Items are not affordable by most Nigerians.”

Joseph Olawale Bamidele, @olawale_bam, said, “A liter fuel now sells for at least ₦700 to ₦900. Black market goes for ₦1,300. Mudu of rice is still ₦2,700. Food price coming down is propaganda. APC will crumble.”

Chinedu Okoli, @chineduokoli_,: “The truth is that this is harvesting period for some crops. It will slow inflation but this is just temporary cos once this phase wears off, the food prices will double.

“Prices that have gone down are perishable goods o, like tomatoes and pepper that can not be stored for long period.”

Saint Adaugoijele, @JustAdaugoijele, said, “Please, no food price is down. It’s still increasing.”

Daniel Alabi, @alabi_daniel, argued, “We bought rice last month btw ₦1,200 – ₦1,300 per Derica in Itele area of Ogun State and Lagos. We still buy it same today.”

SPECIAL, @special_Ada_Ide, said, “Which food prices come down? Shey for this Lagos Nigeria abi from other states?

“A bag of rice (my choice ) ₦82k, fuel ₦900 per liter, black market is more than this, beans – a derica cup is ₦2,200, semo ₦15k.”