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© Reuters. On July 10, 2021, in a community in Oworoshoki, Lagos, Nigeria, when volunteers from the Lagos Food Bank program distributed food parcels, women queued up to receive the food parcels. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja
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Authors: Libby George and Estelle Shirbon
Lagos/London (Reuters)-Shehu Ismaila Gbadebo has been a hairdresser for twenty years. The money he made at a rented stall in a bustling suburb of Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity, used to be enough to pay the bills and set aside some savings. Now, he relies on donated food and sometimes even skips meals to feed his family.
Since COVID-19 hit Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, the prices of some staple foods such as eggs, onions and palm oil have risen by 30% or more. Fewer people can afford a haircut, and those who can afford the Gbadebo 500 naira ($1.22) rate are asking for a discount.
“The money I have is not enough to meet our needs,” 38-year-old Gbadebo told Reuters after taking care of a client.
Millions of Nigerians like Badbo who once had a solid economic foundation can no longer reliably support themselves or their families. According to data from the World Bank, approximately 18% of Nigerian households have at least one adult who does not eat for a day, compared to 6% before the pandemic. The inflation rate is close to the highest level in history, and food prices accounted for nearly 70% of the increase.
(Graphic: Food price inflation is putting pressure on consumers-https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/NIGERIA-HUNGER/xlbvgqeezvq/chart.png)
The United Nations Food Program warned that the cost of global food imports this year is expected to soar to a record level as the prices of almost all agricultural products and energy prices have pushed up production and transportation costs.
But in Nigeria, the combination of soaring inflation with a shaky economy, rising unemployment and insecurity in agricultural areas has even dragged the former middle class into a dire situation.
Some experts warn about the possibility of worsening malnutrition and turbulence.
Idayat Hassan, director of the Abuja-based Democracy and Development Think Tank Center, said: “What we have experienced in Nigeria is different from what we have experienced around the world.” He added that the country’s limited social safety net has allowed hundreds of Thousands of people have little help.
“Crime is actually soaring every day because people are trying to make ends meet.”
(Graphic: High unemployment rate increases inflationary pressure-https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/NIGERIA-HUNGER/xlbpgqeajpq/chart.png)
Double the cost
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon, dozens of women lined up in the Oworonshoki community on the edge of the Lagos Lagoon because the Lagos Food Bank planned to distribute rice, oil and other essentials.
Food Bank President Michael Sunbola said demand is 40% higher than before the pandemic. The distribution of mixed-income Oworonshoki is new, where the pillars of brick apartment buildings are crumbling shacks.
“Middle-class families usually don’t imagine people lining up to buy food, but now they belong to the kind of people we serve,” Sambora said.
The World Bank estimates that the 2020 price shock plunged 7 million Nigerians into poverty, an increase of nearly 10%. Marco Hernandez, chief economist at the World Bank Nigeria, said the weak naira, trade restrictions and land border closures for smuggling have also pushed up prices.
Increased costs have also hit food banks; before the COVID-19 outbreak, a bag of 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of beans required 30,000 naira, and now requires 65,000 naira, which forces it to reduce the amount of food per packet.
(Graphic: The cost of staple food has risen sharply-https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/NIGERIA-HUNGER/qzjvqxzbgpx/chart.png)
Trigger a crisis
Beans and other staple foods are mainly grown in the increasingly unstable northern part of Nigeria. Legislators warned in April that the country was “on fire” due to a wave of violence and lawlessness.
In November, Islamic militants beheaded dozens of farmers in the northeastern part of Borno State, while in the northwest, kidnapping and extortion groups are forcing farmers to abandon their fields.
An official in northwestern Kaduna State warned that insecurity has affected crop yields and “is triggering a food crisis.”
Back in Lagos, the barber Gbadebo said that his wife is currently home with three children, including a one-month-old baby, and will soon start working to help support the family.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “Before COVID, everything was better.”
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