Special Report: How Sanitary Pads, Beer, Indomie More Than Doubled in Price Within 12 Months
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, the soaring cost of living is eroding the purchasing power of the middle class and pushing millions below the poverty level.
Within a 12-month period, the price of essential everyday items, from food and drinks to personal care products like sanitary pads, has more than doubled. This is according to ‘The Price of Everything,’ report, an elaborate price survey by SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market intelligence gathering and strategic consulting firm.
The survey, carried out between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, highlighted the change in selected consumer goods that capture products and goods used by Nigerian families on a regular basis, including soap, sanitary pads, beer, noodles, rice, fuel, bread, and Pay TV subscriptions like DStv.
In the list of over 60 surveyed goods, a single tablet of Dudu Osun, a natural facial and body black soap, witnessed the highest price surge in a 12-month period, increasing by 180 percent from ₦500 to ₦1,400.
Premium Motor Spirit, known as Petrol, which is one of Nigeria’s essential sources of energy that powers cars and generators, saw a 160.9 percent price hike from ₦261 in Q1 2023 to ₦681 in Q1 2024. The price hike, caused by the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural speech in May 2023, is believed to have had a cascading effect on the price of other items, including transportation, which has risen by nearly 78 percent within the period under review.
The country’s 28-year-high inflation, which is at 33.2 percent according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), was also strongly felt on hygiene products like sanitary pads. The average growth rate of various sanitary pads in Nigeria has grown by 128.6 percent, from ₦350 to ₦800. In Nigeria, a country where an estimated 37 million women and girls experience period poverty, the price change in sanitary pads is expected to impact women’s health, especially those living in rural areas where poverty is prevalent.
Aside from drinks like Ribena concentrate and beer products like Guinness Stout, which witnessed a significant price jump, some of Nigeria’s widely consumed foods were also severely impacted.
A carton of Indomie Super Pack noodles increased by over 100 percent. Rice, used in preparing one of Nigeria’s most popular dishes, Jollof rice, surged by 83 percent. Sold at N42,000 a year ago, a 50kg bag of foreign rice is now sold at N77,000, according to the report. Tinned tomatoes (400g) and vegetable oil (5L), some of the core ingredients used in preparing the cherished Jollof rice, increased by 79.6 percent and 55.7 percent, respectively.
Nigeria is facing a severe food crisis, with 26.5 million people expected to experience high levels of food insecurity this year. The soaring cost of goods, particularly food prices, is expected to worsen the situation and drive more people below the poverty line.
