Nigerian Households Spend 120% of Income on Food – Oyedele

No Result View All Result Home News Politics Business Sport Football Health Entertainment Education Opinion Editorial Columns Others LeVogue Magazine Conferences National Economy Contact Us Hausa Edition Home News Politics Business Sport Football Health Entertainment Education Opinion Editorial Columns Others LeVogue Magazine Conferences National Economy Contact Us No Result View All Result No Result View All Result Nigerian Households Spend 120% of Income on Food – Oyedele by Bukola Aro-Lambo 6 seconds ago in Business Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has disclosed that some Nigerian households spend as much as 120 per cent of their income on food, highlighting the severity of poverty and the pressure of rising food prices on low-income earners.

Oyedele, speaking at Chatham House in London, said the findings of a government survey showed that some households spend more than they earn on food, forcing them to borrow to survive until the end of the month.

According to him, Nigeria’s poverty rate remained above 50 per cent despite an unemployment rate of about five per cent, pointing to the plight of Nigerians who have jobs but still cannot afford basic necessities.

“In fact, there was a survey we did that shows that up to 120 per cent of household income is spent on food. Like how do you spend 120 per cent of your income? You borrow food before the end of the month.

“One important data that sometimes people misunderstand in Nigeria is unemployment rate is low. It’s about five per cent. Comparable to the UK, but poverty rate is high in over 50 per cent. That tells you something. As a policy maker, you don’t sit back and say we don’t have unemployment. You have working poor”, he said.

Oyedele said the figures showed why the government must look beyond headline economic indicators and focus on the lived experiences of households, particularly those struggling to afford food.

“Macroeconomic stability means little to a mother who still cannot afford food,” he said, acknowledging that food inflation remained a major concern despite the decline in headline inflation.

He put food inflation at 19.6 per cent in September, saying food prices were not easing as quickly as the broader inflation rate. “Headline inflation is falling faster than the price of a basket of tomatoes, gari, and beans. And this widens inequality,” he said.

Oyedele attributed persistent food inflation to low agricultural yields, seasonal farming, post-harvest losses, poor storage and logistics, the cost of transporting produce and insecurity in farming communities.

He said Nigeria loses as much as 60 per cent of its tomato production to post-harvest losses, making investment in storage, transportation and agricultural productivity essential to bringing down food prices.

The minister said the government’s response was focused on increasing food supply through investments in agricultural technology, irrigation for year-round farming, storage facilities, rural roads and security for farming communities. “We’re expanding access to finance for smallholders and small businesses who create most of our jobs,” he added.

While the government’s investments in agriculture are expected to take time to improve food availability and affordability, Oyedele said direct support was being provided to cushion the impact of economic pressures on vulnerable households.

He disclosed that the government’s cash transfer programme had reached more than 10 million households, with payments made digitally and beneficiaries verified through their National Identification Numbers.

“Our cash transfer programme has now reached over 10 million households paid digitally and verified by national identity number so that support reaches the people who need it, not the middlemen,” he said.

Oyedele said the intervention was designed to protect vulnerable Nigerians while the government pursued policies to raise incomes and reduce poverty. He explained that the administration was prioritising agriculture and non-tradable services after its analysis showed that 81.4 per cent of employed Nigerians worked in the two areas.

The government, he said, was seeking to accelerate growth in those sectors beyond the overall economic growth rate to lift more Nigerians out of poverty and narrow inequality. “So we are now putting effort in those two areas to accelerate the growth over and above the overall economic growth rate so that you leave them out of poverty, you close inequality and there will be no need anymore for you to do cash transfers,” he said.

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