According to recent data from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, the states of Kogi, Lagos, and Rivers are currently the most expensive to live in due to high inflation rates in August 2023.
Kogi had the highest inflation rate for all items, at 31.50% on a year-on-year basis, followed by Lagos at 29.17% and Rivers at 29.06%. In contrast, Sokoto, Borno, and Nasarawa had the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis, at 20.91%, 21.77%, and 22.25%, respectively.
The trend continued when examined on a month-on-month basis, with Kwara, Osun, and Kogi experiencing the highest increases in inflation, at 6.07%, 4.36%, and 4.35%, respectively. In contrast, Sokoto, Borno, and Ogun recorded the slowest rise in month-on-month inflation, at 1.38%, 1.73%, and 1.89%, respectively.
Regarding food inflation, Kogi had the highest food inflation rate on a year-on-year basis, at 38.84%, followed by Lagos at 36.04% and Kwara at 35.33%.
During the year-on-year period, Sokoto, Nasarawa, and Jigawa experienced the lowest increase in food inflation, with percentages of 20.09, 24.35, and 24.53 respectively. However, on a month-on-month basis during the same period, Rivers, Kwara, and Kogi recorded the highest increases, with percentages of 7.12, 5.89, and 5.80 respectively. Meanwhile, Sokoto, Abuja, and Niger had the lowest increase in food inflation, with percentages of 0.50, 1.30, and 1.40 respectively.
According to a report, the rise in food inflation was caused by significant price hikes in essential food items such as oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.
