Economy
Nigeria’s Inflation Nears 30%, Hits 29.90% in January 2024
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s headline inflation neared the 30 per cent mark as it increased by 0.98 per cent to 29.90 per cent in January 2024 from 28.92 per cent in December 2023, beating analysts’ expectations of 29.54 per cent.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 8.08 per cent higher than the 23.82 per cent recorded in January 2023.
Recall that a few days ago, this newspaper reported that Meristem Research projected inflation to rise by 0.62 per cent to 29.54 per cent last month.
The continued increase in inflation has been attributed to the policies of President Bola Tinubu, including a partial removal of fuel subsidies and a unification of exchange rates that has seen the price of goods and services skyrocket.
“Food prices have continued to go beyond the reach of consumers due to the forex crisis and insecurity in the northern part of the country, where most of the food items come from,” the Meristem analysts said.
The NBS data today revealed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January 2024 was 2.64 per cent, which is 0.35 per cent higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.29 per cent). This means that in January 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2023.
Giving a breakdown, the stats office noted that Food and Non-alcoholic beverages contributed 15.5 per cent to the headline index, followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels with 5.0 per cent as Clothing and Footwear saw a 2.3 per cent contribution.
Transport added 1.9 per cent while Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Maintenance added 1.5 per cent and Education saw a 1.2 per cent rise. Others like Health, Miscellaneous Goods and Services among others saw less than 1 per cent contribution respectively.
The NBS showed that Nigeria’s food inflation rate in the reviewed month was 35.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 11. per cent points higher than the 24.32 per cent posted in January 2023.
The rise in food inflation was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of potatoes, yams, other tubers, bread and cereals, fish, meat, tobacco, and vegetables.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate was 3.2 per cent, this was 0.5 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.72 per cent).
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 28.91 per cent, which was a 7.4 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in the same period of 2023 (21.53 per cent).
While urban inflation was 31.95 per cent, rural inflation came in at 28.1 per cent in December 2023.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
