Nigeria’s deepening cost-of-living crisis has left some households spending more than their entire earnings on food, forcing families to borrow or depend on relatives to meet their basic needs, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said.
Speaking at Chatham House in London, Oyedele cited a government survey indicating that food expenditure accounted for as much as 120 per cent of household income, highlighting the severity of the financial pressure confronting vulnerable Nigerians.
“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,” he said.
The minister also raised concerns over the country’s persistently high poverty rate, which he said remained above 50 per cent despite an unemployment rate of approximately five per cent. He argued that the figures exposed the limitations of relying solely on conventional unemployment statistics to assess Nigerians’ economic well-being.
“That tells you something. As a policymaker, you don’t sit back and say we don’t have unemployment. You have working poor,” Oyedele said.
He explained that the growing number of Nigerians who are employed but unable to afford essential goods reflected a broader challenge of inadequate incomes and declining purchasing power.
According to the minister, the uneven pace of price increases has further compounded household hardship, with food prices remaining stubbornly high even as headline inflation eases. Food inflation stood at 19.6 per cent in September, underscoring the continuing burden of essential commodities on household budgets.
“Headline inflation is falling faster than the price of a basket of tomatoes, gari, and beans. And this widens inequality,” he said.
Emphasising the human consequences of economic pressures, Oyedele said improvements in macroeconomic indicators would have limited significance if ordinary Nigerians continued to struggle to afford basic necessities.
“Macroeconomic stability means little to a mother who still cannot afford food,” he added.
The finance minister argued that Nigeria’s food crisis was rooted in structural weaknesses across the agricultural value chain rather than fuel taxes. He maintained that the country had no taxes on fuel and pointed instead to low agricultural productivity, seasonal farming, post-harvest losses, inadequate storage, expensive transportation and insecurity in farming communities as major drivers of food prices.
Citing the scale of agricultural waste, Oyedele said as much as 60 per cent of tomatoes could be lost after harvest, illustrating how weaknesses in preservation, distribution and logistics contribute to higher consumer prices.
To address these challenges, he said the government was investing in agricultural technology, irrigation systems to enable year-round farming, improved storage infrastructure and financing opportunities for smallholder farmers.
The measures, he explained, were intended to boost agricultural output, reduce waste and improve the supply of food to markets, thereby easing price pressures on consumers.
Beyond longer-term agricultural reforms, the government is also providing direct assistance to vulnerable households through a cash transfer programme that has reached more than 10 million households, according to the minister.
“In the short term, the administration is providing direct support through a cash transfer programme that has reached more than 10 million households. Payments are made digitally and beneficiaries are verified with National Identification Numbers to reduce leakage,” he said.
Oyedele further identified agriculture and non-tradable services as priority sectors in the government’s efforts to expand employment opportunities and raise household incomes. Together, the sectors account for 81.4 per cent of working Nigerians, making them central to the administration’s economic strategy.
He said the government’s objective was to ensure that these sectors grew faster than the overall economy, creating opportunities for more Nigerians to earn sustainable incomes and improve their living standards.
According to him, stronger growth in agriculture and non-tradable services would gradually reduce the number of households dependent on government cash transfers, while providing a more sustainable response to poverty and the rising cost of living.