Ramadan begins this Tuesday, April 13, in Nigeria and, as every year, religious authorities ask wholesalers not to raise food prices disproportionately. The month of Ramadan often corresponds to a sharp rise in food prices, while the most populous country in Africa is already facing 17% inflation on food products.
After a year of recession and the economic and health crisis, many Nigerians have become poor. Jamila, a Muslim from Togo, notes that the prices of corn or beans in recent times have more than doubled in the market. “We went to the market to buy, we did not have to buy, we went home. It has increased, we can see the beans, whose price has increased a lot. ”
The price of basic feed is skyrocketing
Every year, traders use Ramadan to inflate basic food prices. A difficult situation when Nigeria is facing unprecedented inflation: according to the National Bureau of Statistics, food prices have never been so high in 12 years.
The great demand during the Muslim month arouses the greed of the sellers, according to Ola: “Many rich people want to do charity for the poor. So instead of just buying a bag of rice, they will buy 200. So prices are going up. For us small buyers, a bag of rice costs twice as much during this period. ”
Call for traders
Nigerian religious authorities have appealed to traders to keep prices reasonable during Ramadan.
