CLAIM
The National Bureau of Statistics ranked Kwara as the third most expensive state to live in Nigeria.
TEXT
On Tuesday, September 19, a verified X user, MohdBashir Olanrewaju Abdulyekeen, with the handle @Abdyekeen_Bash in a tweet claimed that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has ranked Kwara as the third most expensive state to live in Nigeria.
According to him, the NBS stated this in its latest Consumer Price Index report for the month of August 2023 which documents both food and all items inflation rates.
THE FINDINGS
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 25.80 percent in August 2023, an increase from 24.08 percent recorded in July.
The report released on Friday, September 15, 2023, stated that the significant increase reflects the impact of the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate on consumer prices.
The food inflation rate rose to 29.34% in August 2023, representing a 2.35% point increase from 26.98% recorded in the previous month.
According to the report, in August, all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%), while Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%) and Nasarawa (22.25%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (38.84%), Lagos (36.04%), and Kwara (35.33%), while Sokoto (20.09%), Nasarawa (24.35%) and Jigawa (24.53%) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis, according to the report. This means Kwara State is ranked among the top three in the food inflation rate.
Food Inflation
Food inflation refers to the increase in the prices of food items over time measured as a percentage change in the average prices of a basket of commonly consumed food products, such as grains, rice, fruits, and beans.
On the other hand, headline/all items inflation is more encompassing. It measures the overall increase in prices for a basket of goods and services that an average consumer purchases, including other goods and services like housing, transportation, healthcare, and more. Headline inflation is a key economic indicator that reflects the general trend in price changes in an economy.
The headline inflation rate provides a comprehensive view of the overall cost of living in a particular state or country.
A look at the report also shows that the NBS warned against using the report to make inter-state price comparison noting that the market baskets used to conduct the survey varies from state to state.
THE VERDICT
Based on the findings in the above report, it shows that while Kwara recorded food inflation of 35.33% food inflation rate, it recorded a 26.9% headline inflation rate making it the 10th state with the highest inflation rate across the country for the month of August 2023.
This shows that the state is not among the top three states with the highest headline inflation rate. The claim that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ranked Kwara as the third most expensive state to live in Nigeria is MISLEADING;
By Dare Akogun
