The spending on the importation of food in Nigeria has risen by N10 trillion within nine years since 2010, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The report said the spending rose to N22.78trn in 2019 from N12.77trn recorded in 2010 when the survey was conducted.
The expenditure of households in Nigeria on food and non-food items for 2019 was N40.21trn rising from N21.62trn in 2018. Out of the total expenditure, food accounted for 56.7 per cent of household expenditure in 2019 while 43.4 per cent accounted for expenditure on non-food items.
Food consumed outside the home constituted the largest expenditures followed by transportation costs.
The report further showed that food consumed outside homes, transport fares, starchy roots, tubers and plantains make for the largest proportion of household expenditures, representing a combined 24.2 per cent of the household expenditure in 2019.
For the states, Lagos had the largest share of the consumption expenditure at N5.07trn. Some other states’ consumption expenditures on imported food items are Oyo (5.83%), Delta (5.38%), Rivers (4.99%) and Kano State (4.91%) trailed behind Lagos on the consumption index.
