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Food prices rise in April 2024- NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says prices of rice, garri, tomato, beans, yam and other food items increased in April 2024.
The NBS said this in its Selected Food Prices Watch report for April 2024 released in Abuja on Friday.
The report said that the average price of 1kg of local rice increased by 155.93 per cent from N546.76 recorded in April 2023 to N1, 399.34 in April 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, 1kg of local rice increased by 3.47 per cent in April from the N1, 340.74 recorded in March 2024.”
It said that the average price of 1kg of white garri increased by 134.98 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N362.50 recorded in April 2023 to N851.81 in April 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, 1kg of white garri increased by 13.59 per cent from the N749.89 recorded in March 2024.”
The report said that the average price of 1kg of tomato increased by 131.58 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N485.10 in April 2023 to N1, 123.41 in April 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 17.06 per cent from the N959.68 recorded in March 2024.”
The NBS said that the average price of 1kg of brown beans rose by 125.43 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N615.65 in April 2023 to N1387.90 in April 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, 1kg of brown beans increased by 12.44 per cent from N1, 234.40 recorded in March 2024 to N1,387.90 in April 2024. ”
In addition, the average price of 1kg of yam tuber rose by 154.19 per cent on a year-on-year basis from the N444.69 recorded in April 2023 to N1, 130.37 in April 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 5.76 per cent from N1, 068.78 recorded in March 2024 to N1, 130.37 in April 2024.”
On state profile analysis, the report showed that in April 2024, the highest average price of 1kg of local rice was recorded in Niger at N1, 785.47, while the lowest was recorded in Benue at N993.72
It said that Bayelsa recorded the highest average price of 1kg of white garri at N1, 095.26, while the lowest was recorded in Benue at N494.47.
The NBS said that the highest average price of 1kg of tomato was recorded in Delta at N1, 851.19, while the lowest price was recorded in Zamfara at N547.22
According to the report, Abuja recorded the highest average price of 1kg of brown beans at N2, 288.36, while the lowest was reported in Yobe at N818.03.
It said Cross River recorded the highest average price of 1kg of yam tuber at N 1,797.15, while the least average price was recorded in Bauchi at N638.64.
Analysis by zone showed that the average price of 1kg of local rice was highest in the South-West at N1, 615.21, followed by the South-South at N1, 564.85.
“The lowest price was recorded in the North-West at N1, 163.13.”
The South-South and South-West recorded the highest average price of 1kg of white garri at N1,031.19 and N 982.42, respectively, while the lowest price was in the North-West at N681.77.
The report said that the South-South recorded the highest average price of 1kg of tomato at N1, 689.40 followed by the South-West at N1, 429.06 , while the North-West recorded the lowest price at N615.54
The NBS said also that the North-Central and South-South recorded the highest average price of 1kg of brown beans at N1, 594.84 and N1, 579.64, respectively.
“The North-West recorded the lowest price of 1kg of brown beans at N966.9.”(NAN)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.
“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.
“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”
Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.
The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.
Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.
Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.
The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.
She was thereafter suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.
The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has handed over 19 kidnapped victims rescued by the security agencies to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
The brief ceremony took place on Thursday at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser in Abuja.
The victims included Ambassador Gideon Yohanna, the former Director-General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga (retired) who had spent 56 days in captivity and 17 others, including a child.
Both Ribadu and Musa pledged to remain relentless until the criminals are wiped out and normalcy restored in the country.
“As a result of the work of our armed forces and other security services, we are able to rescue and bring back our own people,” he said.
“This time, it involves important personalities who served this country. We thank God for their lives, we are grateful to those who made it possible.
“This is an ongoing operation and we are doing it quite silently, we will go after the bad ones.”
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Thursday applauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for rejecting a petition to recall her as the lawmaker representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.
The female lawmaker, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the electoral umpire should have thrown out the petition long before it did on April 3, 2025.
“I’m a lawyer. I’m a senator and I understand how Nigeria works. For me, the most important thing is this recall process has been stalled.
“I give kudos and credit to INEC even though I believe they should have thrown it away from the get-go.
“I think it was void ab initio because there is no law in the Electoral Act that says a petition should be discarded just because there is no address but again, what if the address is false?”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain argued that most of the addresses provided in the petition for her recall were false because most houses in her district weren’t labelled.
“Even though INEC did count 208,000 signatures, I bet you if they had gone into the verification stage, they would have struggled to even have 500 people come out to attest to signing that,” she added.
She accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Governor Usman Ododo and ex-governor Yahaya Bello of sponsoring her failed recall.
In a much-awaited statement on Thursday, INEC said the petition for the recall of the lawmaker did not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“Therefore, no further action shall be taken on the recall of the Senator,” INEC declared.