By [Oladipo Oluwatosin]
In Nigeria’s bustling markets this quarter, one trend is clear — rice, the staple that graces almost every table, is no longer within easy reach. From Lagos to Ilorin, Onitsha to Ibadan, prices of locally milled rice have soared by an alarming 30% in just three months. A 50kg bag that sold for ₦55,000 in April now goes for between ₦67,000 and ₦72,000 — a spike many traders and analysts link directly to the local government election season.
Across the country, political aspirants are engaging in mass rice purchases as part of their grassroots campaign strategy — turning essential food into bait for votes. “Before elections, they wipe the market clean,” says Mrs. Risi Lawal, a rice trader in Ibadan. “They buy hundreds of bags at once to share in the name of empowerment, and the rest of us are left to face angry, hungry buyers.”
The consequences are severe. Citizens already battered by inflation, unemployment, and weakened purchasing power are now being priced out of the most basic food item. For millions of households, rice is not a delicacy but a daily meal. The surge in price is forcing families to switch to cheaper, less nutritious alternatives, reducing food security and increasing malnutrition risks in urban and rural areas alike.
On the economic front, the rice hike distorts the natural flow of demand and supply. Small traders are unable to restock, local producers are pressured beyond capacity, and consumer spending declines in other sectors. "When food becomes unaffordable, the economy suffers across layers," says Dr. Musa Okonkwo, a policy analyst. "It shrinks disposable income, increases poverty indices, and further widens the inequality gap.”
Regulation, however, remains minimal. The Nigerian Commodity Exchange and local market boards have yet to implement election-season price monitoring or anti-hoarding laws. Political campaigns continue to operate unchecked, treating food items as tools of influence instead of essential commodities tied to national welfare.
Experts recommend urgent interventions:
- Election-period price control frameworks to prevent market manipulation.
- Ban or limit on bulk political food distribution during campaigns.
- Boost in local rice production and storage infrastructure to withstand seasonal demand shocks.
- Civic education to discourage voters from trading food for votes.
If not addressed, this trend may continue to reappear with every election cycle — turning campaign season into a period of artificial scarcity, rising hunger, and public resentment. Until then, the real cost of elections will not just be in ballot papers, but in empty plates across the nation.
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