The price of eggs in FCT skyrocketed by 300 percent in nine years, Abujacommunity has found out.
The cost of a medium-sized egg increased from N29.58 to N130.00 between January 2016 and January 2024, according to interviews and the selected Food Price Monthly reports of the National Bureau of Statistics.
A crate of eggs in FCT Abuja today is sold for N3,900.00
This implies that the price of an egg in 2024 could buy four pieces of eggs in 2016, and residents would still obtain a few naira as balance.
The current pricing indicates that Abuja residents earning a minimum wage of N30,000 would spend 13 percent of their monthly salary to buy a crate of eggs.
Between January and December of 2016, a unit price of egg rose from N29.58 to N40.00.
By January 2017, the price rose to N43.50, though it dropped to N36.67 by December in the same year.
It rose again to N42.00 by December in 2018, and the price remained unstable throughout 2019.
The average market price hovered between N48.00 and N60.00 by December 2020 and 2021.
By the end of 2022, the price had soared by 33 percent to N81.00
From January to December 2023, the price of egg in Abuja jumped again from N89.00 to N120.00.
By this week, February 3, Abuja residents buy an egg at N130.00
Between January 2016 and January 2024, a crate of eggs rose from N887.4 to N3,900.00, signifying a 339 percent increase.
A crate at this price contains thirty medium-sized pieces of eggs.
Egg is gold, residents complain
Gloria Adams, a nursing mother, expressed her displeasure over the rising cost of eggs in FCT, saying she now includes dried fish in her children’s meals.
“Eggs are not the only protein; there are beans, meat and even dried fish,” she added.
Hasisat Abdul-Akeem, an Abuja resident who lives in the Gwagwalada Area, said that the rate at which eggs vary in price is concerning and the price is beyond the reach of poor families.
“I cannot remember the last time my children last had eggs in their meals since it is now unaffordable. Egg is gold; not that it is scarce, but it is very expensive and thank God, there are other options to explore,” she said.
Nigeria was ranked the second-most malnourished nation in the world in 2023 by the United States Agency for International Development.
USAID reported that the percentage of Nigerian children suffering from severe malnutrition rose from 7 percent to 12 percent in 2023.
