According to the most recent Cadre Harmonise (CH) report released by the International Rescue
Committee (IRC), in collaboration with other international organizations, 16% of Nigerians (approximately 31.8 million persons) are expected to face severe food crisis between June – August 2024. The Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analysis is a tool used to assess food security and nutrition situations in the Sahel and
West Africa region.

The continuous increase in food inflation now at 40.2% has further worsened the welfare of Nigerians, as food becomes more expensive. The latest Selected Food Prices Watch for March 2024 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the average price of 1kg of locally produced rice stood at N1340.74. This represents an increase of about 152.93% YoY from N530.08 recorded in March 2023 and a 9.63% increase MoM. The report also highlighted that the average price of 1kg of beef boneless increased by 73.78% YoY from N2479.61 to N4309.16 and 17.91% MoM; Beans brown also increased by 106.78% YoY from N596.96 in March 2023 to N1234.40 in March 2024 and 4.79% MoM.

This snapshot for May 2024 provides trends, and insights on key macroeconomic indicators such as Inflation, foreign reserves, currency in circulation and crude oil prices.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a recent letter, has announced the reduction of the Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) of commercial banks from 75 percent to 50 percent, indicating a decline of 15 percentage points. The LDR, a tool used by the CBN to influence the lending behaviour of commercial banks, is the ratio of a bank’s total loans to its total deposits. A low LDR means banks will lend out smaller portions of its deposits, and vice versa. The central bank’s move to reduce the value of LDR is part of its approach to maintain monetary tightening in the economy.

According to the NBS latest labour survey, a total of 617,503 individuals were subjected to forced labour in their current job in 2022. This translates to a prevalence rate of 5.2 out of every 1000 individuals. Disaggrageting forced labour by gender, 451,300 were male and 166,203 were female, indicating a higher likelihood of men falling victims of forced labour than women. Age-wise distribution shows 191,418 individuals fall within the 18-29 age group, 317,052 in 30-49 age group, and 99,391 in the age group above 50 years. Urban areas exhibit a higher prevalence rate of 6.0% compared to a 4.7% in the rural area with 270,546 individuals affected in the urban areas and 346,958 in the rural areas.