By Aminu Abubakar

As Nigeria battles with inflation, Northern states are even worse by the development.

This is even in the face of poverty in the Northern region of the country and an unending developmental crisis that has led to a spike in the cost of living.

Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that food inflation is highest in Sokoto at 50.47%, while all items inflation stands at 38.74%.

SolaceBase reports that Taraba also recorded an inflation figure of 38.59% for food and 29.68% for general inflation. Food inflation in Zamfara stands at 39.40% while general inflation hits 34.93%.

Gombe recorded a food inflation put at 44.09% while general inflation stands at 36.37%. Kano food inflation stood at 38.2% while general inflation stood at 34.4%.

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In Benue state, food inflation stood at 35.5% while general inflation stood at 26.9%.

In Bauchi, food inflation stands at 36.1% while general inflation stands at 44.8%. Niger state food inflation stood at 39.7% while general inflation stands at 35.1%.

Food inflation in Abuja stands at 38.9% while general inflation stands at 32.7%, in Katsina food inflation stands at 36.7% while general inflation stands at 27.7%.

The figure for food inflation in Borno stands at 42.5% while general inflation stands at 31.6%. In Plateau, food inflation stands at 37.8% while general inflation stands at 32.6%.

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In Kaduna, food inflation stood at 38.8% while general Inflation stood at 34.8%. The figure in Nasarawa was posted as 36.3% for food inflation and 32.2% for general inflation

Kebbi recorded 41.2% for food inflation and 37.9 % for general inflation, Adamawa recorded 37% for food inflation and 32.9% for general inflation, Kwara recorded 32.5% for food inflation and 31.4% for general inflation.

This development may worsen the already high multidimensional poverty of every state in Northern Nigeria.

For instance, 4.60 million persons are said to be poor in Kano,  the figure stands at 2.80 million in Katsina, the figure stands at 1.91 million in Kebbi, 2.22 million persons are quoted to be poor in Plateau, Yobe state multidimensional poverty stands at 1.36 million while Zamfara stands at 1.80 million, the poverty rate in Sokoto is 2.63 million.

This development is even more as the cost of a healthy diet in Northern Nigeria is estimated at N1,014 per meal.

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The development of increasing inflation may also be worsened given the unemployment rate in the Northern region of the country.

For instance unemployment rate in Adamawa was put at 54.9% in 2022 by the National Bureau of Statistics in its multidimensional poverty index, Yobe was estimated at 52.6%, Kaduna 44.3%, Borno 43.2%, Niger 38.8%, Jigawa 38.7%, Taraba 31.5%, Nasarawa 29.8%, Kano 25.4%, Plateau 26.6%, Bauchi 34.2%, Katsina 25.3%.

UNICEF said 4.4 million persons in Northeastern Nigeria risk food insecurity, a situation that may worsen with rising food inflation.