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How PriceWaka Works

PriceWaka tracks the cost of buying everyday food in Nigeria. We collect prices from government surveys and international monitoring agencies, then calculate what a typical weekly food basket costs across different states.

The PriceWaka Basket

We track what it costs to buy a week's worth of staple food for a Nigerian household.

Item Weekly Amount Why It's Included
Rice 5 kg Largest food expense for most Nigerian households (8.7% of food budget)
Beans 2 kg Major protein source (5.2% of food budget)
Garri 3 kg Most widely consumed staple across all regions (part of 11.1% for roots/tubers)
Yam 2 kg Important tuber, especially in South/Middle Belt
Maize 2 kg Staple cereal, especially in Northern Nigeria
Palm Oil 1.5 L Essential cooking fat (4.4% of food budget)
Sorghum 1 kg Northern staple grain

These weights come from Nigeria's Living Standards Survey (NLSS 2019), the most comprehensive study of what Nigerian families actually spend money on.

Where the Prices Come From

FEWS NET

Famine Early Warning Systems Network

  • • Run by USAID
  • • Weekly prices from 12+ states
  • • Primary source for recent data
  • Coverage: 2021 to present

NBS

National Bureau of Statistics

  • • Nigeria's official statistics agency
  • • Crowdsourced daily prices
  • • All 37 states covered
  • Coverage: 2020 to June 2025 (paused)

WFP

World Food Programme

  • • UN agency tracking food security
  • • Monthly market surveys
  • • Historical baseline data
  • Coverage: 2002 to 2015

EIA

U.S. Energy Information Administration

  • • Crude oil prices (Brent, WTI)
  • • Daily updates
  • • We add Bonny Light estimate
  • Nigeria's crude benchmark

CBN / OER

Central Bank of Nigeria / Open Exchange Rates

  • • Official FX rates
  • • Parallel market rates
  • • Updated daily
  • Tracks naira volatility

How We Calculate

For each commodity, we take the average price reported across all markets in a state (or nationally). We filter out obviously wrong prices (above ₦10,000/kg are usually wholesale bag prices mislabeled as per-kg).

The basket cost is simple multiplication:

Basket Cost = (5 × rice price) + (2 × beans price) + (3 × garri price) + (2 × yam price) + (2 × maize price) + (1.5 × palm oil price) + (1 × sorghum price)

The food price index uses a standard formula called the Laspeyres Index (the same method used by Nigeria's NBS and most statistical agencies worldwide):

Index = (Current Basket Cost / Base Period Basket Cost) × 100

Our base period is January 2025. If the index reads 110, it means the basket costs 10% more than it did in January 2025.

What Makes Prices Change?

🌾 Harvest Cycles

Prices drop after harvest, rise during planting season

💱 FX Rates

Imported food (rice, wheat, cooking oil) gets more expensive when the naira weakens

⛽ Fuel Prices

Diesel costs affect transport, which is 30-40% of food cost in Nigeria

🛡️ Security

Conflict in farming regions disrupts supply

🌍 Global Markets

Crude oil prices affect government revenue and overall economic stability

What We Don't Track (Yet)

We believe in transparency. Here's what our data doesn't capture:

  • • Our data doesn't cover every market in every state
  • • NBS crowdsourced data stopped in June 2025, so our daily coverage is limited
  • • Prices can vary significantly within a state (urban vs rural, wholesale vs retail)
  • • We don't yet track: vegetables (tomatoes, onions, peppers), meat, fish, or processed foods
  • • FEWS NET prices tend to be from larger wholesale markets, which may be lower than what you pay at your local market

Inspired By

PriceWaka's approach is inspired by MIT's Billion Prices Project, which pioneered real-time inflation tracking.

Our methodology aligns with international standards set by the ILO/IMF Consumer Price Index Manual.

We use expenditure weights from Nigeria's NLSS 2019, the same data NBS uses for official CPI weights.

Have Better Data? Want to Help?

We're always looking to improve. Reach out if you have suggestions, corrections, or better data sources.

Email Us