|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: Ossai Success, the special assistant to Delta state governor Sheriff Oborevwori on media, claimed that Delta is the cheapest state in Nigeria.
Verdict: Misleading! While data from the National Bureau of Statistics indicates that Delta is among the most affordable states in Nigeria, it is not the cheapest state overall.
Full Text
In Nigeria’s political landscape, it is common for aides of political office holders to frequently cite figures — whether accurate or not — to defend their principals and sway public opinion in their favour.
Recently, Ossai Success, the special assistant to Delta state governor Sheriff Oborevwori, touted his principal’s policies.
In a Facebook post, he claimed Delta remains the cheapest state in Nigeria to live in. However, he did not provide any source to support his post.
“The cheapest state to live in Nigeria remains Delta State. You can never be disappointed,” he wrote.
Expectedly, his post triggered conversations in the comment section, with many of his followers arguing with his submission.
While some argued that states like Oyo, Kano, and Edo are the most affordable in terms of housing, food, and access to infrastructure, others outrightly dismissed the claim as politically motivated.
Given the country’s economic situation and significance, DUBAWA fact-checked the claim.
Verification
Earlier in the year, the National Bureau of Statistics rebased the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure that economic indicators accurately reflect current realities. This got the attention of experts, either in support or against it.
The CPI measures the inflation rate by tracking changes in the prices of goods and services consumed by households over time, either year over year or monthly.
As of December 2024, headline inflation was 34.80%, up from 34.60% in November 2024, while food inflation was 38.84%.
Bauchi, Sokoto, and Kebbi had the highest year-on-year inflation rates for all items, while Imo (29.99%), Delta (29.23%), and Katsina (28.33%) recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation.
For food inflation, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Edo recorded the highest year-on-year rise, while Ogun, Rivers, and Kwara recorded the slowest rise.
From the indices provided, all items inflation in Katsina was lower than Delta according to a year-on-year basis as of December 2024 and for food inflation, Delta state (37.22%) came behind Ogun (34.24%), Rivers (35.43%), Kwara (35.58%), Bayelsa (36.07%), Lagos (36.15%), Imo (36.33%) and Akwa Ibom (36.34%).
On March 17, 2025, the NBS released the February 2025 CPI document showing the inflation rate across states. The headline inflation rate in February 2025 was pegged at 23.18% relative to the February 2024 inflation rate of 31.70%, albeit with a different base year. Food inflation for February 2025 stood at 23.51% on a year-on-year basis.
Edo (33.59%), Enugu (30.72%), and Sokoto (30.19%) states recorded the highest headline inflation rate year over year, while Kaduna (15.45%), Akwa Ibom (15.53%), and Plateau (15.74%) recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation year over year.
However, the highest month-on-month headline inflation rate for February 2025 was recorded in Sokoto (11.98%), Kogi (11.38%), Edo (8.87%), as opposed to Kaduna (-8.83%), Ondo (-4.78%) and Plateau (-3.73%) which recorded the lowest rise.
Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis for Feb 2025 was highest in Sokoto (38.34%), Edo (35.08%), Nasarawa (33.53%), while Adamawa (12.18%), Ondo (13.66%), and Oyo (15.55%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation.
Month-on-month food inflation was highest in Sokoto (18.83%), Nasarawa (15.32%), and Kogi (11.65%). On the other hand, there was a decline in Ondo (-9.81%), Kaduna (-8.91%), and Oyo (-6.42%) recorded decline.
Delta State was not one of the states with the slowest rise in headline or food inflation in February 2025, either year over year or month over month.
The annual change in food inflation for Delta State was 19.8%, while all items inflation was 21.87%.
DUBAWA analysed Delta State’s inflation rate for the 12 months of 2024 based on data from the NBS.
For the first four months of the past year, Delta was neither among the top three states with the slowest all-items inflation, year-on-year or month-on-month, nor among the states with the highest inflation rates. However, from May to Dec 2024, the state consistently ranked among the top three with the slowest inflation growth.
However, Delta recorded the slowest rise in all-items inflation in Sept, Oct, and Nov.
Meanwhile, Delta did not rank highest or lowest in food inflation rates on a month-on-month or year-on-year basis.
The state recorded considerably lower headline inflation rates from Jan to Dec 2024 than the national average. However, the trend was different for food inflation. From Jan to Apr 2024, Delta experienced higher food inflation rates than the national average. However, this changed from May to December, with the state’s food inflation rate declining relative to the national trend.
A. Inflation rates across selected states on a year-on-year basis in comparison to Delta
| Headline inflation (Jan-Dec 2024) | Food inflation (Jan-Dec 2024) | |||
| Month | Slowest (%) | Delta | Slowest (%) | Delta |
| January | Borno (22.57) | 28.70 | Bauchi (28.83) | 38.94 |
| Feb | Borno (26.28) | 29.50 | Bauchi (31.46) | 40.83 |
| Mar | Borno (25.78) | 31.03 | Nasarawa (33.76) | 43.26 |
| Apr | Borno (26.09) | 30.56 | Adamawa (33.61) | 41.86 |
| May | Borno (25.97) | 28.67 | Adamawa (31.72) | 39.35 |
| Jun | Borno (25.90) | 29.80 | Nasarawa(34.31) | 40.60 |
| Jul | Benue (27.28) | 28.06 | Adamawa (33.48) | 37.62 |
| Aug | Benue (25.13) | 26.86 | Benue (32.33) | 35.39 |
| Sept | Delta (26.35) | 26.35 | Kwara (32.45) | 34.38 |
| Oct | Delta (27.85) | 27.85 | Kwara (31.68) | 34.97 |
| Nov | Delta (27.47) | 27.47 | Kwara (31.39) | 34.8 |
| Dec | Katsina (28.33) | 29.23 | Ogun (34.24) | 37.22 |
B. Inflation rate in Delta in comparison to the national average from Jan-Dec 2024
| Headline inflation | Food inflation | |||
| National Average | Delta | National Average | Delta | |
| Jan | 29.90 | 28.70 | 35.41 | 38.94 |
| Feb | 34.80 | 29.50 | 39.84 | 40.83 |
| Mar | 33.20 | 31.03 | 40.01 | 43.26 |
| Apr | 33.69 | 30.56 | 40.53 | 41.86 |
| May | 33.95 | 28.67 | 40.66 | 39.35 |
| June | 34.19 | 29.80 | 40.87 | 40.60 |
| July | 33.40 | 28.06 | 39.53 | 37.62 |
| Aug | 32.15 | 26.86 | 37.52 | 35.39 |
| Sept | 32.70 | 26.35 | 37.77 | 34.38 |
| Oct | 33.88 | 27.85 | 39.16 | 34.97 |
| Nov | 34.60 | 27.47 | 39.93 | 34.8 |
| Dec | 34.80 | 29.23 | 39.84 | 37.22 |
In its report, the NBS noted that CPI is weighted by consumption expenditure patterns, which differ across states and locations.
Conclusion
The claim that Delta is the cheapest state to live in Nigeria is unsubstantiated, as data from the NBS showed otherwise. Several states are cheaper than Delta, based on the latest NBS data.
