Abuja, Nigeria – Adeola Ehi had been looking forward to taking her two-year-old daughter home to meet her grandparents for the first time this Christmas. But increased household spending which included an unexpected rent increase made the 43-year-old communications consultant shelve the planned journey.
In Nigeria, where more than half of the population of 200 million lives on less than $2 a day, every little price increase puts a significant strain on household incomes. At least 133 million people suffer from “multi-dimensional poverty”, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which says citizens spend about half of their income on food and another 20 percent on transportation.
