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Shoppers at Lapai Central Market in Makurdi woke up to the usual roller-coaster of food prices this week, with some items offering rare relief while others delivered fresh punishment to household budgets.
Traders say the unpredictable swings are driven by erratic supply flows, skyrocketing transport costs, and the normal seasonal squeeze as the harmattan sets in and roads deteriorate.
The good news first: melon (egusi) gave buyers something to smile about, dropping from ₦54,000 to ₦50,000 per bag, with the mudu also easing to ₦800. Guinea corn crashed by a solid ₦10,000 to ₦30,000 per bag, while beans delivered the biggest relief, tumbling from between ₦70,000–₦100,000 last week to just ₦60,000. Soyabeans followed suit, sliding to ₦45,000, and local rice (including the popular Gwari variety) fell from ₦30,000 to ₦25,000 at wholesale. Starch mudu also dropped to ₦500.
But the smiles stopped there.
Yam delivered the week’s nastiest shock, jumping from ₦3,000 to ₦5,000 per tuber as supplies tightened and demand spiked ahead of the festive season. Millet climbed from ₦40,000 to ₦47,000 per bag, maize rose from ₦25,000 to ₦30,000, and a bottle of groundnut oil now goes for ₦2,500 after weeks of steady increases.
Other movements were mixed: sweet potatoes held steady at ₦300 per piece even as the full sack dipped slightly to ₦8,000, while red oil showed the market’s typical confusion, cluster price down to ₦2,200 but bottled price stubbornly stuck at ₦2,000.
Traders warn that the coming weeks could bring even sharper fluctuations as roads worsen and Christmas demand kicks in properly. For now, families are learning to celebrate small victories (cheaper beans and egusi) while bracing for the painful bites (yam and cooking oil) in a market that refuses to pick a direction and stay there.
Welcome to Lapai, where every market day still feels like a lucky dip.
