Despite earning N1 billion from rice production in August, Ogun has been ranked as the most expensive state to get a healthy diet.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in a report published on Thursday, stated that it costs N1,641 to get a healthy meal within the state. This is nearly two times higher than in Katsina, where it would cost only N880 to get a healthy meal.

In August, Dapo Abiodun, the governor of the state announced that his administration had raked in N1 billion from its rice revolution project in three months.

Abiodun said the project, a pet project of the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project, is expected to grow to a revenue of  N10 billion to N25 billion per quarter.

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“Each farmer was allocated one hectare of farmland; this means that we have 200 farmers in this cluster. This project started in April this year. They began planting in May, and today we are already harvesting, making it a three-month cycle. It means that we can do this three times a year,” Abiodun said.

“20,000 bags of milled rice per cycle should be estimated to cost about N1 billion. So, these 200 farmers, made up of women and youths across the country, who farm here in just three months, have a revenue of N1 billion. If they do this three times this year, they will earn N3 billion. We have no business being hungry in Nigeria.

“In this place, I have 12,500 hectares of land, and all we have farmed is 200 hectares that yielded N1 billion for 200 farmers. From here, I can feed the rest of the country. We will scale up this project immediately from 200 to 2,000 hectares.

“We can generate N30 billion in revenue. We can take significant steps towards realising that vision of making Ogun State the food basket of this country.”

However, the NBS has disclosed that it is more expensive to get a healthy meal in Ogun than any other state in Nigeria. The NBS used a metric system based on access to food and its security within a region.

“The National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) was N1,255 per adult per day in August 2024. At the State level Ogun, Lagos and Rivers States recorded the highest cost with N1,641, N1,615, and N1,572 respectively. Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto accounted for the lowest costs with N880, N951 and N980,” the report states.

“At the zonal level, the average CoHD was highest in the South West Zone at N1,554 per day, followed by the South South Zone with N1,381 per day. The lowest average Cost of a Healthy Diet was recorded in North West Zone with N1,041 per day.”

The cost of food report in the state is also coming three months after Abiodun allocated farmlands to 26 lawmakers of the state house of assembly.

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“I recall that I had promised to allocate agricultural land to all the Ogun State legislators as part of our food security and agricultural resurgence initiative, which is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the governor said in June.

“Today, in fulfilment of the promise and in commemoration of your one year in office, I am glad to present to you the letters of allocation for the Speaker and the 26 members of the House of Assembly, and I hope that you would take advantage of this opportunity to ensure that you begin to grow what you eat and eat what you grow.

“This will be your way of ensuring the fulfilment of our desire to make Ogun State the bread basket of the nation.”

Ogun is ranked as the most expensive state to buy healthy a meal ahead of Lagos – N1,615, Rivers – N1,572, Ekiti – N1,550 and Osun – N1,545. The five least expensive states to get a healthy meal from besides Katsina using the same metrics are: Kaduna – N951, Sokoto – N980, Jigawa – N989, Taraba – N1,021 and Zamfara – N1,026

Nigerians trooped out on Tuesday to protest, among other things, the high cost of living across the country. 2023 figures show that 12% of the world population in extreme poverty were from Nigeria, living under $1.90 a day. The NBS’ average CoHD makes it clear that, with less than $2 a day, eating healthy meals three times daily would be a struggle for many Nigerians.
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