00:06Inside this plastic factory in Abuja, production continues.
00:15But the cost of keeping the machines running has surged sharply, forcing difficult decisions.
00:24For owner and manufacturer Adewali Salako, the days of absorbing rising costs are over.
00:31Raw materials, energy and logistics have all gone up and businesses like his are now passing
00:38those costs on.
00:40I was buying for 1,600 and now per kg.
00:47Now I'm buying for 2,200.
00:52It's whatever I buy or sell.
00:54Look, you don't expect me to buy something at 5 naira and you expect me to sell it at
00:575 naira.
00:58The final consumer has to bond the effect of whatever happens and that is why you can see
01:03that the cost of living is extremely high.
01:06For households, the impact is immediate.
01:09Families are cutting back, switching to cheaper alternatives and stretching every naira.
01:16Emanuel Jimmy, a father of three, says rising costs have forced his family to rethink even
01:23basic needs like drinking water.
01:26If you check the price of a bottle of water, it's about 2,800 or thereabouts.
01:38It's a shift being repeated across many homes as purchasing power continues to shrink.
01:47Experts say what's happening now is a direct result of rising production costs, driven largely
01:54by fuel prices and unreliable electricity.
01:59And as manufacturers adjust, the burden moves down the chain.
02:03With prices rising sharply, the risk extends beyond households.
02:09We should raise up for eventual increase in cost of goods and services across board.
02:18Consumers bear the brunt of every increase in production costs because it will be transferred
02:24to them.
02:25When you have an hyperinflation, what simply means is that you are taking more people away from
02:32the marginal survival level to deep down into poverty.
02:37And the risk is this.
02:40It's going to lead to a collapse, total collapse of the economy.
02:43If the citizens desire to stay back and adjust to the situation, many companies will close
02:50down.
02:51As production costs continue to rise and prices adjust across markets, more families are being
02:58forced to make tough choices, cutting back on essentials, switching to cheaper alternatives
03:05and in some cases, going without.
03:07The concern now is how long households can keep adjusting before the strain becomes unbearable.
03:15As costs continue to rise on both sides, Nigeria's delicate balance between production and affordability
03:23is being pushed to its limits.
03:26For businesses, it's a fight to stay afloat.
03:29And for consumers, it's a daily struggle to cope.
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