ABUJA, 05 July 2021, (TON): Nigerian nutritionist Emiolo Ogunsola stands in front of a dozen new mothers in a Lagos public hospital, listing the basic foods they need to keep their children well nourished: Eggs, vegetables and beans among them.

Her pitch is abruptly interrupted. For the mothers listening, even those essentials are increasingly beyond their reach.

A young mother with a child cradled in her arms, said "Ma, how can you expect us to buy that, everything is so expensive, there is no money to buy all that."

Inflation is rising around the world as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, and while Western central bankers say it is only temporary, the soaring prices are having dramatic consequences in countries like Nigeria.

Africa's most populous nation with 210 million inhabitants, Nigeria competes with India for the largest number of poor in the world.

But battered by the double economic impact of low global oil prices and the pandemic, the World Bank estimates Nigeria's soaring inflation and food prices pushed another seven million people into poverty in 2020.

According to official statistics “food prices have increased more than 22 percent since the start of the coronavirus crisis.”

For many people feeding the family has become a daily challenge.