Many residents of Kwara state are expressing joy as a 50kg bag of rice now goes for between N52,000 and N54,000 from the N80,000 during the last Ramadan and N65,000 about a week ago in markets across Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Most residents, who spoke with City & Crime expressed relief over the new development.

At the Mandate Marke in Ilorin, the state capitalt, grains and foodstuffs sellers confirmed that there had been a reduction in the prices of food items, especially rice. Many of the traders attributed the trend to the strengthening of the naira against the dollar in recent weeks, among other factors.

Pastor Adeyanju Adeyemo, a rice dealer, said the prices of foreign rice were gradually coming down, especially for those who bought with foreign currency.

He said, "Last week, it was N61,000, but now N54,000. And I have told my customers that with this trend, in another one month, it may drop to N25,000.

Mr Abdullateef AbdulAfeez, another rice seller, said, "We now sell N50kg for N52,000, with a projection of N30,000 in a few weeks with the current situation."

However, Abubakar Ibrahim said the prices of locally produced foodstuffs had not gone down due to security challenges.

Mrs Adesanmi Temilola, a customer, while expressing relief over the development, said the rate of reduction was not fast enough compared to when the dollar was rising, and called on the government to further improve on the situation.

Many other residents spoken expressed joy of the new development and pleaded with government to not only sustained it but come with policies that will further crash the prices of not only rice but other essential commodities.