The name Hilda Baci keeps popping up on my timeline across all the social media pages all weekend and it got me curious to dig down to know who she is because the name does not sound familiar and this is the first time I’m getting to hear or know of her.

Well, for most of us who have been seeing the name since last weekend and as well  wondering who she is like me or asking if she is another big brother Naija contestant; here is a brief info about her ;

Hilda Bassey Effiong popularly known as Hilda Baci is a Nigerian chef who has become a national sensation after cooking non-stop for more than 90 hours in an attempt to break the world record. Hilda Baci has used over 100 different dishes since she embarked on the world-breaking record at 3 pm last Thursday. Hilda Baci has currently broken the former record for longest cooking hours by an individual. She has cooked for over 96 hours and is still cooking, beating the old record of 87 hours, 45 minutes which was set by Chef Lata Tondo of India in 2019. The Nigerian chef has blown past this record of Chef Lata Tondo as at the time this article was written, having already cooked for 96 hours, wanting to cook extra four hours to set a new world record of cooking for 100 hours.

From my further digging, I got to know that Hilda is no stranger to the Nigerian cooking scene. She regularly engages and participates in cooking contests on the Pop Central channel of the DSTV and has even won some of the contests. Hilda in 2021 also participated in the maiden edition of the Jollof Face-off Competition where she won the contest and bagged the contest grand prize of $5000.

Hilda hails from Akwa Ibom state, an oil-rich southern state in Nigeria but she is based in Lagos where she engaged in the cooking marathon which she called “Cookathon” in Amore Gardens, an open field in Lekki, Lagos.

She has enjoyed massive support from Nigerians from every walk of life. Renowned politicians, religious leaders, celebrities, social media influencers etc have all trooped to the Amore Garden where the event is taking place to show their support. Prof Yemi Osinbanjo, the current Vice President of Nigeria had also called her cell yesterday to congratulate her and to show her support and most importantly to encourage and cheer her on to the finish line.

Congratulations are in order for the queen chef. 

In its latest report for the month of April, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics said the country’s inflation rate has risen to 22.22%, a further increase from last month’s rate of 22.04%.

The NBS stated this in its CPI report released on Saturday, which also noted that food inflation moved from 24.45% in March 2023 to 24.61% in April 2023.

According to the report, in April 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 22.22% relative to March 2023 headline inflation rate which was 22.04%. The latest rate indicates 0.18% increase compared to the previous month.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.13 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2022 which was 15.92 percent,” the data bureau said.” The report said.

“Likewise, on a month-on-month basis, the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91%, which was 0.05% points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86%). This means that in April 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.05% higher relative to March 2023.”

The report also showed an increase in urban inflation on a year-to-year basis.

“In April 2023, the urban inflation rate was 23.39%, this was 6.05% points higher compared to the 17.35% recorded in April 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.05% in April 2023, this was 0.05% points higher compared to March 2023 (2.00%),” it said.

The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending April 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months was 20.82%, showing a 4.37% increase compared to the 16.45% recorded in April 2022.

On a state level, inflation rate is reported to be higher in some states (on a year-on-year basis) while others have it lower due to varying degrees of the driving forces.

Bayelsa leads the high rate with (26.14%), Kogi (25.57%), and Rivers (24.95%). On the flip side, Borno (19.06%), Taraba (19.64%) and Sokoto (19.90%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.

On a month-on-month basis, however, April 2023 recorded the highest increases in Cross River (3.05%), Bayelsa (2.92%), Rivers (2.62%), while Katsina (0.52%), Jigawa (0.74%) and Osun (0.96%) recorded the slowest rise on.

In terms of food inflation on a year-on-year basis, it was highest in Kogi (29.50%), Kwara (29.48%), and Bayelsa (29.38%), while Sokoto (19.55%), Taraba (20.20%) and Jigawa (20.68%) recorded the slowest rise.

The NBS said the increases were driven by many factors that cut across several sectors of the economy. The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, air transport, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, and road transport.

“The contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are; food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51%), housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (3.72%), clothing and footwear (1.7%), and transport (1.45%),” the agency said.

The latest increase in inflation rates means that the Nigerian people will continue to see an increase in prices of goods and services – particularly food.

The cost of basic food items required for survival by an average Nigerian family rose by 17.5 percent to N48,130 in January 2023 from N40,980 in the same period of last year, according to a 2023 Minimum Wages report.

Picodi.com, an international e-commerce platform, said the N48,130 is 60.4% higher than the country’s monthly minimum net wage of N30,000. This means, at 24.45% food inflation rate, the Nigerian people will spend more on food alone in the coming months.

The latest inflation rates also show that efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria to mitigate the rise are not paying off. The CBN has increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 11.5% to 18% between May last year and March 2023.

Also, between May 2022 and March 2023, interest rates have been increased by 650 basis points to 18% from 11.5%.

Experts believe more is urgently needed to be done to tame the tide as the government appears not ready to increase wages.

“The problem is food supply, it can’t be fixed by monetary policy alone,” Kalu Aja, a financial expert and the author of ‘Let’s Talk About Your Money’ said.

“In the short interim period, allow food imports to come in to dampen prices, until the insecurity & infrastructure issues are fixed.