Last October, Idoma Prince visited a pharmacy in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja to replace his old inhaler but he returned home empty-handed.
The 24-year-old user interface designer was shocked after he was told the cost of a Ventolin inhaler, which he uses for his asthma, was now 8,500 Nigerian naira ($5.34). He returned home with the thoughts of the shocking price looming in his mind. Just a few months before, he had bought the same product for 3,500 naira ($2.46).
“I wasn’t prepared for that [price] at all so I had to delay getting it till I had enough money on me. This January I went to get [it] again and I saw that the price had gone up to 10,000 naira ($7.02) for one inhaler,” he told Devex.
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About the author
Pelumi Salako
Pelumi Salako is a Nigerian journalist covering culture, technology, inclusive economies, and development. His works have appeared in Al Jazeera, The Guardian, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, NPR, Foreign Policy, and elsewhere. He holds a B.A. in History and International Studies from the University of Ilorin.
