FIJ
“Ah!” Ayomide Ilesanmi, a university graduate, exclaimed.
Her eyes widened with her mouth agape.
One would have thought she saw a ghost, but that was not the case. She only reacted that way because she could not believe her ears.
Earlier that day, she had gone to the popular Eko Market in Lagos to purchase some items. She had some balance left and decided to purchase a pack of sanitary pads for her next menstrual cycle.
When Ilesanmi walked into a retail store, the owner told her a pack of sanitary pads for the brand she wanted cost N2,000, but the amount she had left was insufficient. Ilesanmi bade the store owner goodbye and left for home.
Although she did not have enough money to purchase it then, she planned to get it at a nearby retail store. Sanitary pads are essential items many women cannot live without, and she had to make plans for her next menstrual cycle.
Back at home, she visited another retail store and was surprised to hear how much the store owner was selling a pack of sanitary pads for her desired brand. In this store, its owner sold the pack for N2,200, N200 higher than the amount she heard at Eko Market.
Ilesanmi told FIJ that she had bought the same pack at N1,700 the previous month and was shocked to hear that the price had increased.
“The last time I bought that brand, it was N2,200. Before then, it was N1,700. I exclaimed when I got to a store near my home and heard it was N2,200 and selling for N2,000 in Eko Market. I would have gotten it in bulk if I had known it was selling for a higher price elsewhere,” Ilesanmi told FIJ.
NOTHING, BUT INCREASING COST OF SANITARY PADS IS CONSTANT
In Nigeria, nothing is constant but the increasing cost of sanitary pads defies logic.
Many women, like Ilesanmi, walk into retail stores to purchase sanitary pads and are usually shocked to hear prices different from how much they had bought the last time.
From luxuries to necessities, the prices of goods and services are skyrocketing in Nigeria, and many Nigerians are feeling the brunt of this economic meltdown. The increasing inflation rate affects almost every item’s price, and sanitary pads are not left out.
FIJ visited a retail store in Opebi on Tuesday to inquire about the prices of sanitary pads. Their prices ranged between N750 and N4,065.
| BRAND | PRICE |
| Softcare | N750 |
| Always (ultra platinum sanitary pad long) | N1,205 |
| Always (ultra normal with wings) | N1,885 |
| Molped | N800 |
| Molped (16) | N2,310 |
| Molped (32) | N4,065 |
| Drylove (7) | N1,400 |
| Drylove (30) | N2,800 |
| Aya | N900 |
This has not always been the norm.
A report published by the BBC in 2019 revealed that the cheapest sanitary pads were sold for N150, while the average ones cost between N350 and N400. Five years later, N400 can only purchase a sachet of 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 sanitary pads, not a pack of 8 like in 2019.
This trend is leaving a mark on women by influencing their habits.
Many women who cannot keep up with the rising costs are either changing the brand of sanitary pads they use or opting for unsanitary items instead of sanitary pads.
Ilesanmi told FIJ that although sanitary pads were affordable for her often, there may be days when she would be unable to afford them, making her think about women who cannot afford them.
The brunt of these costs is heavy on families with more daughters. A family with five daughters would spend no less than N4,000 on sanitary pads monthly and N48,000 every year.
Shallom Ekene’s family falls into this category.
Ekene, another young Nigerian woman, comes from a family of five daughters. Four out of the five daughters have begun their menstruation. She told FIJ that she and her sisters are experiencing the brunt of the increasing cost of sanitary pads.
“The brunt of the increasing cost of sanitary pads felt by women in Nigeria is real. I am experiencing it big time because I come from a family of 5 girls. We don’t buy sanitary pads individually since our cycles are close, so we buy them together and spend about N3,000,” Ekene told FIJ on Tuesday.
She added that her younger sister is not financially independent, so she pays for her sanitary pads most of the time.
For Ilesanmi, the rising cost of sanitary pads has her switching between different brands of sanitary pads since she can no longer conveniently afford her desired brand.
“I used Ladycare because it was thick and my flow was extremely heavy growing up. I now use Drylove and Softcare because it is cheap(er),” said Ilesanmi.
Although Ilesanmi and Ekene live kilometres apart, the increased sanitary pads pricing has influenced their choice of brands equally.
Like Ilesanmi, Ekene has also switched from using her desired brand, which she grew up using, to a cheaper brand.
“I now go for a cheaper brand. I used to use Ladycare but it is now one of the most expensive brands. The one I use now is not bad. I am always careful not to go for the ones that are too cheap because of the quality,” Ekene told FIJ.
Despite the increasing costs, both women can afford sanitary pads, but not every Nigerian woman of menstrual age enjoys this privilege.
In Nigeria, there are about 37 million of them.
Other women who cannot keep up with the increasing prices of sanitary pads use old rags and leaves, while some use clothes or tissues. Using these items is not only unsanitary but also poses health risks, including reproductive and urinary tract infections, which can result in future infertility and birth complications.
WHY PRICES OF SANITARY PADS ARE HIGH
Sanitary pads have always been expensive and unaffordable for many Nigerian women. However, these current prices are at all-time highs. Over the years, women and menstrual health advocates have urged the government to proactively reduce sanitary pads’ costs to enable more women to afford them.
In 2020, the federal government yielded to some of these demands by exempting sanitary pads from value-added taxes. However, this was insufficient. The price of sanitary pads in Nigeria did not fall.
A value-added tax is a type of tax paid on purchased goods or for rendered services and is charged at a rate of 7.5% in Nigeria. It is also not the only factor contributing to the increasing cost of sanitary pads.
Segun Ajibola, a professor of Economics at Babcock University, told FIJ on Thursday that other factors such as exchange rates, cost of production, input, energy and others contribute to the increasing prices of sanitary pads in Nigeria.
Sanitary pads are either imported or locally produced for use in Nigeria. The imported ones have a 20% import duty, influencing their market prices. While the cost of production impacts the prices of locally manufactured sanitary pads. Other factors, such as exchange rates, also play an active role in determining the product’s price.
The economics professor told FIJ that the increased exchange rate and inflation influence the cost of sanitary pads, whether locally manufactured or imported.
“The exchange rate has increased. So, every imported item will come at a higher cost and market price. The cost of various inputs has skyrocketed for the locally manufactured ones. The cost of power, either electricity, petrol or diesel, has increased,” Ajibola told FIJ.
“Other auxiliary costs of production such as transportation have also gone up. There has been pressure on all types of cost, and if you add all of these together, there is no way the price of anything won’t increase, including sanitary pads.”
Local factories rely on electricity or fuel for production and sometimes import some constituents of their manufactured products. Since the beginning of this year, petrol and electricity tariffs have increased, and the dollar-to-naira exchange rate has increased exponentially. It currently sits at 1,638.6/$.
