Nigeria, Feb. 12 -- The woman looked askance as she was told the latest prices of the food items she had come to the market to buy. "Everything too cost", she moaned. Another woman haggling with the next seller interjected: "No be say dem too cost; na every day dem price too dey go up." "Every day, ke? Na every minute", the seller herself volunteered. She explained that she bought some stuff very early that day in the village market before one of her customers called her on the phone to place an order that necessitated her going back to the seller to buy more of the same item. Within a space of under one hour, she said prices had changed. "Na so the thing be nowadays."

As the distraught woman stood there struggling to decide whether to b...