How we calculate prices

Which reports count

A report counts towards current prices when it is corroborated or accepted, and was observed within the freshness window for its category. Pending, disputed, rejected and stale reports are shown in history but excluded from the summary.

Freshness windows

• Grains: 21 days
• Beans and legumes: 21 days
• Tubers and roots: 14 days
• Vegetables: 7 days
• Fruits: 7 days
• Oils and fats: 21 days
• Meat and poultry: 10 days
• Fish and seafood: 10 days
• Dairy and eggs: 14 days
• Spices, seasonings and other staples: 30 days

Independent evidence

If one contributor reports the same shop several times, only their most recent report from that shop is used for the typical, lowest and highest prices. Repeated reports from one person are not independent evidence.

Lowest, typical and highest

• Lowest — the lowest qualifying report for the exact variant in the selected area. It links to that report, and may be a promotion (we label it).
• Typical — the median of independent qualifying reports. The median resists a single unusually high or low price.
• Highest — the highest qualifying report in the selected area.

The lowest price is one observation at one place. It is not automatically verified for the whole area, and we never present it as the neighbourhood price.

Areas

Selecting an area includes reports from that area and every place within it (for example, choosing Abuja Municipal includes Wuse and Garki). We never substitute a nearby area's reports and label them as the area you chose.

Confidence

• Limited data — fewer than 3 contributors or fewer than 2 outlets.
• Fair coverage — meets those thresholds; shown as an area estimate.
• Good coverage — at least 6 contributors, 4 outlets and 10 reports.

Variants are never mixed

Local rice in a 50kg bag, imported rice in a 50kg bag, a 25kg bag and rice sold per mudu are different products. Each has its own prices.

Price movements

We compare the median of the last 14 days with the 28 days before, and only show a movement when both periods have at least three independent verified reports.

Advertising

If we ever show sponsored placements, they will be clearly labelled and kept separate. Advertising can never change calculated prices, verification, or the order of organic results.