Lokoja Intelligence — Market intelligence for Nigeria's food trade

Niger · Benue

Two rivers. One market.

At Lokoja, the River Niger meets the River Benue — the confluence where Nigeria's north meets its south. It is where the country was named, and where its trade has always converged: grain flowing down from Kano's ancient markets toward the demand of Lagos, Aba and Onitsha.

That confluence is what we build. Supply meets demand. A trader's question in Hausa meets an answer in seconds. Street-level truth meets boardroom intelligence. Lokoja — where Nigeria's markets meet.

For business

See demand forming before anyone else does.

Every question asked through Lokoja becomes a structured, time-stamped demand signal — what commodity, where, at what trade size, in which language. Aggregated, that's a real-time map of Nigeria's food-trade intent that no survey can match.

timestamp 2026-08-09 09:41:07 commodity Maize location Kano trade_size 10-tyre lorry (30t) ← bulk buyer language Hausa channel WhatsApp answered yes

A trader asking about a lorry load is a bulk buyer moving 30 tonnes. One asking per bag is a retailer. Lokoja captures the difference — by commodity, by city, by day — including demand we couldn't serve yet: the clearest signal of where markets are underserved.

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FMCG & input suppliers

Watch demand shift by region and commodity in real time. Position stock and distribution where questions are being asked this week — not last quarter.

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Banks & lenders

Trade-activity signals from real market participants — an alternative data layer for agricultural credit, pricing risk against actual corridor economics.

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Logistics & aggregators

Corridor-level arbitrage mapping, net of field-calibrated haulage costs — which routes carry real margin this month, and which spreads are illusions.

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For traders — the Lokoja network

The intelligence starts as a free WhatsApp assistant.

Every signal on our platform begins with a real trader asking a real question. Lokoja answers in the units the market actually talks — 50kg bags, 100kg bags, 10-tyre lorries, 18-tyre trailers — and understands buhu, apo, akpa and taya.

Message the number

Tap the WhatsApp link — no app download, no sign-up form. Greet it in any of five languages and it explains itself.

Ask like you talk

"Price of maize in Kano." "Masara nawa ne a Kano." "How much be one bag of garri for Lagos." Typos and nicknames like Eko? Understood.

Trade with confidence

Get the current price in every trade size at once — then follow up with just "per bag" or "18 tyres" and it re-quotes instantly.

Our data

Honest numbers, built the hard way.

Most "price apps" quote raw spreads that evaporate the moment a truck is loaded. Lokoja Intelligence is built on the opposite principle: show only what survives real-world costs.

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Trusted public sources

World Bank Real-Time Food Prices and WFP market monitoring — 67 markets, refreshed monthly, cross-checked against on-the-ground trader quotes.

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Field-calibrated economics

Haulage costs measured from real Nigerian truck rates — fixed loading costs plus per-tonne-km rates from working transporters, not textbook estimates.

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Net-of-cost, always

Every arbitrage corridor is quoted after transport costs, with road-circuity correction. If a spread doesn't survive the journey, we don't show it.

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Honest about gaps

No data for your town yet? Lokoja says so — and quotes the nearest covered market with the distance, never pretending Aba is Onitsha.

Nigeria's food markets, quantified.