The Federal Government and the World Bank have acknowledged that Nigeria’s improving economic performance has yet to translate into the expected social and economic benefits for millions of citizens grappling with rising living costs.
Although the administration of President Bola Tinubu has recorded improvements in government revenues and key macroeconomic indicators, persistent inflation and widespread poverty continue to undermine the impact of its economic reforms on households, reports The Guardian.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, made this observation on Thursday at the launch of the latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update (NDU) in Abuja, stressing that macroeconomic stability was only the foundation for sustainable growth, not the ultimate objective.
“The fact that the economy is growing does not mean that we have arrived. We must avoid complacency,” Oyedele said.
He explained that the government’s objective was to achieve economic growth that creates jobs, increases incomes and improves living standards, rather than simply record impressive economic statistics.
“We want growth, but not growth for the sake of it. We want growth that creates jobs,” he added.
The World Bank’s report, titled Beyond the Federal Purse: How Higher Revenues Reshaped State Priorities, showed that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, compared with 3.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025 and 3.5 per cent in 2024.
The institution projected average economic growth of 4.4 per cent between 2026 and 2028, indicating that the economy could maintain its recovery over the period.
However, the positive growth figures have yet to eliminate the economic pressures facing ordinary Nigerians, particularly the high cost of food, transportation and other essential goods and services.
Although headline inflation declined from 27.6 per cent in January 2025 to 15.2 per cent in December 2025, the downward trend stalled in 2026 amid rising fuel and food prices. Food inflation reached 19.6 per cent in August.
The World Bank attributed the renewed inflationary pressures partly to higher global oil prices following the conflict in the Middle East and seasonal increases in food prices.
Oyedele said the Federal Government remained committed to bringing inflation down to single digits, while the World Bank projected that the rate could decline to about 12 per cent by 2028.
Nigeria’s external position also strengthened during the period under review, with the current account surplus increasing from $8.6 billion, representing 6.7 per cent of GDP, in the first half of 2025 to approximately $12 billion, or 7.1 per cent of GDP, in the first half of 2026.
Despite these improvements, the government and the World Bank acknowledged the need to translate macroeconomic gains into tangible improvements in the welfare of Nigerians.
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has sarcastically congratulated Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Policy Communication, for acknowledging that the administration’s economic reforms have pushed more Nigerians into poverty.
Bwala made the admission during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday while defending the reforms introduced since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.
The measures, which include the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market, triggered sharp increases in the cost of living, with households and businesses bearing higher transportation, logistics and production costs.
While acknowledging the immediate hardship caused by the policies, Bwala argued that the suffering was an unavoidable consequence of restructuring the economy.
“Please let it be clear, even to the opposition, the reason you have this number of poor people and some of these doomsday analytics that people are giving is that we undertook a reform,” he said.
“There is no part of the world where, if you start a reform like that, there will not be discomfort. More people went down to poverty, acknowledged, but since the reform started till today, we have made marked progress, which is what we have spent the last three years talking to Nigerians about,” Bwala added.
He maintained that despite the number of Nigerians living in poverty, the administration had made significant progress through its economic policies.
Reacting to the remarks, ACF Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Mohammed-Baba, said the organisation welcomed Bwala’s acknowledgment of the hardship associated with the reforms, describing it as a departure from the tendency to deny or dismiss criticism of the administration.
Mohammed-Baba made the comments during an appearance on Arise Television’s News Day on Thursday.
“Let’s first of all be very happy and congratulate Bwala. Until now, one would expect that whenever he comes on TV or appears on social media, it is to deny,” he said.
“But I think we are making progress since his admitting fundamentally that the reforms have brought untold hardships on Nigerians. Most especially, he has not denied that poverty has been rising,” he added.
The ACF spokesman argued that multidimensional poverty remained widespread across the country and criticised attempts to justify the hardship as a temporary consequence of economic restructuring.
The competing assessments highlight the challenge confronting the Tinubu administration: sustaining improvements in economic indicators while ensuring that the benefits reach households struggling with high prices, declining purchasing power and limited economic opportunities.
While the Federal Government insists that its reforms are laying the foundation for sustainable growth, the World Bank’s assessment and the ACF’s criticism underscore the continuing demand for economic policies that deliver measurable improvements in Nigerians’ living conditions.
