The World Bank has urged the Nigerian government to implement reforms that protect the country’s poorest against rising inflation.
It also advised the government to boost the livelihoods of all Nigerians through more productive work, which it said is key to reversing high poverty levels.
The World Bank gave the advice in its latest April 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria, which was obtained on Monday.
Earlier last month, it had, in its Africa’s Pulse report, declared that more Nigerians would become poor over the next five years, citing Nigeria’s structural economic weaknesses, dependence on oil revenues, and national fragility as key barriers to meaningful poverty reduction.
The government, to alleviate the inflationary effects of recent reforms on the poor, launched temporary cash transfers to reach 15 million households.
The bank, however, said that roll-out has been slow.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration, upon assumption of office on May 29, 2023, implemented bold economic reforms such as the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira.
The reforms are said to have spiked inflation rates.
Nigeria’s annual inflation surged slightly to 24.23 percent in March 2025, from 23.18 percent in the prior month, which was the softest since June 2023.
Food inflation, the largest component of the inflation basket, remained elevated but eased to 21.79 percent from 23.51 percent in the prior month.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products and energy, quickened to 24.43 percent from 23.01 percent in the previous month.
Monthly, consumer prices rose by 3.90 percent in March, accelerating from 2.04 percent in February.
“Multiple shocks in a context of high economic insecurity have deepened and broadened poverty. Since 2018/19, an additional 42 million people have fallen into poverty, so more than half of all Nigerians (54 percent) are estimated to live in poverty in 2024, based on World Bank projections.
“Although recent macroeconomic reforms have begun to stabilise the economy, inflation remains high, dampening consumer demand and continuing to undermine the purchasing power of Nigerians. Labour incomes have not kept up with inflation, pushing many Nigerians, particularly in urban areas, into poverty,”; the World Bank said.
