It is the same economy. Yet, it tells two completely different stories.

For most Nigerians, inflation has become a relentless assault on household finances. Every salary appears smaller before the month ends. Transport fares consume a growing share of workers’ income. Food has become a luxury for many families, while healthcare, education, and housing continue to drift beyond the reach of millions.

But while households tighten their belts, another reality is quietly unfolding.

Some sectors are expanding. Corporate earnings are rising. Property values are appreciating. Government revenues are growing. Investors are posting stronger returns. The contrast raises a question that is increasingly difficult to ignore:

Who really benefits when inflation takes hold?

For years, inflation has been discussed almost exclusively as an economic disaster. But economists say the picture is far more complex. Inflation may impoverish wage earners and consumers, yet it can simultaneously enrich businesses and sectors positioned to benefit from rising prices, currency depreciation, and sweeping economic reforms.

A Pinnacle Daily investigation, based on exclusive interviews with leading economists and an analysis of recent economic data, found that Nigeria’s inflation crisis has effectively created two economies: one where millions struggle to keep pace with soaring living costs, and another where certain industries are recording remarkable growth.

Inflation May Be Slowing, But Nigerians Are Still Feeling the Heat

Nigeria’s inflation story has evolved over the past year, but the burden on households remains severe.

While the figures suggest inflation is no longer accelerating at the pace witnessed in 2025, when it climbed above 30 percent following the statistical rebasing, the cost of everyday living remains painfully high.

The removal of petrol subsidies sharply increased transportation costs. Exchange-rate reforms weakened the naira, making imported goods significantly more expensive. Insecurity continued to disrupt farming in major food-producing areas, while expensive diesel, electricity shortages, and logistics costs pushed production expenses higher across nearly every industry. For households, the consequences have been immediate.

Families now spend a far larger share of their income simply trying to eat, commute to work, pay rent, educate their children, and access medical care.

For businesses, operating costs have surged as inflation drives up the cost of production. Yet, while many companies are struggling to stay afloat, others have adapted remarkably well, recording strong growth and even thriving despite the challenging economic environment. “It Is More About Reform Than Inflation”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, believes describing these businesses simply as beneficiaries of inflation misses an important point.

According to him, many of the biggest winners are actually beneficiaries of Nigeria’s economic reforms.

“The current situation has a very strong link to the current economic reforms,” Yusuf said during an exclusive interview with Pinnacle Daily.

“The reforms around exchange-rate liberalization and energy pricing have been highly inflationary. Those two factors became major drivers of what Nigerians are experiencing today.”

Rather than inflation itself creating wealth, Yusuf argues that reforms have fundamentally altered how different sectors earn money. Some sectors, he explained, have seen their earnings rise far faster than inflation itself.

“If your salary or investment income has increased by 200 per cent while inflation has risen far below that level, then you are clearly better off.”

That distinction, he says, explains why certain sectors appear insulated from the economic pain experienced by ordinary Nigerians.

Banks Continue to Post Remarkable Earnings

Among the clearest examples, Yusuf points to Nigeria’s financial services industry.

Despite inflation squeezing households and businesses, commercial banks have continued reporting some of their strongest financial performances in years.

“If you look at the profits declared by the banks,” he noted, “their level of performance has gone far beyond the level of inflation.”

For shareholders, investors, and even many employees within the banking sector, the reforms have translated into stronger earnings.

The financial services industry has also benefited from high interest rates introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to combat inflation.

Higher lending rates, increased investment in government securities, and rising transaction values have all contributed to stronger profitability.

According to Yusuf, this explains why many participants in the banking sector have little reason to complain about inflation.

“The financial services sector is one of the best-performing sectors in the economy.”

Telecommunications and ICT Quietly Outperform

Beyond banking, Nigeria’s technology sector has continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience.

Telecommunications companies, software firms, and ICT businesses have managed to expand revenues despite broader economic difficulties.

Yusuf believes the sector’s ability to grow earnings significantly faster than inflation has protected investors and workers alike.

“If you look at employees in ICT, telecom companies, and software firms, and also investors in those sectors, many of them are doing very well because their earnings have risen ahead of inflation.”

Digital services have become increasingly indispensable to businesses and households alike.

As companies accelerate digital transformation and consumers rely more heavily on mobile connectivity, demand for technology services has remained resilient even in difficult economic conditions.

Oil and Gas: Benefiting From a Weaker Naira

The oil and gas sector has also emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of Nigeria’s economic reforms.

Much of the industry’s revenue is earned in foreign currency.

When those dollar earnings are converted into naira following exchange-rate liberalization, revenues increase substantially.

“The oil and gas sector has also benefited,” Yusuf explained.

“They earn in dollars, and when those earnings are translated into naira, their revenues become much stronger.”

Although operating costs have also increased, companies earning foreign exchange have generally been better positioned than businesses relying solely on naira revenues.

Capital Markets Find New Momentum

The gains extend beyond commercial banking.

Nigeria’s capital market has experienced renewed investor interest as individuals and institutions seek investments capable of protecting wealth from inflation.

Stockbrokers and investment professionals have equally benefited.

“The capital market is also doing well,” Yusuf observed.

“When you speak to the average stockbroker today, business has improved because people are looking for investment opportunities.”

As inflation reduces the purchasing power of cash savings, investors increasingly shift funds toward equities and other assets capable of delivering returns above inflation.

For investment professionals, that shift has translated into higher trading activity and improved business volumes.

Government Revenues Are Rising Too

Perhaps one of the least discussed beneficiaries of the reforms, Yusuf says, is government itself.

Exchange-rate liberalization, subsidy removal, and higher tax collections have significantly expanded revenues available to federal, state, and local governments.

“The reforms have brought more money into government,” he said.

“Federal revenues have increased. State government revenues have increased. Even local government revenues have improved.”

Yet for many Nigerians, those higher revenues have not translated into immediate improvements in living standards.

“The challenge,” Yusuf explained, “is ensuring those gains trickle down to ordinary Nigerians.”

That disconnect has become one of the defining features of Nigeria’s reform era.

Economic indicators increasingly point toward macroeconomic improvement.

But many households remain trapped in worsening financial hardship.

Two Different Nigerias

The result is an economy moving in opposite directions.

On one side are investors, exporters, banks, telecommunications companies, and sectors benefiting from exchange-rate reforms and stronger financial returns.

On the other hand are millions of wage earners whose incomes have failed to keep pace with inflation, including civil servants, teachers, journalists, factory workers, manufacturers grappling with soaring production costs, and pensioners living on fixed incomes. For these groups, rising prices have steadily eroded purchasing power, making it increasingly difficult to afford basic necessities.

“The rate at which inflation has gone up,” Yusuf warned, “is much higher than the rate at which salaries have increased.”

For these Nigerians, every new price increase means a further decline in purchasing power.

For others, it has become an opportunity for expansion.

That widening gap, economists say, explains why conversations about inflation increasingly provoke such different reactions depending on where one stands in the economy.

And while some businesses have found ways to prosper, others are facing a more difficult question: Are they simply responding to higher costs, or are they exploiting inflation to maximize profits?

That distinction lies at the heart of Nigeria’s inflation debate and is the focus of the next part of this investigation.

The winners of inflation are rarely obvious.

They do not celebrate rising food prices or soaring transport fares. They do not publicly welcome higher rents or increasing school fees.

Yet behind Nigeria’s prolonged inflationary cycle are businesses and individuals whose incomes have continued to rise even as the purchasing power of millions of Nigerians has steadily declined.

For economist and investment banker Sidiku Olayinka, understanding who benefits from inflation begins with one simple economic principle.

“In an inflationary environment, especially one driven by currency depreciation and supply shocks, those who benefit are those who can pass on higher costs to consumers, those who hold real assets, or those whose revenues naturally rise as prices increase.”

His assessment echoes a growing consensus among economists that inflation rarely affects everyone equally.

Instead, it redistributes wealth. Some sectors lose. Others quietly gain.

The Traders Who Sell What Nigerians Cannot Live Without

One of the first groups to benefit, Olayinka explains, are importers and traders dealing in essential commodities.

Food remains Nigeria’s largest household expense. As prices continue to climb, traders handling staple commodities—from rice and beans to vegetable oil, frozen foods, and household essentials—often enjoy larger nominal revenues.

Although import costs have risen because of exchange-rate depreciation, retail prices have increased even faster in many cases.

“Food prices have risen sharply over the last few years,” Olayinka said.

“Importers and traders dealing in essential commodities often benefit because higher selling prices create room for wider margins, particularly in markets where competition is weak.”

This does not mean every trader is becoming wealthy.

Many face higher transportation costs, expensive diesel, insecurity along supply routes, and rising warehouse expenses.

But economists say the structure of Nigeria’s markets often allows middlemen to capture a disproportionate share of the gains.

The Landlords’ Windfall

Perhaps nowhere is public frustration more visible than in Nigeria’s housing market. Across Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and other urban centers, rent increases have become a recurring source of anxiety for tenants.

Many families now spend well above the internationally recommended threshold of 30 percent of income on housing alone. The sharp increases have sparked accusations that landlords are exploiting inflation.

Yet the reality, economists say, is more nuanced.

According to Olayinka, owners of real estate and other physical assets generally fare better during inflation because their assets naturally appreciate in value.

“Landlords and property owners benefit because rents rise alongside general prices, while the value of land and buildings also appreciates,” he explained.

“Hard assets provide protection against the erosion of the naira.”

However, Dr. Muda Yusuf cautions against painting every landlord with the same brush.

Responding to a question from Pinnacle Daily on whether soaring rents simply reflect profiteering, Yusuf argued that many landlords are themselves grappling with significantly higher costs.

Construction materials now cost several times what they did only a few years ago.

Generators consume more expensive fuel. Maintenance bills have increased. Security costs have risen.

The price of imported fittings has climbed sharply following exchange-rate reforms.

“There are genuine increases in costs,” Yusuf explained.

“If someone is importing materials today, they are paying three or four times what they paid a few years ago.”

In such cases, higher rents may simply reflect the higher cost of owning and maintaining property.

When Inflation Becomes Exploitation

But Yusuf is equally clear that not every price increase can be justified.

“There are also people who are taking advantage of the general increase in prices to exploit consumers,” he said.

“If your operating cost rises by 10 per cent and you increase your prices by 50 per cent, that is exploitation.”

It is a distinction that resonates with many Nigerians who complain that prices often continue rising even after fuel prices or exchange rates stabilize.

Economists say weak competition, limited market transparency, and inadequate consumer protection have made it easier for some businesses to increase prices beyond what higher operating costs alone would justify.

Food distribution chains are particularly vulnerable.

With multiple layers of wholesalers, transporters, and retailers involved before products reach consumers, opportunities for excessive markups increase significantly.

Exporters: Turning a Weak Naira Into Higher Earnings

While consumers struggle with the consequences of naira depreciation, exporters have experienced the opposite effect.

Businesses earning foreign currency now receive substantially more naira for every dollar they bring into the country.

Olayinka says this has particularly benefited exporters involved in agriculture, solid minerals, and other non-oil products.

As Nigeria pushes to diversify exports, producers selling internationally have become more competitive while simultaneously earning higher naira revenues.

Recent export performance reflects that trend, with non-oil exports recording significant growth as the weaker naira improved competitiveness in foreign markets.

The Banking Advantage

Financial institutions have also remained among the strongest performers.

The Central Bank’s tight monetary policy has pushed interest rates to elevated levels as authorities attempt to tame inflation.

While expensive borrowing creates difficulties for manufacturers and small businesses, banks often benefit from wider lending margins and stronger returns on government securities.

Olayinka says inflation also increases the nominal value of banking transactions.

“When an item that previously sold for one million naira now sells for three million naira, banks earn more because transaction values themselves have increased.”

That dynamic helps explain why Nigeria’s banking industry has continued to post strong financial results even as many sectors struggle.

Manufacturers With Pricing Power

Not every manufacturer benefits from inflation.

Many continue to battle rising energy costs, expensive imported inputs, and weak consumer demand.

However, companies with strong brands and significant market share often enjoy an important advantage.

They possess pricing power.

According to Olayinka, manufacturers capable of transferring higher production costs to consumers while maintaining sales volumes are generally better positioned than smaller competitors.

Businesses relying heavily on domestic raw materials have also become relatively more competitive as imported alternatives become increasingly expensive.

The Growing Gap Between Owners and Earners

Inflation does something economists have long understood. It rewards ownership. It punishes fixed incomes.

Those who own land, property, shares, export businesses, or companies with pricing power often preserve or even increase their wealth.

Those who rely primarily on salaries rarely do.

That explains why investors, exporters, and asset owners frequently emerge stronger from inflationary periods, while wage earners experience declining purchasing power.

It also explains why inflation increasingly widens inequality.

As prices continue climbing, the gap between those whose incomes adjust automatically and those whose wages remain stagnant becomes even larger.

The Bigger Question

The debate, however, is no longer simply about who benefits.

It is about whether the current system allows a small number of sectors to capture most of the gains while the majority of Nigerians absorb nearly all of the pain.

Economists interviewed by Pinnacle Daily agree that inflation alone cannot explain every price increase.

Some businesses are genuinely trying to survive.

Others are clearly exploiting market conditions.

Separating one from the other may prove one of the greatest challenges for policymakers seeking to restore public confidence.

Why Economists Say Inflation Is Becoming ‘A Tax on the Poor’ And What Nigeria Must Do Before the Gap Between Winners and Losers Widens Further

Economist and financial analyst Steve Nwachukwu says inflation has forced businesses into survival mode, leading many manufacturers to adopt what economists describe as shrinkflation and skimpflation.

“Inflation is a loss to the economy,” Nwachukwu told Pinnacle Daily during an exclusive interview.

“It is also a tax on the poor because people with the lowest incomes bear the greatest burden.”

He explained that shrinkflation occurs when companies reduce the quantity of a product while keeping the price almost unchanged.

Skimpflation, on the other hand, happens when businesses maintain the same price but quietly reduce the quality of the product or service to cut production costs.

According to him, many manufacturers have resorted to these strategies because raising prices aggressively could drive already struggling consumers away.

“It is a way of trying to remain in business,” he said.

“They know consumers are already under pressure. If they increase prices too much, customers may simply stop buying.”

The result is that consumers pay virtually the same amount but receive less value.

For households already grappling with rising transport fares, rent, school fees, and healthcare costs, the impact is cumulative.

Inflation Is Not Just Rising Prices—It Is Shrinking Purchasing Power

Economists insist the true cost of inflation cannot be measured only by how much goods cost. The greater danger is what inflation does to incomes.

Every salary that fails to rise with prices loses value. Every pension buys less. Every fixed income becomes weaker.

Nwachukwu believes that is why inflation disproportionately hurts ordinary workers.

“It is an indirect tax on the poor,” he said.

“The people who rely on salaries and fixed incomes have little protection against rising prices.”

Meanwhile, businesses capable of adjusting prices or benefiting from higher transaction values are often better positioned.

Banks, for example, experience larger nominal transaction values as prices increase.

“When goods that once sold for one million naira are now selling for three million naira, banks process larger transactions and generate more income from those activities,” he explained.

Combined with high interest rates, this has strengthened earnings across much of Nigeria’s banking sector.

Everybody Is Losing—But Not Equally

One of the most striking observations from the economists interviewed by Pinnacle Daily is that inflation does not create absolute winners.

Instead, it creates relative winners.

Someone may gain in one area while losing heavily in another.

Nwachukwu used landlords as an example. Although many property owners have increased rents, they also face rising costs.

School fees for their children have increased. Healthcare has become more expensive. Food costs more. Building materials have become significantly costlier.

Maintenance expenses continue to rise.

“A landlord may earn more rent,” he said, “but that same landlord is also paying more for virtually everything else.”

The same applies to traders, manufacturers, and even exporters.

Higher revenues do not always translate into higher real profits once inflation-adjusted costs are considered.

Yet the burden remains far heavier on salary earners whose incomes rarely keep pace with rising prices.

The Reform Debate

Nigeria’s current inflation cannot be separated from the country’s ongoing economic reforms.

Dr. Muda Yusuf argues that the biggest beneficiaries are not profiting from inflation itself but from the economic reforms that have reshaped Nigeria’s economy, particularly exchange-rate liberalization, the removal of fuel subsidies, higher government revenues, and greater foreign exchange flexibility. While these reforms have created clear winners and losers across different sectors, he stresses that the real challenge for government is ensuring that their benefits eventually trickle down to ordinary Nigerians rather than remaining concentrated among a few industries and groups.

“The economy may be improving on paper,” Yusuf observed, “but people judge the economy by what they experience.”

“When salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, it becomes difficult to convince people that things are getting better.”

Asked what government should do to reduce inflation while ensuring reforms benefit more Nigerians, the three economists independently arrived at remarkably similar conclusions.

Bring Down Food Prices

Food remains the single largest contributor to household inflation.

Dr. Yusuf argues that restoring security in farming communities is essential.

Thousands of farmers displaced by insecurity must be able to return safely to their farms.

Government must also invest in irrigation, storage facilities, and agricultural value chains to increase food production and reduce supply shortages.

Olayinka agrees, adding that reducing Nigeria’s dependence on food imports through climate-smart agriculture and improved logistics would make food prices less vulnerable to exchange-rate shocks.

Reduce Transport Costs

Transportation has become one of the biggest pressures on household budgets.

Yusuf believes government should move beyond building roads and invest heavily in affordable mass transit.

“You cannot build roads alone,” he said.

“You also need high-capacity buses that ordinary Nigerians can afford.”

Affordable public transport, he argues, would immediately reduce commuting costs while easing pressure on household incomes.

Lower Production Costs

Manufacturers continue to struggle with high energy prices and expensive borrowing.

Nwachukwu argues that reducing electricity costs, improving power supply, and lowering interest rates over time would help businesses reduce production costs without constantly increasing prices.

He also advocates policies that improve access to affordable financing for productive sectors of the economy.

Strengthen Consumer Protection

Both Yusuf and Olayinka warn that genuine cost increases should not become an excuse for excessive profiteering.

They recommend stronger competition laws, better market monitoring, and more effective consumer protection to discourage unjustified price increases.

Greater transparency in commodity markets would also reduce opportunities for price manipulation.

Expand Social Support

The economists further recommend targeted social interventions aimed at protecting the most vulnerable households.

These include greater investment in public healthcare, affordable education, mass housing, and targeted cash support for low-income families.

Yusuf believes improving access to quality public services would significantly reduce the financial burden currently placed on households.

“If people can access affordable hospitals, affordable schools, and affordable housing, the pressure on family incomes immediately comes down,” he said.

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Nigeria’s inflation story is usually measured in numbers: headline inflation, food inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and GDP growth. But behind those figures are millions of personal struggles that no economic data can fully capture.

The findings of this Pinnacle Daily investigation show that inflation is not affecting everyone equally. Rather than creating universal hardship, it is redistributing economic gains and losses across different segments of society.

Sectors with pricing power, foreign exchange earnings, or appreciating assets, including banking, financial services, telecommunications, oil and gas, exports, and parts of the real estate market, have largely managed to outperform inflation. In contrast, salary earners, pensioners, and millions of Nigerians whose incomes have remained largely stagnant continue to bear the heaviest burden.

The defining difference is simple: those whose earnings rise faster than inflation are able to preserve or even grow their wealth, while those whose incomes lag behind are steadily losing purchasing power.

As Nigeria continues to pursue economic reforms, the real test extends beyond bringing inflation under control. It is ensuring that the benefits of those reforms are shared more broadly, rather than concentrated in a few sectors while millions struggle with the rising cost of food, housing, transportation, education, and healthcare.

Until that balance is achieved, inflation will remain more than an economic statistic. It will continue to widen the gap between Nigerians who can shield themselves from rising prices and those forced to make increasingly difficult choices simply to get through each day.