Nigeria’s Q2 GDP growth encouraging, sustainability uncertain – Expert

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An expert, Benjamin Ekeyi, has described Nigeria’s 4.43 per cent Q2 2026 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as encouraging, but cautioned against declaring the economy firmly on a sustainable recovery path.

Ekeyi, a Public Finance Management and Governance expert, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, while reacting to Nigeria’s latest GDP report.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had reported that Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.43 per cent year-on-year in Q2 2026, higher than the 4.23 per cent recorded in quarter two of 2025.

The NBS said in nominal terms, aggregate GDP stood at N119.29 trillion in Q2 2026, compared with N100.73 trillion in Q2 2025, representing an 18.43 per cent year-on-year increase.

The expert said sustained recovery would require several consecutive quarters of growth driven increasingly by productivity, private investment, manufacturing, agriculture and infrastructure.

According to him, continued dependence on oil prices and production levels remains a major vulnerability to the economy.

Ekeyi also said the GDP growth had yet to translate into significant improvement in the living standards of ordinary Nigerians.

He described the situation as a “growth-welfare gap”, where improvements in macroeconomic indicators might not immediately translate into relief for households.

Ekeyi said that poverty remained high, while food insecurity, inflation, high transport costs, weak real wages, unemployment and rising business costs continued to constrain household welfare.

He cited International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures indicating that poverty stood at 63 per cent while about 27 million Nigerians faced food insecurity in late 2025.

He also cited the NBS figures showing headline inflation at 15.43 per cent and food inflation…