Often, we financial journalists report corporate earnings with fanfare, most times without juxtaposing them with short, mid, and long-term implications. This has resulted in the citizenry blaming the government of the day for the nation’s economic woes, with many not seeing beyond the figures. I understand, because the government allows those involved to go free with the loot.
Let us look at it this way. For months now, Nigerians have been told to ‘tighten their belts’, to be patient as the government’s reforms take root. Inflation is supposedly easing. The naira, we are told, is stabilising. But for millions of households, these are just words. Prices in the market remain high, purchasing power continues to shrink, and the average citizen is still gasping for relief. The real question is: if inflation is falling, why does life keep getting harder?
The uncomfortable answer lies not only in policy missteps but also in the unchecked behaviour of the private sector, particularly Nigeria’s manufacturers and corporate bigwigs, who appear to be thriving in the midst of the people’s pain.
So far this year, Nigeria’s manufacturers are reaping record profits, not because they are producing more, but because they are charging more. A recent BusinessDay analysis of nine-month financial statements from listed firms in the consumer and industrial goods sectors reveals a striking pattern: revenue is swelling, but production levels are largely stagnant.
This is inflation-induced profitability, a windfall not born of innovation, efficiency, or productivity, but of opportunistic pricing. Companies have adjusted to economic hardship by passing every/some cost to the consumer. The outcome is that while households are squeezed to breaking point, boardrooms are celebrating record margins.
“Companies have adjusted to economic hardship by passing every/some cost to the consumer. The outcome is that while households are squeezed to breaking point, boardrooms are celebrating record margins.”
A clear instance here is Nestlé Nigeria. The company reported a 33 percent increase in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, while its cost of sales rose by just 22 percent. That differential translated into a 58 percent jump in gross profit, pushing its gross margin to 37 percent, up from 31 percent a year earlier. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin rose to 23.7 percent, a remarkable improvement from the previous year’s 17 percent.
These are not isolated gains. Across the consumer and industrial goods sectors (from cement to beverages), manufacturers are capitalising on inflation to expand profit margins.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the cement industry, one of the most price-sensitive sectors in Nigeria. Nigeria’s major cement makers, Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, and Lafarge Africa, posted average EBITDA margins of 44.5 percent in nine months of 2025, up from 32.3 percent in 2024. When isolating only their Nigerian operations, that figure jumps to a surprising 49.2 percent.
To put this in context, Nigeria’s inflation rate has fallen from around 30 percent in 2024 to 18.02 percent in September 2025. Yet, cement prices have continued to rise. Builders and contractors are struggling, and housing costs have soared, deepening the construction crisis. Meanwhile, corporate profits have doubled, an irony that exposes the silent robbery embedded in Nigeria’s inflation stories.
It would be different if these companies were expanding capacity, hiring more workers, or improving efficiency. Instead, what we are witnessing is a widening gap between what Nigerians earn and what they must spend, while industrialists quietly enjoy the spoils of inflation.
Furthermore, the brewery industry offers another glimpse into this imbalance. For example, Nigerian Breweries recorded a gross margin of 40 percent in nine months of 2025, compared with 29.5 percent in 2024. Even after adjusting for inflation, its real margin stood at 32.6 percent, with operating margins jumping to 15.8 percent from just 3.8 percent the year before.
In essence, brewers are making more money even as consumers cut back. A bottle of beer or soft drink, which used to be a simple pleasure, now feels like a luxury for many Nigerians.
Across sectors, the story is the same: companies are exploiting inflation to price their products far beyond cost realities. Abnormally, the Nigerian case is always ironic, as inflation declines, prices rarely follow suit, making it an economic lopsidedness that punishes consumers while rewarding corporate greed.
It is often convenient for both government and business leaders to blame ‘global factors’ for inflationary pressure, from supply chain disruptions to high energy costs. But these explanations ring hollow when profit margins are ballooning.
The data show that while costs have indeed risen, companies have not merely adjusted prices to stay afloat; they have weaponised inflation to extract excessive profits. This is not market efficiency; it is a moral failure disguised as capitalism.
Sadly, the expression ‘shared sacrifice’ has become a slogan of governance in 2025, but the sharing has been unequal. Workers have lost jobs, consumers have lost purchasing power, and small businesses have shut down under the weight of high costs. Meanwhile, manufacturers, bankers (we will visit this sector another day), and conglomerates (the so-called engines of growth) are thriving.
If our nation is serious about recovery, this cycle of silent exploitation must end. The government cannot afford to play spectator while corporations treat inflation as a profit-making tool. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission must begin scrutinising corporate pricing behaviour and ensuring that profits are not being padded at the expense of the public.
Monetary reforms are meaningless if they do not translate into affordability and access. Fiscal policies must reward productivity, not price padding. Tax incentives should be tied to real expansion (factories, jobs, and exports) and not to inflated revenue numbers.
The challenge now is to rebalance our nation’s economic equation, where productivity, not profiteering, drives prosperity. Manufacturers must recognise that sustainable business is built on the purchasing power of consumers, not on exploiting their desperation.
In a nation where over 63 percent of citizens live in multidimensional poverty, and where inflation has devoured over 60 percent of real wages in just three years, moral capitalism is no longer optional but a necessity.
Broad-day robbery need not come with guns. It can also come with boardroom decisions that drain the people’s pockets in the name of ‘adjustment’. Nigerians deserve better, and the time to act, decisively and transparently, is now.
