Nigerians are happy that the naira is beginning to appreciate but they expect to see its impact on inflation and cost of living.
The naira appreciated to an eighth-month high of 1474.78/$ at the official foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as dollar demand eased on a raft of fiscal and monetary policies of the government.
It strengthened to N1,599.33 at the parallel market, also known as the black market, on Monday.
With relative stability in the local currency, Nigerians expect to see the effect on prices and the general cost of living.
“Life has been tougher in the last two years because of the naira instability. We have seen inflation rise and the cost of living worsen each day. We hope to see the impact of the naira rebound on the prices of goods in the market,” said Umoh Ujah, a Lagos-based digital marketing expert.
For Sam Opeyemi, an Abuja-based trader, the naira depreciation forced him to resign from the civil service. However, he is happy that the very cause of his resignation is now being resolved.
“I was a federal civil servant, but I was living from hand to mouth due to the depreciation of the naira. In April last year, I resigned because I could not manage my salary, which was less than N200,000. So, I became a trader in June,” he narrated.
“Right now, I expect the naira rebound to make things less expensive so that life can return to normalcy.”
Inflation jumped from 22.79 percent in June 2023 to 34.80 percent in December 2024, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). President Bola Tinubu removed subsidies on petrol on May 29, 2023, pushing prices from N200/litre to nearly N1000/litre. The government also liberalised the forex market, depreciating the value of the naira by over 60 percent.
Prices of items from yams to shoes rose, jumping more than 100 percent in one year.
Within a period of four months (June-September), the average cost of preparing a pot of jollof rice, a popular Nigerian delicacy for a family of five, rose by 5.1 percent to N21,300, according to the latest Jollof Index report.
Oliver Kpason, a young investor from Plateau State, recalled how businesses, already reeling from economic challenges, found themselves battling a surge in import costs and rising operational expenses after subsidy removal.
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For consumers, the devaluation meant soaring inflation and a sharp decline in purchasing power, deepening the country’s poverty crisis in ways that were hard to ignore.
Paul Ochai, sales manager at Stellar International Company Limited, noted that the naira devaluation could have been less damaging if the country had been exporting more of its products.
“The gap between exports and imports is painfully slim,” he said, noting that this imbalance has left businesses vulnerable.
A stronger export economy could have softened the devaluation’s impact, he added.
According to Veriv Africa’s 2025 economic outlook, the naira lost 69 percent of its value between 2023 and 2024.
Large corporations were not also left out as telecom companies such as MTN and Airtel reported huge losses.
In 2023, MTN lost N137 billion ($87 million) while Airtel Africa lost about $89 million as against $750 million in the preceding year.
Relief for Nigerians
However, the naira rebound is here with Nigerians.
Yomi Olugbenro, West Africa tax leader at Deloitte, stated that the naira has been beaten down for too long and it is time for a recovery.
Olugbenro praised the federal government’s decision to remove foreign exchange subsidies, calling it a wise move given the unsustainable nature of the policy.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria lost an alarming N13 trillion in forex subsidies between 2021 and 2023, making the reform a necessary step toward long-term economic stability.
Olugbenro stressed that while the bold reforms are a positive move, noting that the real impact on Nigerians will depend on how the saved funds are allocated.
He cautioned, however, that other measures might take longer to yield results.
