Abuja: For decades, Nigeria’s middle class symbolized stability, aspiration, and economic balance, with families affording decent housing, education, healthcare, and savings for the future. However, that sense of security is rapidly slipping away as rising inflation, weak purchasing power, and soaring living costs push millions of middle-income Nigerians toward poverty.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, about 133 million Nigerians are now multidimensionally poor, a staggering figure that has intensified fears about the near disappearance of the country’s middle class. The World Bank projects an even grimmer outlook, warning that Nigeria’s poverty rate could climb to 62 percent by 2026, leaving an estimated 141 million people trapped in hardship.
Once the backbone of consumption, investment, and job creation, the middle class, estimated at just 23 percent of the population by the African Development Bank (AfDB), is increasingly unable to withstand the pressure of inflation, fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation, and rising utility costs. As food prices soar, transport fares surge, and rent and electricity bills climb, a lifestyle that once felt secure is becoming painfully fragile.
In Nigeria, the middle class typically comprises individuals earning between N300,000 and N1.5 million monthly, including educated professionals across public and private sectors, civil servants, bankers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and small and medium-scale entrepreneurs. For decades, they have served as economic stabilizers, bridging the gap between the wealthy elite and the millions living in poverty while driving consumption, investment, and job creation. But that stabilizing force is weakening fast.
Only a few years ago, a monthly income of N500,000 to N1.5 million could support a relatively stable lifestyle with modest cars, school fees, decent housing, healthcare, and some savings for emergencies. Today, even those earning within this range struggle to afford basic necessities. Food now consumes a disproportionate share of household income, transportation costs have surged, rent has doubled in some cities, and electricity tariffs, alongside other essential bills, continue to rise.
Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, a civil servant, highlights the erosion of the middle class after the Federal Government removed petrol subsidies and floated the naira in 2023. He states, “As civil servants, who constitute the bulk of the middle class, our take-home pay can no longer take us home. Every perceived essential commodity has become a luxury.”
A banker, Mrs. Dupe Alao, echoes the same frustration, describing a once-comfortable middle class now forced to stretch every Naira. School fees and healthcare, once routine expenses, now require careful planning or are delayed altogether. Single-income households can no longer cope, forcing spouses and adult children to take on extra jobs just to survive.
Entrepreneurs are not spared. Mr. Gbenga Oduwaiye, who runs a logistics and transportation business, notes that inflation spiked sharply after fuel subsidy removal, driving up the cost of transport, spare parts, and rent. He explains that multiple taxes, high spare-part costs, and bank charges are suffocating small businesses, leading to layoffs and reduced incomes.
Economist and agro consultant, Mr. Sunday Peter, describes inflation as the central force shrinking the middle class. He emphasizes that people who once paid their bills comfortably, saved, and invested can no longer meet basic needs. Peter advocates for government priorities in inflation control and cost-of-living reductions, including temporary import support and incentives for local investment.
Economist Mr. Ephraim Audu attributes the decline to inflation, naira devaluation, and fuel subsidy removal. He calls for short-term measures such as food subsidies, decentralised national food banks, and expanded cash-transfer programmes, along with medium- and long-term strategies to stabilize the economy.
As Nigeria grapples with rising poverty and economic uncertainty, the fate of its middle class may well determine the country’s future.