The World Bank has called on Nigeria to undertake sweeping reforms of its trade policy especially by cutting high import tariffs and removing import bans as part of urgent measures needed to ease stubborn inflation and protect millions of citizens slipping further into poverty.
While inflation has begun to cool due to improved coordination between monetary and fiscal authorities, the global lender warned that the pace remains too slow to restore the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians. It noted that as long as prices stay elevated and economic growth underperforms, households will continue to feel the strain of a prolonged cost-of-living crisis.
“Inflation needs to come down much faster. Although there’s been real progress, inflation is still very high, particularly food inflation, and this particularly affects the poor,” Mathew Verghis, the World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, said in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay on Friday.
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He explained that Nigeria’s high import tariffs and long-standing import bans continue to distort prices, keeping goods more expensive than in neighbouring countries. “One set of measures that we suggested could reduce inflation would be measures around trade. Nigeria has both high tariffs and import bans that contribute to keeping prices higher than they need to be,” Verghis said.
According to him, lowering tariffs and lifting import bans on essential goods particularly items heavily consumed by poorer households would help bring down food prices. He added that easing restrictions on imports of manufacturing inputs would also reduce production costs for Nigerian businesses, supporting efforts to curb inflation, which eased for the seventh consecutive month to 16 percent in October 2025.
Nigeria currently prohibits the importation of 24 categories of goods, including food products, some medicines, textiles, industrial materials such as glass bottles, and consumer goods like footwear and furniture. These restrictions are part of a long-standing policy to protect domestic industries and reduce reliance on imports.
However, with inflation significantly higher than regional peers; Ghana at about eight percent and South Africa below four percent the World Bank argued that Nigeria can no longer rely on protectionist measures if it hopes to stabilise prices and restore citizens’ spending power.
Verghis noted that trade barriers are only part of the problem. High transport costs, unreliable energy supply, and broader inefficiencies continue to raise production and distribution expenses across the economy.
He stressed that Nigerians will only begin to feel the benefits of the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration when economic productivity improves and more jobs are created.
According to the World Bank, unlocking these gains will require a new wave of reforms aimed at lowering the cost of doing business, simplifying regulations, easing trade constraints, improving energy and transport systems, and strengthening competition to help small and medium-sized enterprises thrive.
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