Workers and employers in Nigeria have pushed back against the Federal Government’s celebration of a 4.43 per cent GDP growth recorded in Q2 2026, insisting the figures do not reflect the realities in homes and factories.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, CDWR, said the announcement was out of touch with the daily struggles of citizens who are still battling inflation, low wages and poor public services.
In a statement of reaction titled, “The Ministry’s ‘Growth’ Charade: A Paper Tiger Disguised as Progress,” the NLC accused the government of focusing on statistics instead of welfare.
It said the reported expansion had done nothing to ease the burden on households.
“The Ministry’s ‘Growth’ Charade: A Paper Tiger Disguised as Progress,” the labour centre declared, arguing that “the government was celebrating abstract percentages while Nigerian workers and households continued to grapple with high living costs, declining purchasing power and inadequate social services.”
The Congress also described the government’s narrative as a political move.
“This is a political statement orchestrated by the ruling elite to perpetuate themselves in office,” it stated, adding that three years after fuel subsidy removal, “Nigerian workers and the wider masses had instead been subjected to ‘needless and untold hardship.’”
The NLC demanded urgent government action in key areas, including massive public investment in infrastructure and social services, protection of local industries from damaging imports, living wages that reflect prevailing economic realities, and making essential commodities affordable.
It further called for improved access to education, housing, healthcare, transportation and water.
