In the same week in July 2026, two headlines appeared in Nigerian newspapers.
The first announced that Nigeria’s GDP had reached $420 billion, driven by technology, services and oil, with the economy growing by 4.1 percent.
The second reported that 31.8 million Nigerians were facing acute food insecurity, while the price of rice had risen by about 140 percent in two years.
Both headlines were true.
That is the uncomfortable reality of Nigeria in 2026. The economy is growing, at least according to the headline numbers, but millions of Nigerians are finding it harder to afford food. We remain Africa’s largest economy by GDP, yet we are also home to one of the largest populations of hungry people in the world.
