Business
Nigeria’s business activity expands as household confidence weakens
Nigeria’s business activity strengthened in September 2026, but households became more pessimistic about economic conditions, finances and prices, according to new reports by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN’s September Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that overall economic activity expanded for the fourth consecutive month, with the Composite PMI rising to 53.0 points from 52.7 points in August.
The survey, conducted between 7 and 11 September among 1,900 purchasing and supply executives across the Industry, Services and Agriculture sectors, showed that 23 of the 32 subsectors surveyed recorded expansion, while nine declined.
The improvement was supported by stronger industrial activity, with the Industry PMI rising to 52.0 points in September from 50.6 points in August, marking a second consecutive month of expansion.
The sector’s Output Index also rose to 53.2 points, supported by increases in new orders and employment, while the Raw Materials Inventory Index returned to expansion at 51.1 points from 49.4 points in August.
The Services sector remained in expansion at 53.2 points, compared with 53.3 points in August, while the Agriculture PMI eased slightly to 53.1 points from 53.4 points.
The regulatory body said agriculture had now recorded 26 consecutive months of expansion.
However, the improvement in business activity was accompanied by renewed pressure on input prices.
The Composite input price index increased by 0.8 points in September, while the output price index declined by 0.5 points.
CBN said the September PMI pointed to a “broadening recovery” in economic activity, although the renewed increase in input price pressures warranted close monitoring.
Household expectations
Meanwhile, the picture was less positive among households. In a separate report, CBN’s September Household Expectations Survey, it was revealed that the Overall Consumer Sentiments Index fell sharply to -18.7 points from -9.9 points in August, indicating increased pessimism about the economy.
The Economic Conditions Index stood at -21.5 points, while the Family Financial Situation Index was -23.9 points and the Family Income Sentiments Index stood at -10.5 points.
This indicates a pessimistic outlook on current economic conditions among households and regarding their family financial situation.
Also, the report showed that Nigerian households also reported stronger concerns about prices.
The average price sentiment index rose to 33.5 points from 23.0 points in August, indicating that respondents perceived prices as remaining high. Among the selected items, households reported the lowest perceptions of price changes for food and telecommunication services.
The Central Bank said households expected price pressures to remain elevated over the next three and six months, with the price outlook indices standing at 29.7 and 28.4 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s headline inflation eased marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026 from 15.43 per cent in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), while month-on-month inflation fell more sharply to 0.71 per cent from 1.57 per cent.
CBN said the respondents’ cautious mood was also reflected in household spending intentions, with food remaining the dominant expenditure priority, followed by transportation, other household goods, education, and electricity and water.
It said households remained particularly reluctant to make major purchases. The sentiment indices for house purchases, motor vehicles, investments and consumer durables were all negative, at -68.2, -67.3, -50.7 and -49.5 points, respectively.
Buying conditions also remained weak, with the index for consumer durables at 24.8 points and that for motor vehicles and buildings and landed properties at 24.2 points, all below the 50-point threshold.
The survey further showed that 61.1 per cent of respondents believed faster price increases would weaken the Nigerian economy, while 62.2 per cent preferred lower lending rates.
However, 45.1 per cent favoured higher interest rates when they were presented as a means of containing inflation, while 44.8% preferred lower interest rates, even at the cost of rising inflation.
READ ALSO: CBN urges Nigerians to handle Naira with care
Despite the weak September sentiment, households expected confidence to improve gradually, with the Overall Consumer Sentiments Index projected at -8.7 points next month, -0.4 points over the next three months and 7.1 points over the next six months.
The contrasting findings suggest that while business conditions continued to improve in September, households remained under pressure from high prices, interest rates and concerns about their finances.
The regulatory body said households remained cautious during the month, with subdued buying conditions and purchase intentions pointing to persistent concerns about household finances and economic conditions.
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The Bank of Industry (BOI) said it will expand financing for agriculture, local healthcare manufacturing and digital businesses in 2027.
The bank stated this as it seeks to consolidate the gains of its 2025–2027 corporate strategy and strengthen Nigeria’s industrial development.
The bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Olasupo Olusi, disclosed the plan on Thursday at a meeting in Lagos, where he outlined the bank’s priorities for the final year of the strategy.
Mr Olusi said BOI would work with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on the National Industrial Finance Compact to attract more long-term capital into Nigeria’s industrial sector.
He also said the bank would deploy its new European Investment Bank facilities to agriculture and local healthcare manufacturing to increase domestic production of food and medicines.
The funding includes €85 million secured from the European Investment Bank for agriculture and another €50 million for healthcare manufacturing in 2026, as part of more than €2.2 billion in new funding the bank has secured for Nigerian industry since 2024.
READ ALSO: BOI supports 1.68m jobs as lending rises 26% to ₦644.9 billion
“We will deploy our new European Investment Bank facilities into agriculture and local healthcare manufacturing, so that Nigeria produces more of the food and medicines it consumes,” he said.
The bank also plans to expand its information and communications technology (ICT) and digital economy portfolio through the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme.
Mr Olusi said the initiatives formed part of the bank’s efforts to consolidate its achievements and meet the targets of its 2025–2027 corporate strategy.
“2027 is the final year of our strategy, and our task is to consolidate and meet every target we set,” the BOI boss, Mr Olusi, said.
BOI said it disbursed N644.9 billion in 2025, reaching 12,501 businesses and supporting 1.68 million jobs.
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First HoldCo Plc has appointed Gwen Mwaba as a non-executive director of the financial institution, effective 15 October, following an approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The lender disclosed the appointment in a regulatory filing signed by Abiola Baruwa, the group company secretary, on Thursday.
First HoldCo said the appointment was made in accordance with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Rulebook.
According to the lender, Ms Mwaba brings significant expertise in corporate governance and board oversight, credit risk and portfolio management, banking strategy, capital deployment, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and emerging-market risk.
Profile
Ms Mwaba brings nearly three decades of experience in global banking and development finance institutions, with particular expertise in credit risk oversight, portfolio governance, corporate and sovereign lending, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance and emerging markets.
Until recently, she served as managing director of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), based in Cairo, Egypt.
In that role, Ms Mwaba had executive leadership responsibility for trade finance and structured credit activities across Africa and the Caribbean.
The newly appointed director also oversaw a $19.5 billion portfolio of sovereign, financial institution and corporate exposures.
She contributed to the bank’s Pre-Credit and Credit Committees, providing senior credit judgement on major lending transactions. She also oversaw portfolio strategy, sector exposures and country risk limits.
Before that, Ms Mwaba served as regional head for Anglophone West Africa at Afreximbank, overseeing regional strategy and credit origination across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Cape Verde.
Earlier, she was executive vice president of Structured Trade and Commodity Finance at Standard Bank Plc, London, where she was responsible for complex commodity finance, export credit agency-backed facilities and pre-export financing transactions across Africa.
Her earlier banking career included senior roles at Stanbic Bank Zambia and Standard Bank South Africa, including head of Vehicle and Asset Finance and head of Corporate Banking.
READ ALSO: CBN restates single-digit inflation target as FG woos investors with tax credits
Ms Mwaba’s wider industry experience includes membership of the editorial board of Trade Treasury & Payments.
Until recently, her also served on the Multilateral Institutions Board Advisory Panel of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) and the World Trade Organization-led Expert Group on Trade Finance.
Ms Mwaba holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.
She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds a professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Transport.
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