Nigeria Firms Expand as Workers Face Rising Costs

Nigeria’s private-sector PMI stood at 55.7 in October 2026, as businesses reported expanding activity and rising prices driven by fuel and transportation costs. The index slipped from 56.4 in September but stayed above 50.0, the threshold for improved business conditions. Companies set prices and staffing levels, while workers faced higher living costs and only modest increases in staff costs.

“Business conditions as measured by the headline PMI has remained in the expansionary territory for the ninth consecutive month, although it moderated to 55.7 points in October from 56.4 in September,” said Muyiwa Oni, Head of Equity Research West Africa at Stanbic IBTC Bank. Survey participants pointed to improved customer demand and the introduction of new products as key drivers of business activity.

Who Gets Hired—and Where

Employment rose in agriculture and manufacturing, while services and trade recorded declines. The report called job creation modest, though it improved in the two expanding sectors. Participants tied the change to higher new orders. The figures give a sector-by-sector view of hiring, but don't say how many people gained or lost jobs, or provide details on workers’ wages beyond the reported modest increase in staff costs.

Output and new orders climbed rapidly in October, though Oni said both were slightly weaker than in September. The report said business conditions had strengthened for nine consecutive months, marking an improvement at the start of the final quarter of the year. Those indicators track activity across private businesses; they don't show how gains reached employees or customers.

Rising Costs, Rising Prices

Fuel and transportation costs fed into production costs, Oni said, while output prices kept rising. Respondents reported higher prices for building materials and food produce. Manufacturing saw the fastest rise in selling-price inflation, just ahead of wholesale and retail.

Purchase-price inflation accelerated to a four-month high, but stayed below the peak reported earlier in the year after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Selling prices rose at their sharpest pace in four months, and more than 29 per cent of respondents raised their charges. Businesses faced marked overall input-price increases, even as that rise slowed slightly in October.

Staff costs rose modestly. Panellists linked the increases to pay rises intended to help workers meet higher living costs, and to efforts to encourage staff to complete projects more quickly and take on more work. The report gives no wage figures or worker accounts showing how far those pay rises went against the costs employees faced.

The Report’s Limits

The PMI describes business conditions through survey responses on firms’ output, orders, prices and employment. It records no worker-led organizing, mutual aid or community response, and offers no account of employees speaking for themselves. No election, legislative proposal, NGO or nonprofit response appears in the report either. What it records is a familiar imbalance in the language of economic reporting: companies’ activity gets close measurement, while the people doing the work appear mainly as staffing numbers and costs.