At Liberty Junction in Kubwa, Abuja, a beggar stood in the middle of the road, stretching out his hands for alms as cars sped past. Korode Soronye, 35, is not uneducated. He is a university graduate who, two years after completing his studies, is still unable to find a job. With no steady income, he struggles to feed his family and cannot afford his children’s school fees.
“Life is very tough,” he says. “I never imagined I would end up on the road begging.”
Each day, Korode moves between busy intersections, hoping motorists will spare a few naira, a stark reminder of how economic reforms, while promising on paper, have left many Nigerians grappling with harsher realities on the ground.
Poor people in Northern Nigeria Source: BBC
For Korode, the removal of fuel subsidies and the sharp rise in transport and food costs pushed an already fragile life into crisis. Before, he survived on occasional tutoring and small freelance work. Today, those opportunities have dried up, while prices have doubled or even tripled.
A bag of rice now costs more than he earns in a week. Bus fares consume what little he receives in alms. On some days, he walks long distances across the city, choosing hunger over transport.
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“The government says these reforms will bring investment and growth,” he said quietly, watching traffic crawl past. “But for people like me, we are only seeing suffering.”
Around him, the entire Federal Capital Territory (FCT) tells the same story. More hawkers line the city. More children roam the streets instead of sitting in classrooms. More graduates, like Korode, compete for fewer jobs in an economy where survival has become a daily negotiation.
While President Bola Tinubu’s reforms have won praise from investors and international institutions, on the streets of Abuja, Lagos, Onitsha and Kano, their impact is measured not in fiscal indicators, but in empty pockets, unpaid fees, and the slow erosion of hope.
A raft of reforms
President Tinubu has posed himself as a reformist since he came to office on May 29, 2023. He first removed the costly petrol subsidies on the day of his inauguration, and subsequetly yanked off foreign exchange (FX) subsidies that long kept the economy in the hands of rent seekers.
He has also reformed the obsolete tax system that saw the poor paying more than the rich. He deployed the tax czar and former PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) tax expert, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, to pursue the goal.
Consequently, foreign investors, now full of confidence, are piling in Nigeria. Shell is planning to invest $20 billion in Bonga South West, which is a fillip to foreign investment in Nigeria.
Trading data released recently by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) showed that total foreign portfolio transactions rose from N852.03 billion in 2024 to N2.648 trillion in 2025. The strong participation of foreign investors boosted total turnover at the NGX, with aggregate turnover by both domestic and foreign investors rising by 113.24 per cent to N11.92 trillion in 2025, as against N5.587 trillion in 2024, the Nation reported.
Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives, Mr Bismark Rewane, said last year that investor sentiment was already shifting due to improving foreign exchange stability, sustained disinflation and stronger earnings guidance from top-tier companies.
Taxes have now become progressive and appears to protect the poor and low-income earners more than the rich. Teachers, petty traders, roadside mechanics and nano businesses pay less tax than car merchants and importers.
No respite yet
Yet, life is still very hard for millions of Korodes, who are in Shanga in Kebbi State and Ngala in Borno State. The World Bank said in its ‘Nigeria Development Update’ released in october 2025 that though growth had picked up and revenues and reserves were rising, poverty was skyrocketing in Africa’s most populous nation.
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In 2025, it said, “we estimate that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty.” The global lender said the challenge was clear, which was how to translate the gains from the stabilisation reforms into better living standards for all.
In Nigeria tiday, salaries have remained static from private to public sectors, despite skyrocketing inflation seen in the past two years. The World Bank said that Nigeria’s per capita income (PCI) had not improved since 1981.
Prices of items from fruits to vegetables are still high, despite the decelerating inflation numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). To eat a plate of food in major cities in Nigeria, cash-strapped Nigerians spend N1,000 and above.
Transport costs in Abuja and Lagos eat up the monthly salaries of workers, taking N60,000 to N200,000 off their wages.
“President Bola Tinubu has done well with his reforms. You must give him accolades where he deserves it,” said an Abuja-based public sector analyst, Mr Mohammed Gaya.
“However, he has left millions in poverty. He hasn’t been able to support families that have been hard hit by the reforms. Today, it is petrol subsidy removal; tomorow, it is taxes, and the day after tomorrow, it is the removal of electricity subsidies. Where do the poor stand in all of these reforms?” he asked.
