The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has raised concerns over the latest inflation figures, warning that the recent increase is beginning to put real pressure on businesses and overall economic activity.
This follows the new data showing inflation ticking up to 15.38 percent in March, reversing the slight relief seen earlier in the year.
What is showing up now is not just higher prices, but how those increases are spreading. Food is getting more expensive again, transport costs are rising, and fuel is quietly feeding into everything else from production to distribution.
This is where the strain comes in for many businesses. Costs are going up from multiple directions at the same time, but adjusting prices is not always straightforward. There is only so much consumers can absorb before demand starts to drop.
Fuel is a major part of it. Once energy costs rise, it moves through the entire chain, from moving goods to running basic operations. Add exchange rate pressure and imported inputs, and it becomes harder to keep costs stable.
What this points to is that the earlier slowdown in inflation may not have been as solid as it looked. The moment global pressure builds or local costs shift, prices respond quickly.
There is also a limit to how much policy can do in the short term. Interest rates are already high, and tightening further does not fix supply issues or reduce the cost of moving goods across the country.
So the concern here is not just that inflation has increased slightly. It is that the conditions behind it are still very much in place, and once prices start rising again, they tend to spread faster than expected.
