Nigeria’s headline inflation rate edged down to 15.1 percent in January 2026, from 15.15 percent in December 2025, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, February 16.
While the month-on-month movement was modest, the year-on-year picture tells a more encouraging story.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 12.51% lower than the rate recorded in January 2025 (27.61%),” the NBS said, noting that the rate of increase in average prices slowed compared to both the previous month and the same period last year.
Food inflation, which has been a particular pressure point for Nigerian households, showed a sharper improvement.
The NBS reported a food inflation rate of 8.89 percent on a year-on-year basis in January, down significantly from 29.63 percent recorded in December 2025.
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“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2026 was -6.02%, down by 5.66% compared to December 2025 (-0.36%),” the bureau said.
It attributed the decline to falling prices of staple foods including water yam, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize, guinea corn, beans, beef, egusi, cassava and cowpeas.
The NBS added that “the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2026 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.29%, which was 18.18% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2025 (38.47%).”
Regionally, food inflation was felt most acutely in Kogi, Benue and Adamawa on a year-on-year basis, while Ebonyi, Abia and Imo recorded the slowest rises.
On a month-on-month basis, Yobe, Nasarawa and Sokoto saw the steepest declines in food prices, while Imo, Akwa Ibom and Zamfara recorded the highest increases.