Nigeria’s headline inflation rate moderated to 15.1 percent in January 2026, a slight drop from the 15.15 percent recorded in December 2025, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In its report, the NBS stated that the January 2026 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.05 percentage points compared to December 2025. On a year-on-year basis, inflation was 12.51 percentage points lower than the 27.61 percent recorded in January 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation stood at -2.88 percent in January 2026, representing a 3.42 percentage point decline from the 0.54 percent recorded in December 2025. This indicates that the rate of increase in the average price level slowed significantly at the start of the year.
Food inflation recorded a notable slowdown. Year-on-year, the food inflation rate stood at 8.89 percent in January 2026, down sharply from 29.63 percent in December 2025 — a decrease of 20.74 percentage points.
Month-on-month, food inflation declined by 6.02 percent, compared to -0.36 percent in December 2025. The NBS attributed the drop to falling average prices of key staples, including water yam, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize, guinea corn, beans, beef, melon (egusi), cassava tuber, and cowpeas.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending January 2026 stood at 20.29 percent, 18.18 percentage points lower than the 38.47 percent recorded in January 2025.
At the state level, Kogi recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 19.84 percent, followed by Benue at 18.38 percent and Adamawa at 17.29 percent. In contrast, Ebonyi (1.69 percent), Abia (3.23 percent), and Imo (3.74 percent) posted the slowest increases in food prices.
On a month-on-month basis, Imo (-1.26 percent), Akwa Ibom (-2.21 percent), and Zamfara (-2.96 percent) recorded the highest food inflation rates, while Yobe (-11.88 percent), Nasarawa (-9.06 percent), and Sokoto (-8.31 percent) experienced the most significant declines.
The latest data point to easing price pressures at the beginning of 2026, particularly within the food sector, offering cautious optimism for consumers and policymakers aiming to sustain economic stability.
