Nigeria’s inflation rate drops to 15.10%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 15.10 per cent in January 2026.

The NBS announced the rate via its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released on Monday, February 16, 2026.

The bureau said the CPI, which measures the changes in prices of goods and services, declined to 127.4 in January 2026, reflecting a 3.8-point decrease from December 2025 (131.2).

It stated: “The headline inflation rate for January 2026 stood at 15.10 per cent, fell by 0.05 percent and 12.51 per cent when compared to 15.15% and 27.61% recorded in December 2025 and January 2025, respectively.

“The month-on-month headline inflation rate in January 2026 was -2.88 per cent, which was 3.42 per cent lower than the rate recorded in December 2025 (0.54 per cent).”

The NBS listed the three major contributors to the headline inflation to include food and non-alcoholic beeverages, restaurants and accommodation services, and transport; while the least contributors were recreation, alcoholic beverages, and insurance and financial services.

It noted that the food inflation rate in January 2026 was 8.89 per cent on a year-on-year basis, adding that on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2026 was –6.02 per cent, down by -5.66 per cent compared to December 2025 (-0.36 per cent).

The bureau attributed the decrease to the decline in the average prices of water yam, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize (corn) grains, guinea corn, beans, beef meat, melon (egusi) unshelled, cassava tuber, and cow peas (white), among others.

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The NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in January 2026 was 15.36 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was -2.72 per cent in January 2026, falling by -3.71 per cent compared to December 2025 (0.99 per cent).

“The rural inflation rate in January 2026 was 14.44 per cent on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in January 2026 was -3.29 per cent, fell by -2.74 per cent compared to December 2025 (-0.55 per cent),” it added.

Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi State (19.84 per cent), Benue State (18.38 per cent), and Adamawa State (17.29 per cent), while Ebonyi State (1.69 per cent), Abia State (3.23 per cent), and Imo State (3.74 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Imo (-1.26 per cent), Akwa Ibom (-2.21 per cent), and Zamfara (-2.96 per cent), while Yobe (-11.88 per cent), Nasarawa (-9.06 per cent), and Sokoto (-8.31 per cent) recorded a decline in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.

The Star