Nigeria’s inflation rate slips to 15.1%

Nigeria may be seeing the first signs of relief from persistent inflationary pressures. The country’s inflation rate dropped to 15.10% in January 2026, signaling a slowdown in the pace of rising prices, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The new Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released on Monday, shows that the all-items index fell to 127.4 points in January, representing a 3.8-point decline from December 2025. Analysts attribute this moderation largely to a significant drop in food prices, which makes up a substantial portion of household.

In a statement, Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said that on a year-on-year basis, headline inflation declined marginally by 0.05 percentage points from 15.15 percent in December 2025 and fell by 12.51 percentage points from 27.61 percent recorded in January 2025. He noted that the decline reflected the impact of the new 2024 CPI base year and 2023 weight reference period.

According to the report, “the headline inflation rate for January 2026 stood at 15.10%, falling by 0.05% and 12.51% when compared to 15.15% in December 2025 and 27.61% in January 2025, respectively.”

The month-on-month headline inflation rate in January 2026 was -2.88 percent, compared with 0.54 percent in December 2025, indicating a significant slowdown.

Food inflation was the main driver of relief, slowing to 8.89 percent year-on-year and contracting sharply by 6.02 percent month-on-month, reflecting widespread declines in staple food prices across the country.

The Bureau attributed the drop to lower prices of key food items including yams, eggs, maize, beans, beef, cassava, palm oil, and groundnut oil, easing pressure on household spending after months of sustained increases.

The report stated, “the decrease can be attributed to the rate of decrease 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, Cow Peas (White), among others.”

At the state level, inflationary pressures remained uneven. Benue (22.48%), Kogi (20.98%), and Abuja (19.25%) recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation, while Ebonyi (8.72%), Katsina (8.94%), and Imo (10.61%) posted the slowest increases, highlighting persistent regional disparities in price movements.