Breaking: Nigeria’s Inflation Drops to 15.1%
By Momodu Favour
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has eased to 15.10 per cent in January 2026, offering early signs of relief from prolonged price pressures following the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Data contained in the latest CPI report released on Monday showed that the all-items index declined to 127.4 points in January, representing a 3.8-point drop from December 2025. The moderation was largely driven by a sharp contraction in food prices on a month-on-month basis.
In a statement accompanying the report, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the headline inflation rate fell marginally by 0.05 percentage points from 15.15 per cent recorded in December 2025.
On a year-on-year basis, inflation declined significantly by 12.51 percentage points compared to 27.61 per cent in January 2025.
He noted that the sharp annual decline reflects the impact of the new 2024 CPI base year and the 2023 weight reference period.
“The headline inflation rate for January 2026 stood at 15.10 per cent, falling by 0.05 percentage points from 15.15 per cent in December 2025 and by 12.51 percentage points from 27.61 per cent in January 2025,” the report stated.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation contracted by 2.88 per cent in January 2026, a marked improvement from the 0.54 per cent recorded in December 2025.
Food inflation provided the most significant relief, slowing to 8.89 per cent year-on-year and contracting sharply by 6.02 per cent month-on-month.
The bureau attributed the development to broad-based reductions in the average prices of staple food items across the country, including yams, eggs, maize, beans, beef, cassava, palm oil and groundnut oil.
According to the NBS, the decline in food prices helped ease pressure on household spending after months of sustained increases.
However, inflationary pressures remained uneven across states. Benue recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation at 22.48 per cent, followed by Kogi at 20.98 per cent and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) at 19.25 per cent.
In contrast, Ebonyi posted the slowest increase at 8.72 per cent, while Katsina and Imo recorded 8.94 per cent and 10.61 per cent, respectively.
Economic analysts say while the moderation offers cautious optimism, sustaining the downward trend will depend on continued stability in food supply chains, exchange rate management and broader macroeconomic reforms.
