Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 15.10 percent in January 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, disclosed in a press statement on Saturday that the figure represents a marginal drop from 15.15 percent recorded in December 2025 and a significant reduction from 27.61 percent in January 2025.
The Bureau explained that the report followed the completion of a CPI rebasing exercise, now using 2024 as the base year and 2023 as the weight reference period. The CPI index declined to 127.4 points, reflecting a 3.8-point decrease compared to the preceding month.
Headline Inflation Rate:
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate for January 2026 stood at 15.10%, fell by 0.05% and 12.51% 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%, which was 3.42% lower than the rate recorded in December 2025 (0.54%).
Contributions to Headline Inflation:
At the divisional level, the three major contributors to the headline inflation were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages: 6.04%, Restaurants & Accommodation Services: 1.95%, and Transport: 1.61%; while the least contributors were Recreation, Sport, and Culture: 0.05%, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics: 0.06%, and Insurance and Financial Services: 0.07.
Food Inflation Rate:
The food inflation rate in January 2026 was 8.89% on a year-on-year basis. 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 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.
Core Inflation Rate:
Core Inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 17.72% in January 2026 on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was -1.69% in January 2026, down by -2.27% compared to December 2025 (0.58%).
The newly introduced indices:
The inflation rate of the sub-indices for January 2026 shows that Services was the only index with increasing rate of 0.48%. Others decline in the month accordingly; Imported Food (-6.81%), Farm Produce (-5.10%), Goods (-4.63%); Energy (-3.13%). Meanwhile, the inflation rate on a year-on-year basis recorded were as follows; Services (22.17%), Energy (11.17%), Goods (11.03%), Farm Produce (9.76%) and Imported Food (7.62%).
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Urban and Rural Inflation Rates:
On a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in January 2026 was 15.36%. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was -2.72% in January 2026, fell by -3.71% compared to December 2025 (0.99 %).
The rural inflation rate in January 2026 was 14.44% on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in January 2026 was -3.29%, fell by -2.74% compared to December 2025 (-0.55%).
State-Level Analyses:
In analysing price movements under this section, it should be noted that CPI is weighted by consumption expenditure patterns that differ across States and locations. Accordingly, the weight assigned to a particular Food or Non-Food item may differ from State to State making interstate comparisons of consumption basket inadvisable and potentially misleading.
All Items Inflation
The all-item index for January 2026, the All-Items inflation rate on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Benue (22.48%), Kogi (20.98%), and Abuja (19.25%), while Ebonyi (8.72%), Katsina (8.94%) and Imo (10.61%) recorded the lowest rise in Headline inflation on a Year-on-Year basis. On a Month-on-Month basis, however, January 2026 recorded the highest increases in Imo (1.93%), Ondo (1.932%) and Kaduna (0.67%), while Cross River (-6.34%), Ogun (-6.30%), and Kogi (-6.03%) recorded a decline in the Month-on-Month inflation.
Food Inflation
State-level analyses of the food index in January 2026, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (19.84%), Benue (18.38%), and Adamawa (17.29%), while Ebonyi (1.69%), Abia (3.23%), and Imo (3.74%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis. On a Month-on-Month basis, however, January 2026 Food inflation was highest in Imo (-1.26%), Akwa Ibom (-2.21%) and Zamfara (-2.96%), while Yobe (-11.88%), Nasarawa (-9.06%), and Sokoto (-8.31%) recorded a decline in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis.
For more information on the January 2026 CPI, please visit the link below: https://microdata.nigerianstat.gov.ng/index.php/catalog/154
