Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, down from 15.43 per cent recorded in July, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The figure, contained in a statement issued on Tuesday, September 15, by the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, also showed a significant decline from the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.
The NBS said the CPI stood at 146.3 in August 2026, representing a 1.0-point increase from the preceding month, following the recent rebasing of the index to a 2024 base year, with 2023 as the weight reference period.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation stood at 0.71 per cent in August, down from 1.57 per cent in July, indicating that the average prices of goods and services increased at a slower rate during the month.
Food Inflation Falls to 19.57%
Food inflation also recorded a decline, dropping to 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with 25.30 per cent in the corresponding month of 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation fell sharply to 1.02 per cent, from 5.56 per cent in July.
According to the NBS, the decline was driven largely by changes in the average prices of commodities including palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon (egusi), fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken and turkey meat.
At the divisional level, Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation at 6.16 per cent, followed by Restaurants and Accommodation Services at 1.99 per cent and Transport at 1.64 per cent.
Core Inflation Drops
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 13.29 per cent year-on-year in August 2026.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation stood at -0.06 per cent, compared with 0.15 per cent in July.
The newly introduced sub-indices showed month-on-month increases of 1.35 per cent for Farm Produce, 0.12 per cent for Services, 0.45 per cent for Goods and 0.91 per cent for Imported Food, while Energy recorded a decline of 0.36 per cent.
Lagos Records Highest Inflation
At the state level, Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year all-items inflation at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent.
Sokoto recorded the lowest year-on-year headline inflation at 2.11 per cent, followed by Kebbi at 3.72 per cent and Jigawa at 3.81 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Rivers recorded the highest increase at 6.92 per cent, followed by Osun at 5.61 per cent and Kano at 5.59 per cent. Anambra, Bauchi and Borno recorded declines of 8.83 per cent, 7.13 per cent and 7.09 per cent respectively.
For food inflation, Adamawa recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa at 36.20 per cent.
Borno recorded the lowest at -4.04 per cent, followed by Jigawa at -0.23 per cent and Kebbi at 3.47 per cent.
The NBS cautioned against direct interstate comparisons of consumption baskets, noting that CPI weights vary across states and locations according to differences in consumption expenditure patterns.
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