By OKEOGHENE AKUBUIKE

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate stood at 15.10 per cent in January.

The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for January, released in Abuja on Monday.

According to the report, the January headline inflation showed a decrease of 0.05 per cent compared to the 15.15 per cent recorded in December 2025.

It said that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in January was 12.51 per cent lower than the rate recorded in January 2025 at 27.61 per cent.

Furthermore, the report said that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January was -2.88 per cent, which was 3.42 per cent lower than the rate recorded in December 2025 at 0.54 per cent.

“This means that in January, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2025.”

It said that the three major contributors to the headline inflation year- on- year were food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.04 per cent, restaurants and accommodation services at 1.95 per cent, and transport at 1.61 per cent.

The report said that the least contributors were recreation, sports, and culture at 0.05 per cent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics at 0.06 per cent, and insurance and financial services at 0.07 per cent.

It said that the CPI declined to 127.4 in January, and reflected a 3.8-point decrease from the 131.2 recorded in December 2025.

The report said the food inflation rate in January was 8.89 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 20.73 percentage points lower compared to the rate recorded in January 2025 at 29.63 per cent.

It said that on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January was -6.02 per cent, which decreased by 5.66 per cent compared to the -0.36 per cent recorded in December 2025.

The NBS attributed the decrease in food inflation on a month- on- month basis to the decrease in the average prices of water yam, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, and palm oil.

“Others are maize (Corn) grains, guinea corn, beans, beef meat, melon (Egusi) unshelled, cassava tuber, cow peas (White), among others.”

“All items less farm produces and energ, or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 17.72 per cent in January 2026, on a year-on-year basis.

“This shows a decline of 7.55 per cent when compared to the 25.27 per cent recorded in January 2025.

“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was -1.69 per cent in January, which decreased by 2.26 per cent compared to the 0.58 per cent recorded in December 2025.”

The report said that the inflation rate of the sub-indices for January 2026 showed that energy stood at -3.13 per cent.

It also said that farm produce stood at -5.10 per cent, services at 0.48 per cent, goods at -4.63 per cent and imported food at -6.81per cent.

It said that on a year-on-year basis in January, the urban inflation rate was 15.36 per cent, which was 14.09 percentage points lower than 29.45 per cent in January 2025.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was -2.72 per cent, which decreased by 3.71 per cent compared to December 2025 at 0.99 per cent.”

The report said that ’n January, rural inflation rate was 14.44 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.60 percentage points lower than the 25.04 per cent in January 2025.

“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was -3.29 per cent, which decreased by 2.74 per cent compared to December 2025 at -0.55 per cent.”

On states’ profile analysis, the report showed that in January, the all-items index inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Benue at 22.48 per cent.

This was followed by Kogi at 20.98 and Abuja at 19.25 per cent.

It said that the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Ebonyi at 8.72 per cent, followed by Katsina at 8.94 per cent and Imo at 10.61 per cent.

However, the report said that in January, the inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was highest in Imo at 1.93 per cent, followed by Ondo at 1.93 per cent and Kaduna at 0.67 per cent.

“Cross Rivers at -6.34 per cent, followed by Ogun at -6.30 per cent and Kogi at -6.03 per cent and Plateau at -2.54 per cent all recorded a decline in month-on-month inflation.”

The report said that on a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Kogi at 19.84 per cent, followed by Benue at 18.38 per cent, and Adamawa at 17.29 per cent.

“Ebonyi at 1.69 per cent, followed by Abia at 3.23 per cent and Imo at 3.74 per cent recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.’’

It also said that on a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Imo at -1.26 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom at -2.21 per cent, and Zamfara at -2.96 per cent.

“Yobe at -11.88 per cent, followed by Nasarawa at -9.06 per cent and Sokoto at -8.31 per cent, recorded a decline in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.” (NAN)

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