Nigeria’s headline inflation rate edged down slightly to 15.1% in January 2026, from 15.15% the previous month in December 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announcement on Monday, February 16, 2026.
This modest decline of 0.05 percentage points follows the NBS’s recent adoption of a revamped methodology, designed to more accurately capture real-world price changes.
The data arrives just ahead of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting, scheduled for February 23-24, 2026, where policymakers may consider interest rate adjustments amid ongoing economic pressures.
On a year-on-year basis, inflation fell by 12.51 percentage points from the 27.61 per cent posted in the corresponding period of last year.
Month-on-month, headline inflation stood at 2.88 per cent, down from 0.54 per cent in December 2025, indicating a slower rise in average price levels.
Food inflation, which accounts for the largest share of household spending, recorded a sharp decline in January.
On a year-on-year basis, food inflation dropped to 8.89 per cent, down 20.73 percentage points from 29.63 per cent in January 2025.
Month-on-month, food inflation fell to 6.02 per cent, compared to 0.36 per cent in December 2025.
The NBS, according to Channels Television report, attributed the reduction to falling prices of key food items, including water yam, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize, guinea corn, beans, beef, melon (egusi), cassava tubers, and cowpeas (White) among others.
The 12-month average food inflation rate, it said, eased to 20.29 per cent in January 2026 from 38.47 per cent a year earlier.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the 12 months ending January 2026 eased to eased to 20.29 per cent, which is 18.18 per cent points lower than the 38.47 per cent posted last year.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produces and energy, stood at 17.72 per cent on an annaualised basis in January 2026, down from 25.27 per cent in January 2025.
Month-on-month, core inflation saw a reduction to 1.69 per cent, compared to 0.58 per cent in December 2025.
The 12-month average core inflation rate eased to 22.84 per cent from 27.24 per cent recorded in January 2025.
Urban inflation fell to 15.36 per cent year on year in the period under review, from 29.45 per cent in January 2025, while month-on-month inflation to 2.72 per cent.
The 12-month average urban inflation rate, however, rose to 22.30 per cent.
In rural areas, inflation stood at 14.44 per cent year on year, down from 25.04 per cent a year earlier.
Month-on-month, rural inflation declined to 3.29 per cent, while the 12-month average fell to 21.03 per cent from 30.79 per cent in January 2025, the report concluded.
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