In January 2026, inflation sustained the continuous ease down settling at 15.1 percent, compared to the December figure of 15.15 percent, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed in data released on Monday.
The January figure showed a decrease of 0.05% compared to the December 2025 headline inflation rate. On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 12.51% lower than the rate recorded in January 2025 (27.61%). This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in January 2026 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., January 2025).
The Food inflation rate in January 2026 was 8.89% on a year-on-year basis. This was 20.73% points lower compared to the rate recorded in January 2025 (29.63%). 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%).
According to NBS , there was a 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) etc.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2026 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.29%, which was 18.18% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2025 (38.47%).
Inflation rate varies across states. In January, 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-onMonth 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.
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.
