By Seun Ibiyemi
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to 15.06 per cent in February 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report, published in Abuja on Monday, showed a marginal decline of 0.04 percentage points from the 15.10 per cent recorded in January. On a year-on-year basis, inflation dropped significantly by 11.21 percentage points from 26.27 per cent in February 2025.
However, the NBS noted that on a month-on-month basis, inflation rose to 2.01 per cent in February, compared to -2.88 per cent in January, indicating a faster increase in the average price level within the month under review.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest drivers of inflation, contributing 6.03 per cent, followed by restaurants and accommodation services at 1.95 per cent, and transport at 1.61 per cent.
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The least contributors included recreation, sports and culture (0.05 per cent), alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics (0.06 per cent), and insurance and financial services (0.07 per cent).
The CPI rose to 130.0 in February, reflecting a 2.6-point increase from 127.4 recorded in January.
Food inflation stood at 12.12 per cent year-on-year, a sharp drop of 14.86 percentage points compared to 26.98 per cent in February 2025. On a monthly basis, however, food inflation climbed to 4.69 per cent from -6.02 per cent in January.
The NBS attributed the increase in monthly food prices to rising costs of staples such as beans, carrots, cassava tubers, crayfish, yam flour, millet flour, and ogbono.
Core inflation, which excludes farm produce and energy, stood at 15.88 per cent year-on-year, down from 25.66 per cent in February 2025. On a month-on-month basis, it rose to 0.89 per cent from -1.69 per cent in January.
Further breakdown showed that farm produce inflation rose to 3.7 per cent monthly from -5.10 per cent, while goods and imported food inflation also increased to 2.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. Energy and services recorded slight declines during the period.
Urban inflation stood at 15.53 per cent year-on-year, down from 28.49 per cent in February 2025, while rural inflation was 13.93 per cent, compared to 22.73 per cent recorded a year earlier. On a monthly basis, both urban and rural inflation rates increased to 2.55 per cent and 0.71 per cent respectively.
At the state level, Kogi recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate at 23.57 per cent, followed by Benue (22.85 per cent) and Anambra (22.09 per cent). Katsina posted the lowest rate at 7.78 per cent, followed by Imo (11.66 per cent) and Ebonyi (11.71 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, Enugu recorded the highest inflation at 5.92 per cent, followed by Ogun (4.39 per cent) and Anambra (4.11 per cent), while Zamfara (-2.14 per cent), Bauchi (-1.23 per cent), and Katsina (-1.06 per cent) recorded declines.
Food inflation was highest year-on-year in Kogi (26.91 per cent), followed by Adamawa (23.12 per cent) and Benue (21.89 per cent). Conversely, Katsina (5.09 per cent), Bauchi (7.09 per cent), and Imo (7.65 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.
On a monthly basis, Bayelsa recorded the highest food inflation at 8.81 per cent, followed by Ebonyi (8.51 per cent) and Edo (7.72 per cent), while Katsina (-0.70 per cent), Nasarawa (0.17 per cent), and Kano (1.39 per cent) recorded the lowest increases.
