Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 14.63 per cent in September 2026 from 15.39 per cent recorded in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, disclosed this in a statement issued by the bureau in Abuja on Thursday.
Adeniran said the September inflation rate was also lower than the 20.98 per cent recorded in September 2025, indicating a decline in year-on-year headline inflation.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate for September 2026 stood at 14.63 per cent, when compared to 15.39 per cent and 20.98 per cent recorded in August 2026 and September 2025,” he said.
According to the NBS, food inflation also moderated during the period under review. The year-on-year food inflation rate stood at 19.59 per cent in September 2026, compared with 20.16 per cent in September 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation declined to -1.55 per cent in September from 1.02 per cent in August, representing a decrease of 2.57 percentage points.
The bureau attributed the decline to changes in the average prices of several food items, including loose Guinea corn flour, white maize flour, local short-grain rice, eggs, fresh onions, palm oil, fresh green beans, Irish potatoes, okra, fresh tomatoes, dried green peas and plantain.
The report also showed differences in inflation trends between urban and rural areas.
The urban inflation rate stood at 15.64 per cent year-on-year in September 2026. On a month-on-month basis, however, urban inflation rose to 0.53 per cent from 0.28 per cent in August, representing an increase of 0.25 percentage points.
In rural areas, the year-on-year inflation rate was 12.46 per cent during the month under review.
Rural inflation declined month-on-month to -0.89 per cent in September from 1.79 per cent in August, representing a decrease of 2.68 percentage points.
A breakdown of inflation across states showed that Imo recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation rate at 30.04 per cent, followed by Enugu at 22.38 per cent and Niger at 22.05 per cent.
Taraba recorded the lowest year-on-year headline inflation rate at 1.78 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 2.84 per cent and Adamawa at 3.66 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Imo recorded the highest inflation rate at 8.64 per cent, followed by Kaduna at 4.46 per cent and Sokoto at 3.01 per cent.
Adamawa recorded the steepest month-on-month decline at -6.10 per cent, followed by Bauchi at -5.31 per cent and Kano at -4.49 per cent.
The NBS report further showed that Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 34.40 per cent in September, followed by Imo at 33.79 per cent and Ondo at 31.49 per cent.
In contrast, Taraba recorded a year-on-year food inflation rate of -7.47 per cent, while Yobe and Borno recorded -0.37 per cent and 2.18 per cent, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Imo at 5.15 per cent, followed by Ondo at 4.46 per cent and Oyo at 3.82 per cent.
Adamawa recorded the largest month-on-month decline in food inflation at -13.84 per cent, followed by Kano at -11.01 per cent and Bauchi at -10.21 per cent.
