Nigeria's headline inflation rate fell to 15.43% year-on-year in July 2026, down from 15.91% recorded in June, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This represents a 0.48 percentage-point decline month-on-month. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation stood at 1.57% in July, easing from 1.66% in June, indicating a slower rise in average price levels.
Food Inflation Climbs to 20.31%
Food inflation rose to 20.31% year-on-year in July 2026, although it remained below the 26.20% recorded in the same month of 2025. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation increased to 5.56% in July from 3.75% in June, a rise of 1.82 percentage points. The NBS attributed the increase in food prices to changes in the average prices of several food items, including crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh onions, carrots, rice, water yam, fresh tomatoes, garri, plantain, beef, eggs, guinea corn, ginger, and plantain flour. The year-on-year increase in food inflation was driven mainly by higher prices of rice, water yam, and plantain, as reported by Punch.
State-Level Food Inflation Varied
Food inflation varied significantly across states in July 2026. On a year-on-year basis, Adamawa recorded the highest food inflation rate at 51.36%, followed by Katsina at 30.84% and Zamfara at 30.65%. The states with the slowest year-on-year increases were Borno at -0.31%, Nasarawa at 6.88%, and Kebbi at 12.50%. On a month-on-month basis, Adamawa recorded the highest food inflation at 17.02%, followed by Lagos at 13.48% and Borno at 13.26%. Meanwhile, Jigawa recorded the largest decline at -3.68%, followed by Kebbi at -3.67% and Bauchi at -1.85%.
Impact on Households
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the cost of preparing a pot of jollof rice for a family of five has climbed to almost N30,000, highlighting the growing pressure of food inflation on Nigerian households. According to the latest SBM Intelligence Jollof Index (Q2 2026), the national average cost of cooking the country's most popular meal rose from N25,798 in July 2025 to N29,578 in June 2026, representing a 14.6% increase within one year. The report also revealed that over the past decade, the cost of making a pot of jollof rice has surged by 624%.
