Nigeria's headline inflation, which had shown steady moderation last year, has resumed an upward trajectory, rising from 15.38 percent in March 2026 to 15.69 percent in April. On a year-on-year basis, this is lower than the 26.82 percent recorded in the same month of the preceding year (April 2025).
The rise in headline inflation, the second consecutive month in 2026, reflects the effects of the crisis in the Middle East and high fuel prices, which have affected transportation costs. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which announced this on Friday, also stated that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the rate of changes in the average prices of goods and services commonly purchased by consumers relative to a base period, increased to 138.3 points in April 2026, reflecting a 2.9-point increase from the preceding month when it was 135.4.
After CPI rebasing in 2025, shifting the base year from 2009 to 2024, headline inflation declined considerably from 34.8 percent in December 2024 to 24.48 percent in January 2025 and dropped consistently for eight months. However, the drop did not ease the high cost of living in the country, as the effect of subsidy removal ensured Nigerians continued to suffer. It had maintained a deceleration trend since then. But following the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East and the sharp rise in fuel prices, it went up in March and again in April.
The NBS also reports that the food inflation rate in April 2026 was 16.06 percent on a year-on-year basis, lower than 24.68 percent recorded in April 2025. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2026 was 3.63 percent, down by 0.54 percentage points from the March 2026 figure of 4.17 percent. NBS attributed the drop in food inflation to the rate of change in the average prices of millet whole grain, yam flour, ginger (fresh), beef, garri, yam tuber, pepper (fresh), crayfish, cassava tuber, beans, Irish potatoes, tomatoes (fresh), wheat grain (sold loose), soybeans, guinea corn, plantain, carrots (fresh), among others.
In April 2026, Sokoto State recorded the highest inflation rate on a year-on-year basis with 25.74 percent, followed by Bauchi at 22.52 percent and Zamfara at 22.03 percent, while Edo with 5.91 percent, Borno with 6.72 percent, and Jigawa with 7.04 percent recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, April 2026 recorded the highest increases in Niger at 5.66 percent, Kano at 4.50 percent, and Plateau at 4.39 percent, while Bayelsa at 0.64 percent, Enugu at 0.98 percent, and Rivers at 1.02 percent recorded a decline in month-on-month inflation.
The report shows that on a year-on-year basis, food was most expensive in Enugu, with a food inflation rate of 32.67 percent, followed by Kwara with 30.77 percent, and Adamawa with 30.14 percent, while Borno with 1.67 percent, Jigawa with 6.17 percent, and Taraba with 7.19 percent recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, April 2026 food inflation was highest in Niger with 8.53 percent, Bauchi with 6.78 percent, and Kogi with 6.72 percent, while Kebbi with 0.23 percent, Katsina with 0.47 percent, and Bayelsa with 1.29 percent recorded a decline in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.
