Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined marginally to 15.06 per cent in February 2026 as against 15.10 per cent recorded in January this year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its monthly report on Consumer Price Index that in February 2026, the annual food inflation rate rose to 12.2 per cent from 8.89 per cent in January, indicating fresh pressure on household food costs.
The NBS explained that the rise was driven by prices of beans, yam flour, cassava tuber, crayfish, and other items.
This is as the monthly food inflation equally reversed a two-month downward trend and rose to 4.69 per cent in February from -6.02 per cent in January,
It added that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.21 per cent lower than the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.27 per cent).
This means that in February 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in January 2026.
It attributed the development to the rising prices of crude oil globally. Oil prices resumed their push higher Tuesday as several countries kicked against Donald Trump’s demand that they help secure the key Strait of Hormuz, while Iran continued to target crude-producing neighbours.
Brent climbed 3.67% at 7:39 AM WAT on Tuesday, to $103.39 per barrel, after a previous close at $100.21 on Tuesday.
The food inflation rate in February 2026 was 12.12 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This was 14.86 percentage points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.98 per cent).
However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in February 2026 was 4.69 per cent, up by 10.70 per cent compared to January 2026 (-6.02 per cent).
The increase can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of beans, carrots, okazi leaf, cassava tuber, crayfish, millet flour, yam flour, snails, avenger (Ogbono/Apon) – dried ungrinded, cow peas, etc.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending February 2026 over the previous 12-month average was 19.08%, which was 18.31% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2025 (37.40%).’’
GIK/APA