Nigeria’s annual inflation rate eased to 15.06 per cent in February from 15.10 per cent in January 2026, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
The statistics office said the February 2026 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.04 per cent compared to the January 2026 headline inflation rate.
Inflation indicators compare prices of goods and services over 12 months. A decline does not necessarily imply a reduction in prices; instead, it shows the rate of price increase had fallen compared to previous months.
On a year-on-year basis, the bureau said the headline inflation rate was 11.21 per cent lower than the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.27 per cent).
This, it said, shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in February 2026 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2025).
The NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2026 was 2.01 per cent, which was 4.89 per cent higher than the rate recorded in January 2026 (-2.88 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 said.
The statistics office said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 130.0 in February 2026, reflecting a 2.6-point increase from the preceding month (127.4).
It explained that the percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending February 2026 over the average for the previous twelve-month period was 21.03 per cent, showing a 3.02 per cent increase compared to 18.01 per cent recorded in February 2025.
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Food inflation
The NBS said the food inflation rate in February 2026 was 12.12 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
This was 14.86 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.98 per cent).
However, it said 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 twelve months ending February 2026 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.08 per cent, which was 18.31 per cent points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2025 (37.40 per cent),” it said.
