Nigeria recorded a significant decline in food inflation in January 2026, with the rate falling to 8.89 per cent year-on-year, marking the lowest level in over 14 years, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Headline inflation also eased slightly to 15.10 per cent from 15.15 per cent in December 2025, defying earlier projections by analysts that inflation could surge to 19 per cent.
Brandspur Banking News Desk reports that the sharp moderation in food prices reflects improvements in domestic agricultural production and relative stability in the exchange rate. The January figure represents the first single-digit reading since August 2011, when food inflation stood at 8.66 per cent. Over the past 128 months, food inflation had remained in double digits, peaking at 40.87 per cent in June 2024 before gradually easing to 10.84 per cent in December 2025.
The NBS data highlighted that key staples such as water yams, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize grains, guinea corn, beans, beef, melon, and cassava tubers contributed to the slowdown in food prices. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation contracted by 6.02 per cent in January, compared with a 0.36 per cent decline in December 2025.
Urban areas recorded a year-on-year inflation of 15.36 per cent, while rural areas saw 14.44 per cent. State-level data showed Benue with the highest overall inflation at 22.48 per cent, while Ebonyi recorded the lowest at 8.72 per cent. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, stood at 17.72 per cent year-on-year in January 2026.
Stakeholders in the Organised Private Sector (OPS) cautioned that the decline, though positive, does not yet translate to meaningful relief for consumers. The National Vice President of the National Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Kuti-George, attributed the slowdown to higher agricultural output and exchange rate stability, while the Director-General of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Eke Ubiji, noted that prices remain high on the ground, particularly for common food and non-food items.
Despite these concerns, analysts say the data signals a broad-based easing in price pressures, particularly driven by a sharp deceleration in food costs, offering cautious optimism for Nigerian consumers ahead of the upcoming festive and fasting seasons.
