Nigeria’s Headline Inflation Rises to 15.93% in May
By Patience Ikpeme
Nigeria’s annual headline inflation rate ticked upward to 15.93 per cent in May 2026, rising from the 15.69 per cent recorded in April, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
Despite the year-on-year increase, the data revealed a cooling in short-term price pressures. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation eased to 1.75 per cent in May, representing a decline of 0.39 percentage points from the 2.13 per cent recorded in April.
A similar trend emerged in the food sector, where short-term pressures moderated. The statistics bureau reported that food inflation decelerated on a month-on-month basis, falling to 2.98 per cent in May from 3.63 per cent in April, which marks a decrease of 0.65 percentage points.
Looking at the broader annual picture, food inflation stood at 16.96 per cent year-on-year in May 2026. This figure is significantly lower than the 24.55 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of May 2025, indicating a broader slowdown in long-term food price hikes compared to last year.
The statistical agency pointed to a wide variety of domestic consumption items as the main culprits behind the ongoing annual food cost pressures.
“The increase in food prices was driven by changes in the average prices of key staples, including fresh onions, maize grains, melon (egusi), water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tubers, yam tubers, sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, plantain and cowpea,” the NBS report stated.
Meanwhile, underlying structural inflation remains sticky. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile prices of agricultural produce and energy, stood at 16.82 per cent year-on-year in May 2026. On a month-on-month basis, however, core inflation picked up speed, accelerating to 1.94 per cent compared to the 1.03 per cent recorded in April.
The publication uncovered massive geographic disparities in how consumers experience price changes, with some regions facing heavy inflationary burdens while others saw outright price drops.
On an annual baseline, Yobe State registered the highest headline inflation rate in the country at 24.94 per cent, closely followed by Anambra at 23.29 per cent and Sokoto at 22.60 per cent. Conversely, Niger State posted the lowest annual rate at 3.07 per cent, with Plateau and Edo recording relatively low rates of 7.10 per cent and 7.73 per cent, respectively.
For monthly changes in the headline index, the steepest increases were recorded in Benue at 8.23 per cent, Bayelsa at 7.62 per cent, and Borno at 7.29 per cent. On the flip side, Niger recorded a monthly decline of -4.55 per cent, Zamfara dropped by -3.36 per cent, and Taraba fell by -2.67 per cent.
Regional differences were equally stark regarding food costs. On a year-on-year basis, Adamawa recorded the highest food inflation rate at 29.62 per cent, followed by Kwara at 28.47 per cent and Rivers at 28.40 per cent. The slowest annual increases were logged in Borno at -6.53 per cent, Taraba at 1.13 per cent, and Bayelsa at 5.99 per cent.
“On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Bauchi (7.73 per cent), Ogun (6.86 per cent) and Jigawa (6.69 per cent),” the NBS stated, adding that the areas with the slowest monthly food inflation rates were Niger at -3.54 per cent, Katsina at -3.48 per cent, and Gombe at -2.22 per cent.
