Nigeria’s food inflation rate plunged to 8.89 per cent in January 2026, marking the lowest level in a decade since 2016, according to the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.
This comes following an import waiver policy on select foods, which eases logistics bottlenecks and a steadier naira after years of sharp price increases that strained household budgets.
The last time Nigeria recorded single-digit food inflation was in May 2015, when the price index stood at 9.78 per cent.
The January reading was spearheaded by a monthly decline in prices of water yams, eggs, green peas, groundnut oil, soya beans, palm oil, maize (corn), beans, and other key grains found in Nigerians diet, according to the report by the NBS.
This led to a month-on-month deflation of 6.02 per cent in the period, signalling that Nigerians enjoyed a significant respite in the cost of food prices in January.
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2026 over the previous 12-month average was 20.29 per cent, which was 18.18 per cent points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2025 (38.47 per cent),” the NBS report read.
Recall that economists has earlier predicted that food prices cooling further in January 2026 ahead of the official data due on the 15th of February, effectively exiting the double-digit mark.”
This will align the West African nation with its peers like Kenya and Ghana, which recorded 7.8 per cent and 3.9 per cent food inflation, respectively in January 2026.
Headline inflation sustained its winning streak, cooling further to 15.10 per cent.
A breakdown of the data shows that prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 6.04 percent year on year, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels climbed 1.27 per cent, transport rose 1.61 per cent, restaurants and accommodation services increased 1.95 per cent, and health surged by 0.91 per cent.
On a state level, food inflation in the period was highest in Kogi at 19.84 per cent, Benue at 18.38 per cent, followed by Adamawa at 17.29 per cent. While Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo States recorded the lowest rises at 1.69 per cent, 3.23 per cent, and 3.74 per cent, respectively.
