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Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 14.63 per cent in September 2026 from 15.39 per cent in August, driven partly by a slowdown in food prices.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index report for September 2026, released on Thursday, 15 October, by the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran.

According to the report, the September inflation rate was also lower than the 20.98 per cent recorded in September 2025.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Headline Inflation Eases to 15.39% in August – NBS

Month-on-month headline inflation declined to 0.06 per cent in September from 0.71 per cent in August, representing a decrease of 0.65 percentage points.

Food Inflation Declines

The report showed that year-on-year food inflation stood at 19.59 per cent in September 2026, compared with 20.16 per cent in September 2025.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation fell to -1.55 per cent in September from 1.02 per cent in August, representing a decline of 2.57 percentage points.

The NBS attributed the decrease to changes in the average prices of several food items, including guinea corn flour, white maize flour, local short-grain rice, eggs, fresh onions, palm oil, green beans, Irish potatoes, okra, fresh tomatoes, dried green peas and plantain.

Core Inflation Rises

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year in September 2026.

On a month-on-month basis, core inflation rose to 1.11 per cent from -0.06 per cent in August.

The report’s newly introduced sub-indices showed that energy recorded the highest month-on-month increase at 5.38 per cent in September, followed by services at 0.41 per cent, goods at 0.10 per cent and imported food at 0.04 per cent.

Farm produce inflation, however, declined by 2.86 per cent during the period.On a year-on-year basis, farm produce inflation stood at 18.85 per cent, while energy recorded 10.85 per cent, services 14.51 per cent, goods 14.31 per cent and imported food 9.18 per cent.

Urban Inflation Higher Than Rural Inflation

Urban inflation stood at 15.64 per cent year-on-year in September, while rural inflation was 12.46 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation increased to 0.53 per cent in September from 0.28 per cent in August.

Rural inflation, however, declined to -0.89 per cent from 1.79 per cent in the preceding month.

Imo Records Highest Headline Inflation

At the state level, Imo recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation rate at 30.04 per cent in September 2026, followed by Enugu at 22.38 per cent and Niger at 22.05 per cent.

Taraba recorded the lowest rate at 1.78 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 2.84 per cent and Adamawa at 3.66 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, Imo also recorded the highest increase at 8.64 per cent, followed by Kaduna at 4.46 per cent and Sokoto at 3.01 per cent.

Adamawa recorded the largest decline at -6.10 per cent, followed by Bauchi at -5.31 per cent and Kano at -4.49 per cent.

Lagos Leads In Year-on-Year Food Inflation

Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 34.40 per cent in September, followed by Imo at 33.79 per cent and Ondo at 31.49 per cent.

Taraba recorded negative food inflation of -7.47 per cent, while Yobe recorded -0.37 per cent and Borno 2.18 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Imo at 5.15 per cent, followed by Ondo at 4.46 per cent and Oyo at 3.82 per cent.

Adamawa recorded the largest decline in month-on-month food inflation at -13.84 per cent, followed by Kano at -11.01 per cent and Bauchi at -10.21 per cent.