From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today said that the headline inflation rate dropped in September 2026 to 14.63 per cent, when compared to 15.39 per cent in August 2026.
In a statement, the Statistician-General of the Federation (SG), Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, explained that the month-on-month headline inflation rate in September 2026 was 0.06 per cent, which was 0.65 per cent lower than the rate recorded in August 2026 (0.71 per cent).
Adeniran stated that at the divisional level, the three major contributors to the headline inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages: 5.85 per cent; restaurants and accommodation services: 1.89 per cent, and transport: 1.56 per cent; while the least contributors were recreation, sport and culture: 0.05 per cent; alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics: 0.05 per cent, and insurance and financial services: 0.07 per cent.
Also, the food inflation rate in September 2026 was 19.59 per cent on a year-on-year basis, lower than 20.16 per cent recorded in September 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, NBS said that the food inflation rate in September 2026 was -1.55 per cent, down by 2.57 percentage points from August 2026 (1.02 per cent).
This, the SG stated, can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of guinea corn flour (sold loose), maize (corn) flour white (sold loose), rice local, short-grained, egg, onion fresh, palm oil, green beans fresh, Irish potatoes, okra, tomatoes fresh, green peas (dried), plantain, among others.
“Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 12.95 per cent in September 2026 on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.11 per cent in September 2026, up by 1.17 per cent compared to August 2026 (-0.06 per cent).”
“The inflation rate of the sub-indices for September 2026 shows that the monthly change recorded was farm produce (-2.86 per cent), energy (5.38 per cent), services (0.41 per cent), goods (0.10 per cent) and imported food (0.04 per cent),” the SG noted, adding that the inflation rate on a year-on-year basis recorded were as follows: farm produce (18.85 per cent), energy (10.85 per cent), services (14.51 per cent), goods (14.31 per cent) and imported food (9.18 per cent).
Meanwhile, food or non-food items may differ from state to state, making interstate comparisons of consumption basket inadvisable and potentially misleading.
For instance, in September 2026, the all-items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Imo (30.04 per cent), Enugu (22.38 per cent) and Niger (22.05 per cent), while Taraba (1.78 per cent), Bauchi (2.84 per cent) and Adamawa (3.66 per cent) recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
“On a month-on-month basis, however, September 2026 recorded the highest increases in Imo (8.64 per cent), Kaduna (4.46 per cent) and Sokoto (3.01 per cent) while Adamawa (-6.10 per cent), Bauchi (-5.31 per cent) and Kano (-4.49 per cent) recorded the lowest rise in the month-on-month inflation. Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Lagos (34.40 per cent), Imo (33.79 per cent) and Ondo (31.49 per cent) while Taraba (-7.47 per cent), Yobe (-0.37 per cent) and Borno (2.18 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.”