As Nigerians continue to face rising living costs, new data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for January 2026 highlights the states offering the greatest relief to residents in terms of affordability.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate moderated slightly to 15.10 percent in January 2026, down from 15.15 percent in December 2025, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the NBS.
The marginal decline of 0.05 percentage points signals a continued easing of price pressures at the start of the year, extending the gradual slowdown observed in recent months.
The year-on-year improvement is even more pronounced. Compared to January 2025, when inflation stood at 27.61 percent, the rate has fallen by 12.51 percentage points, reflecting a significant moderation in overall price growth across the country.
While national figures provide a broad overview of economic trends, cost-of-living conditions differ considerably across states.
Based on state-level inflation data, the following are the Top 10 most affordable states to live in January 2026, ranked by lowest headline inflation rates and reflecting relative stability in essential goods and services.
Abia State recorded one of the lowest food inflation rates in the country at 3.2 percent, a significant drop from 10.2 percent in December. This sharp moderation in food prices helped pull the state’s overall inflation rate down to 11.67 percent from 19 percent recorded in December, offering notable relief to households, especially low-income earners.
In January 2026, the Abia State Government indicated that it is prioritising the development of a comprehensive industrial policy aimed at accelerating industrial growth and strengthening the state’s productive base. The proposed policy framework is expected to support manufacturing, enterprise development, and value-added industries.
As of now, there is limited publicly available information detailing specific new anti-inflation or cost-of-living intervention measures recently introduced by the state government.
