Nigeria’s food inflation rate rose to 12.12% year-on-year in February 2026, pushing the indicator back into double-digit territory after a sharp drop to single digits in January.
Data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that food inflation increased from 8.89% in January 2026 to 12.12% in February 2026, representing a 3.23 percentage point rise month-on-month.
Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria’s food inflation rate eased to 8.89% year-on-year in January 2026, marking its first single-digit reading in 128 months and the lowest level in 174 months.
What the NBS report says
Although the latest reading reflects an increase from January’s historic slowdown, food inflation remains far below the level recorded a year earlier. The NBS report shows that the February figure is 14.86 percentage points lower than the 26.98% recorded in February 2025.
According to the report, “The Food inflation rate in February 2026 was 12.12% on a year-on-year basis. This was 14.86% points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.98%).”
February recorded a 4.69% month-on-month increase, signalling renewed upward pressure in food prices.
The NBS attributed the increase to rising prices of key food commodities across markets.
- The report stated that the increase was “attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Beans, Carrots, Okazi Leaf, Cassava Tuber, Crayfish, Millet Flour, Yam Flour, Snails, Avenger (Ogbono/Apon) – dried ungrinded, cow peas, etc.”
Broader price trends remain lower than last year
Despite the February rebound, longer-term indicators still point to a significant moderation in food price growth compared with 2025.
The NBS reported that the average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending February 2026 stood at 19.08%, sharply lower than the 37.40% recorded in February 2025.
- The report noted that “The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending February 2026 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.08%, which was 18.31% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2025 (37.40%).”
This suggests that while short-term volatility persists in food markets, the overall inflation trajectory over the past year has softened considerably.
State-level food price disparities persist
State-level data from the CPI report showed that food inflation varied widely across the country.
On a year-on-year basis, Kogi recorded the highest food inflation rate at 26.91%, followed by Adamawa at 23.12% and Benue at 21.89%.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Katsina recorded the slowest rise in food prices at 5.09%, while Bauchi and Imo posted 7.09% and 7.65% respectively.
Month-on-month data showed that Bayelsa recorded the highest increase in food prices at 8.81%, followed by Ebonyi at 8.51% and Edo at 7.72%. Meanwhile, Katsina recorded a slight decline of -0.70%, while Nasarawa and Kano recorded increases of 0.17% and 1.39%, respectively.
Overall, the February CPI report reflects a mixed inflation picture. Food inflation has risen again after January’s historic slowdown, but the broader trend still shows a substantial easing from the extreme price pressures recorded a year earlier.
What you should know
The February CPI report also showed a slight easing in Nigeria’s overall inflation rate.
Headline inflation declined marginally to 15.06% in February 2026, compared with 15.10% recorded in January 2026.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline rate was 11.21 percentage points lower than the 26.27% recorded in February 2025, reflecting a broad moderation in consumer price pressures over the past year.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.03 percentage points of the overall inflation figure, showing the dominant role of food prices in Nigeria’s inflation dynamics.
