National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced a continued decline in Nigeria’s headline inflation rate, which eased to 18.02% in September 2025, marking the second consecutive month of deceleration.
This was revealed in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report, released in Abuja on Wednesday. The report shows that September’s figure represents a 2.1 percentage point drop from the 20.12% recorded in August 2025.
Comparatively, the year-on-year data reflects a significant improvement, with the inflation rate dropping by 14.68 percentage points from 32.70% in September 2024.
> “This means that in September 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate in August 2025,” the NBS explained.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation slightly edged down to 0.72%, compared to 0.74% in August.
The drop in prices was linked to slower increases across various divisions in the goods and services basket.
According to the report, the top contributors to year-on-year inflation were:
Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (7.21%)
Restaurants and Accommodation Services (2.33%)
Transport (1.92%)
On the other hand, sectors like Recreation, Sports, and Culture (0.06%), Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics (0.07%), and Insurance and Financial Services (0.08%) contributed the least.
*Food inflation sees notable drop*
Food inflation—often a key concern for households—dropped to 16.87% in September 2025 (year-on-year), a sharp fall from the 37.77% recorded in the same month last year.
> “The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” the NBS clarified.
Month-on-month, food inflation dipped into negative territory at -1.57%, down from 1.65% in August. This was largely due to falling prices in essential staples such as maize, beans, millet, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, eggs, and pepper.
*Core and regional inflation trends*
Core inflation—which strips out volatile food and energy prices—stood at 19.53% year-on-year in September. Month-on-month, it edged slightly lower to 1.42% from 1.43% in August.
In terms of location-based analysis:
Urban inflation fell to 17.50% in September, a substantial drop from 35.13% in the same period last year.
Rural inflation was recorded at 18.26%, down from 30.49% in September 2024.
*State-by-state breakdown*
On an annual basis, the states with the highest headline inflation rates were:
Adamawa – 23.69%
Katsina – 23.53%
Nasarawa – 22.29%
Meanwhile, states recording the lowest inflation rates year-on-year included:
Anambra – 9.28%
Niger – 11.79%
Bauchi – 12.36%
In terms of month-on-month changes, Zamfara led with a spike of 9.36%, followed by Adamawa (8.15%) and Nasarawa (7.49%). The slowest rises were seen in Niger (-8.14%), Oyo (-5.56%), and Bayelsa (-4.61%).
For food inflation specifically, Ekiti (28.68%), Rivers (24.18%), and Nasarawa (22.74%) topped the list year-on-year. States with the smallest food inflation increase were Bauchi (2.81%), Niger (8.38%), and Anambra (8.41%).
Month-on-month, Zamfara (15.62%), Ekiti (12.77%), and Sokoto (12.55%) saw the sharpest food price increases, while Akwa Ibom (-12.97%), Borno (-22.95%), and Cross River (-10.36%) recorded the biggest declines.
*CPI rebased for accuracy*
The NBS also noted that the Consumer Price Index has been rebased.
The new CPI level rose to 127.7 in September, up from 126.8 in August. This rebasing moves the reference period from 2009 to 2024, with 2023 now used as the base year for household expenditure weights.
