Lagos recorded Nigeria’s highest year-on-year food inflation rate of 34.40 per cent in September 2026, even as the national rate declined to 19.59 per cent from 20.16 per cent in September 2025.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September 2026, which showed that food inflation declined month-on-month to minus 1.55 per cent from 1.02 per cent in August.

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

The figures indicated a moderation in food inflation, reflecting a slower rate of increase in prices over the year and a decline in the average prices of selected food items between August and September.

On a state-by-state basis, Imo recorded the second-highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 33.79 per cent, followed by Ondo at 31.49 per cent.

In contrast, Taraba recorded a negative food inflation rate of 7.47 per cent, followed by Yobe at -0.37 per cent, while Borno recorded 2.18 per cent.

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

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

All Items Inflation

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.

The NBS further reported that the average annual food inflation rate for the 12 months ending September 2026 stood at 15.72 per cent, down by 12.66 percentage points from 28.37 per cent recorded in September 2025.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 14.63 per cent in September 2026 from 15.39 per cent in August, representing a decrease of 6.35 percentage points from the 20.98 per cent recorded in September 2025.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation fell to 0.06 per cent in September from 0.71 per cent in August, indicating that the average price level increased at a slower rate during the period.

The CPI, which measures changes in the average prices of goods and services consumed by households, rose marginally to 146.38 points in September from 146.30 points in August.

The report also showed that core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year in September, down from 22.11 per cent in September 2025.

However, core inflation rose month-on-month to 1.11 per cent in September from minus 0.06 per cent in August, indicating renewed price pressures in items covered by the measure.

The NBS explained that the CPI was calculated using household expenditure weights, prices collected from selected retail outlets across urban and rural areas in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and quantities of goods and services.

It noted that differences in consumption expenditure patterns across states influenced the weights assigned to individual food and non-food items.

Consequently, the agency cautioned against direct comparisons of consumption baskets between states, saying such comparisons could be misleading because the weights assigned to particular items varied by location.

The September figures suggest that although food inflation moderated nationally, price movements remained uneven across states, with Lagos recording the highest year-on-year food inflation rate and Imo experiencing the sharpest monthly increase among the states listed.