Nigeria’s inflation rises to 15.15% – NBS

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 15.15 percent in December 2025, marking its first rise after eight consecutive months of decline, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The figure was disclosed in the bureau’s latest consumer price index (CPI) report released on Thursday.

In the report, the NBS explained that the CPI — which tracks changes in the prices of goods and services — climbed to “131.2 in December 2025, up by 0.7 points from the previous month (130.5)”.

“The December 2025 year-on-year Headline inflation rate stood at 15.15% relative to the November 2025 headline inflation rate (17.33%),” the report said.

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Earlier, on January 12, the statistics agency had warned of a temporary “artificial spike” in the December inflation figure.

Adeyemi Adeniran, statistician-general of the federation, attributed the increase to an adjustment in the reference period, also known as the base year.

“This artificial spike is as a result of the base effect of December 2024, which is equated to 100, following the rebasing exercise,” Adeniran said.

The NBS further noted that on a year-on-year basis, the current inflation rate was 19.65 percent lower than the 34.8 percent recorded in December 2024.

“This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in December 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100,” the agency said.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in December 2025 was 0.54%, which is 0.69% less than the rate recorded in November 2025 (1.22%).

“This means that in December 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than in November 2025.”

The report also showed that food inflation declined to 10.84 percent on a year-on-year basis in December 2025.

According to the NBS, this represented a 20 percent reduction compared to the 39.84 percent recorded in December 2024.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate declined to -0.36%, down by 1.49% compared to November 2025 (1.13%),” the agency said.

“This decline can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices in the following food items, namely, Tomatoes, Garri, Eggs, Potatoes, Carrots, Millet, Vegetables, Plantain, Beans, Wheat Grain, Grounded Pepper, Onions (Fresh), etc.

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2025, relative to the previous twelve-month average, stood at 22.00%.”

On a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Yobe (15.25 percent), Ogun (14.12 percent), and Abuja (13.24 percent).

By contrast, Akwa Ibom (4.34 percent), Sokoto (4.62 percent), and Plateau (6.19 percent) recorded the slowest increases during the period.

“On a Month-on-Month basis, however, December 2025 Food inflation was highest in Imo (3.19%), Nasarawa (3.16%), and Yobe (1.18%), while Plateau (-2.76%), Rivers (-2.50%), and Zamfara (-1.93%) recorded a decline in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis,” the NBS said.

Despite the increase from the 14 percent recorded in November 2025, the latest inflation figure remains within the federal government’s target range.