By Àkànní Olúwaségún Michael
For many Nigerian households, staples such as onions, tomatoes, pepper, yam, maize and beans are becoming increasingly expensive, as food inflation rose for the fifth consecutive month in May.
Latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that food inflation increased to 16.96 per cent in May 2026, up from 16.06 per cent recorded in April, extending a steady upward trend that has persisted since the beginning of the year.
The increase means families continue to spend more on everyday meals, even though the pace of price increases slowed slightly compared to the previous month.
Data from the NBS showed that food inflation has climbed consistently from 8.89 per cent in January to 12.12 per cent in February, 14.31 per cent in March, 16.06 per cent in April and 16.96 per cent in May.
According to the bureau, the latest increase was driven by higher prices of commonly consumed food items including fresh onions, tomatoes, fresh pepper, maize, beans, yam, cassava products, plantain, sweet potatoes, crayfish and ginger.
“The Food inflation rate in May 2026 on a year-on-year basis was 16.96 per cent,” the NBS stated, attributing the increase to rising prices across several staple food categories.
While food prices continued to rise, there was some relief in the rate at which they increased. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation slowed to 2.98 per cent in May from 3.63 per cent in April, suggesting that prices are still rising but not as rapidly as they did in the previous month.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest driver of inflation in the country, contributing 6.38 percentage points to Nigeria’s headline inflation rate.
Overall inflation rose to 15.93 per cent in May from 15.69 per cent in April, although monthly inflation eased to 1.75 per cent from 2.13 per cent.
Across the states, Adamawa recorded the highest food inflation rate at 29.62 per cent, followed by Kwara at 28.47 per cent and Rivers at 28.40 per cent, indicating that residents in those states faced some of the steepest increases in food costs over the past year.
Borno recorded the lowest food inflation rate at -6.53 per cent, while Taraba and Bayelsa posted 1.13 per cent and 5.99 per cent respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, Bauchi recorded the sharpest increase in food prices at 7.73 per cent, followed by Ogun at 6.86 per cent and Jigawa at 6.69 per cent.
Despite the recent upward trend, longer-term data suggest some improvement from the severe food inflation pressures experienced a year ago. The average annual food inflation rate for the 12 months ending May 2026 stood at 16.99 per cent, significantly lower than the 33.21 per cent recorded in May 2025.
The latest figures underscore the continued pressure on household budgets as food remains the single biggest expense for millions of Nigerians, with rising prices of basic staples continuing to shape the cost of living across the country.
