By Akanni Michael
Rising food, transport and healthcare costs pushed Nigeria’s inflation rate to 15.69 per cent in April 2026, according to the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.
The figure is an increase from the 15.38 per cent recorded in March, showing that prices of goods and services continued to rise across the country.
The NBS disclosed in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest drivers of inflation, contributing 6.40 percentage points to the headline rate.
Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 3.56 percentage points, while transport accounted for 1.70 percentage points.
Healthcare costs also contributed 1.21 percentage points to the inflation figure, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels added 0.77 percentage points.
The report added that personal care and miscellaneous goods and services contributed 0.64 percentage points, education services accounted for 0.49 percentage points, clothing and footwear contributed 0.32 percentage points, while information and communication contributed 0.28 percentage points.
The report showed that the CPI rose to 138.3 points in April from 135.4 points recorded in March.
Despite the increase in annual inflation, the bureau said monthly inflation slowed to 2.13 per cent in April from 4.18 per cent in March.
“This means that in April 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate recorded in March 2026,” the report stated.
The NBS further disclosed that the average CPI for the 12 months ending April 2026 stood at 19.16 per cent, slightly lower than the 19.33 per cent recorded in April 2025.
Food inflation stood at 16.06 per cent year-on-year in April, lower than the 24.68 per cent recorded in the same period of 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation slowed to 3.63 per cent from 4.17 per cent in March.
The NBS attributed the increase in food prices to rising costs of millet, yam flour, fresh ginger, beef, garri, yam tubers, fresh pepper, crayfish, cassava tubers, beans, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, wheat grain, soybeans, guinea corn, plantain and carrots.
The report added that the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending April 2026 stood at 17.55 per cent, lower than the 34.60 per cent recorded in April 2025.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 15.86 per cent year-on-year, compared to 26.05 per cent recorded in April 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation slowed sharply to 1.03 per cent from 4.03 per cent recorded in March.
The farm produce inflation rose by 19.8 per cent year-on-year and six per cent month-on-month, while energy inflation increased by 4.6 per cent annually and eight per cent monthly.
Services inflation stood at 16.7 per cent year-on-year and 2.1 per cent month-on-month, while goods inflation was recorded at 15.7 per cent annually and 3.2 per cent monthly.
Imported food inflation stood at 10.5 per cent year-on-year and 4.4 per cent month-on-month.
The bureau also disclosed that urban inflation stood at 15.40 per cent year-on-year, while rural inflation was higher at 16.36 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation slowed to 1.86 per cent from 3.16 per cent in March, while rural inflation eased to 2.80 per cent from 6.73 per cent.
State-by-state analysis showed that Sokoto recorded the highest year-on-year all-items inflation rate at 25.74 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 22.52 per cent and Zamfara at 22.03 per cent.
Edo recorded the slowest rise in inflation at 5.91 per cent, followed by Borno at 6.72 per cent and Jigawa at 7.04 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Niger State posted the highest increase in inflation at 5.66 per cent, followed by Kano at 4.50 per cent and Plateau at 4.39 per cent.
Bayelsa recorded the slowest increase at 0.64 per cent, while Enugu and Rivers recorded 0.98 per cent and 1.02 per cent respectively.
For food inflation, Enugu recorded the highest year-on-year increase at 32.67 per cent, followed by Kwara at 30.77 per cent and Adamawa at 30.14 per cent.
Borno recorded the slowest food inflation at 1.67 per cent, followed by Jigawa at 6.17 per cent and Taraba at 7.19 per cent.
The NBS cautioned that inflation comparisons across states should be interpreted carefully because consumption expenditure patterns differ across states and locations.
According to the bureau, the weight assigned to food and non-food items varies from state to state, making direct interstate comparisons potentially misleading.
The report recalled that in April 2025, Enugu recorded the highest all-items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis at 35.98 per cent, followed by Kebbi at 35.13 per cent and Niger at 34.85 per cent.
Ondo recorded the lowest headline inflation rate at 13.42 per cent, while Cross River and Kwara posted 17.11 per cent and 17.28 per cent respectively.
On a month-on-month basis in April 2025, Sokoto recorded the highest inflation increase at 16.26 per cent, followed by Nasarawa at 16.02 per cent and Niger at 14.74 per cent.
However, Oyo recorded a decline of 6.45 per cent, while Osun and Ondo also posted declines of 4.54 per cent and 3.44 per cent respectively.
For food inflation in April 2025, Benue recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 51.76 per cent, followed by Ekiti at 34.05 per cent and Kebbi at 33.82 per cent.
Ebonyi recorded the slowest rise in food inflation at 7.19 per cent, while Adamawa and Ogun posted 9.52 per cent and 9.91 per cent respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, Benue recorded the highest increase in food inflation at 25.59 per cent, followed by Ekiti at 16.73 per cent and Yobe at 13.92 per cent.
In contrast, Ebonyi recorded a decline of 14.43 per cent in food inflation, while Kano and Ogun recorded declines of 11.37 per cent and 7.06 per cent respectively.
