By Anthony Otaru, Abuja
The drop in prices of staple food items such as maize flour, wheat grain, dried okro, yam flour, soya beans, rice, bambara beans, and brown beans pushed Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 23.71 per cent in April 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has indicated.
The NBS made the disclosure in its’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for April 2025, released in Abuja yesterday.
The report shows that the headline inflation decreased by 0.52 per cent compared to the 24.23 per cent recorded in March 2025.
The report highlights that the major contributors to the headline inflation remain consistent, with Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages leading at 9.49 per cent followed by Restaurants & Accommodation Services at 3.06 per cent and Transport at 2.53 per cent
According to the report, the smallest contributors were Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics (0.09 per cent ) and recreation, sport, and culture (0.07 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate dropped significantly to 1.86 per cent in April 2025 from 3.90 per cent in March, a reduction of 2.04 percentage points, signalling a slowdown in price increases over the month.
Food inflation, a major concern for Nigerian households, slowed to 21.26 per cent year-on-year in April. Month-on-month food inflation also dipped slightly to 2.06 per cent down from 2.18 per cent in March.
He said that the decrease is attributed to falling prices in staple food items such as maize flour, wheat grain, dried okro, yam flour, soya beans, rice, bambara beans, and brown beans.
Accordingly, core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural and energy prices, stood at 23.39 per cent year-on-year. On a monthly basis, core inflation fell sharply to 1.34 percent in April from 3.73 percent in March, a decline of 2.39 percentage points.
The NBS also introduced new sub-indices with the following inflation rates for April 2025: Farm Produce: 2.64 per cent Energy: 9.21 per cent Services: 3.44 per cent and Goods: 3.89 per cent respective.
Also, Urban inflation was recorded at 24.29 per cent year-on-year, with a monthly rate of 1.18 percent, down from 3.96 per cent in March. Rural inflation stood at 22.83 per cent year-on-year, with a monthly rate of 3.56 per cent slightly lower than March’s 3.73 per cent
The highest year-on-year inflation rates were observed in Enugu (35.98 per cent), Kebbi (35.13 per cent ), and Niger (34.85 per cent). The states with the lowest inflation increases included Ondo (13.43 per cent), Cross River (17.11per cent), and Kwara (17.28 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, Sokoto (16.26 per cent), Nasarawa (16.02 per cent), and Niger (14.74 per cent ) experienced the highest inflation spikes, while Oyo (-6.45 per cent ), Osun (-4.54 per cent), and Ondo (-3.44 per cent) reported declines.
Food inflation was highest year-on-year in Benue (51.76 percent), Ekiti (34.05 per cent), and Kebbi (33.82 per cent), while Ebonyi (7.19 per cent ) , Adamawa (9.52 pe rcent), and Ogun (9.91 per cent) saw the slowest rises.
Month-on-month food inflation was highest in Benue (25.59 per cent), Ekiti (16.73 per cent ), and Yobe (13.92 percent), with Ebonyi (-14.43 per cent), Kano (-11.37 per cent), and Ogun (-7.06 per cent) recording declines.
