The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday announced a modest decline in Nigeria’s headline inflation rate for April 2025, to 23.71% from 24.23% recorded in March 2025, marking a decrease of 0.52 percentage points.
Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, the Statistician-General of the Federation, of the CEO of NBS, who made the announcement in a statement noted that the report highlights that the major contributors to the headline inflation remain consistent, with Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages leading at 9.49%, followed by Restaurants & Accommodation Services at 3.06%, and Transport at 2.53%.
According to the statement, the smallest contributors were Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics (0.09%) and Recreation, Sport, and Culture (0.07%).
On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate dropped significantly to 1.86% in April 2025 from 3.90% in March, a reduction of 2.04 percentage points, signaling a slowdown in price increases over the month.
Food inflation, a major concern for Nigerian households, slowed to 21.26% year-on-year in April. Month-on-month food inflation also dipped slightly to 2.06%, down from 2.18% in March. 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.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural and energy prices, stood at 23.39% year-on-year. On a monthly basis, core inflation fell sharply to 1.34% in April from 3.73% 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%, Energy: 9.21%, Services: 3.44%, and Goods: 3.89%.
Urban inflation was recorded at 24.29% year-on-year, with a monthly rate of 1.18%, down from 3.96% in March. Rural inflation stood at 22.83% year-on-year, with a monthly rate of 3.56%, slightly lower than March’s 3.73%.
The highest year-on-year inflation rates were observed in Enugu (35.98%), Kebbi (35.13%), and Niger (34.85%). The states with the lowest inflation increases included Ondo (13.43%), Cross River (17.11%), and Kwara (17.28%).
On a month-on-month basis, Sokoto (16.26%), Nasarawa (16.02%), and Niger (14.74%) experienced the highest inflation spikes, while Oyo (-6.45%), Osun (-4.54%), and Ondo (-3.44%) reported declines.
Food inflation was highest year-on-year in Benue (51.76%), Ekiti (34.05%), and Kebbi (33.82%), while Ebonyi (7.19%), Adamawa (9.52%), and Ogun (9.91%) saw the slowest rises. Month-on-month food inflation was highest in Benue (25.59%), Ekiti (16.73%), and Yobe (13.92%), with Ebonyi (-14.43%), Kano (-11.37%), and Ogun (-7.06%) recording declines.
