The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Thursday that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 23.71% in April 2025, down from 24.23% recorded in March 2025. This represents a reduction of 0.52 percentage points.
In a statement, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, the Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of the NBS, explained that food and non-alcoholic beverages remain the primary drivers of inflation, accounting for 9.49%. They are followed by restaurants and accommodation services at 3.06%, and transport at 2.53%.
The categories with the smallest contributions to inflation include alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics at 0.09%, along with recreation, sport, and culture at 0.07%.
On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate dropped to 1.86% in April from 3.90% in March, reflecting a significant reduction of 2.04 percentage points.
Food inflation, a critical concern for many Nigerians, declined to 21.26% year-on-year in April, with a slight month-on-month decrease to 2.06%, down from 2.18% in March. This drop is attributed to price reductions in staple items such as maize flour, wheat grain, dried okro, yam flour, soya beans, rice, bambara beans, and brown beans.
Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and energy prices, stood at 23.39% year-on-year. On a monthly basis, it fell sharply to 1.34% in April from 3.73% in March, a drop of 2.39 percentage points.
Additionally, the NBS introduced new sub-indices for April 2025, with inflation rates as follows: farm produce at 2.64%, energy at 9.21%, services at 3.44%, and goods at 3.89%.
Urban inflation was recorded at 24.29% year-on-year and 1.18% month-on-month, down from 3.96% in March. Rural inflation stood at 22.83% year-on-year, with a slight decline in the monthly rate to 3.56% from 3.73% in March.
The states with the highest annual inflation rates were Enugu (35.98%), Kebbi (35.13%), and Niger (34.85%), while Ondo (13.43%), Cross River (17.11%), and Kwara (17.28%) recorded the lowest rates.
On a monthly basis, Sokoto (16.26%), Nasarawa (16.02%), and Niger (14.74%) experienced the sharpest increases, while Oyo (-6.45%), Osun (-4.54%), and Ondo (-3.44%) saw declines.
In terms of food inflation, Benue (51.76%), Ekiti (34.05%), and Kebbi (33.82%) recorded the highest year-on-year increases, whereas Ebonyi (7.19%), Adamawa (9.52%), and Ogun (9.91%) had the lowest rises.
Month-on-month food inflation peaked in Benue (25.59%), Ekiti (16.73%), and Yobe (13.92%), while declines were observed in Ebonyi (-14.43%), Kano (-11.37%), and Ogun (-7.06%).
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