The headline inflation rate in Nigeria eased to 23.18% year-on-year in February 2025, marking a decline from the previous month, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This comes after the NBS rebased its Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January to reflect updated consumption patterns, using 2024 as the new base year instead of 2009.
The rebasing exercise led to a significant adjustment in Nigeria’s inflation figures, with the rate dropping from 34.80% in December 2024 to 24.48% in January 2025, marking the first major decline in over a decade.
According to the NBS report, food inflation stood at 23.51% year-on-year in February 2025, representing a 14.41 percentage point decline from the 37.92% recorded in February 2024.
However, the agency clarified that this significant drop is technically due to the change in the base year rather than a sudden improvement in market conditions.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation rose by 1.67% in February 2025, while the overall inflation rate increased by 2.04% compared to January.
The urban inflation rate stood at 25.15% year-on-year, marking an 8.51 percentage point decrease from 33.66% in February 2024. On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation rose by 2.40% in February 2025.
The 12-month average urban inflation rate was 32.22%, up by 4.28 percentage points from 27.93% in February 2024.
Rural inflation also saw a significant year-on-year decline, standing at 19.89% in February 2025, which is 10.09 percentage points lower than the 29.99% recorded in February 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, rural inflation rose by 1.16%, while the 12-month average for rural inflation stood at 27.94%, an increase of 3.33 percentage points from 24.61% in February 2024.
Nigeria’s inflation soared to 28-year highs in 2024, following President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, which included the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira. These policy shifts led to significant price hikes across key sectors of the economy.
However, the recent inflation decline is largely attributed to the NBS rebasing exercise rather than a fundamental shift in economic conditions. The agency cautioned that inflation figures are weighted by consumption expenditure patterns, which vary across states and locations.
“As a result, the weight assigned to a particular food or non-food item may differ from state to state, making interstate comparisons of consumption baskets inadvisable and potentially misleading,” the NBS stated in its report.
While Nigeria’s latest inflation figures suggest a decline, economic analysts note that the real impact on consumer prices remains mixed. The month-on-month increase in inflation indicates that cost-of-living pressures persist, particularly in urban areas.
With ongoing currency fluctuations and economic policy shifts, the true test of inflation control will depend on market stability, production capacity, and government interventions in the months ahead.
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