Nigerians can finally breathe a little easier. After months of biting hardship at markets and filling stations, the cost-of-living storm is showing signs of easing.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, on Tuesday announced that the nation’s headline inflation rate dropped to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, down from 15.43 per cent in July and a staggering 23.14 per cent in August last year.
Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the slowdown signals that prices are still rising, but much more slowly than before.
Month-on-month, headline inflation plunged to just 0.71 per cent in August, a sharp 0.86 percentage point fall from the 1.57 per cent recorded in July.
Food Basket Finally Gets Lighter
The biggest relief came from the food basket.
According to NBS, food inflation fell to 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August, compared to 25.30 per cent a year earlier. On a monthly basis, it crashed to 1.02 per cent from 5.56 per cent in July.
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Adeniran said the drop was driven by falling prices of everyday staples – palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava and yam flour, beef, water yam, egusi, fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat, frozen chicken and turkey.
“This shows that the average prices of food items are increasing at a decreasing rate,” he noted.
Tale Of Two Nigerias: Cities Breathe, Villages Groan
The relief was uneven. Urban inflation eased to 15.88 per cent year-on-year, with monthly rate crashing to 0.28 per cent from 1.90 per cent in July.
Rural areas, however, felt fresh pressure as monthly rural inflation jumped to 1.79 per cent from 0.78 per cent, though year-on-year it stood lower at 14.23 per cent.
Lagos Burns Hottest, Sokoto Coolest
Inflation remained a postcode lottery. Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year rise at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent. Sokoto, Kebbi and Jigawa were the coolest at 2.11 per cent, 3.72 per cent and 3.81 per cent.
On a monthly basis, Rivers, Osun and Kano saw the sharpest spikes, while Anambra, Bauchi and Borno actually recorded price drops.
