By Abubakar Yunusa
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has increased to 15.38 percent in March 2026 — up from the 15.06 percent in February.
The increase is the first in 12 months since the inflation rate started declining in April 2025.
NBS announced the increase in its consumer price index (CPI) report on Wednesday.
“The Headline inflation rate rose to 15.38%, up from 15.06% in February 2026 and stood 27.35% in the same month of the preceding year (March 2025),” NBS said.
The bureau said the headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.32 percent compared to the February 2026 headline inflation rate.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.18%, which was 2.17% higher than the rate recorded in February 2026 (2.01%),” NBS said.
“This means that in March 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2026.”
NBS said the food inflation rate in March 2026 was 14.31 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The bureau also said the food inflation rate is lower compared to the 25.22 percent recorded in the same month of the preceding year (March 2025).
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.17%, down 0.52 percentage points from February 2026 (4.69%),” NBS said.
“This can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of the following products: Yam, Ginger (Fresh), Cassava Tuber, Groundnuts (Shelled), Irish Potatoes, Avenger (Ogbono/Apon) – Dried Ungrinded, Tomatoes (fresh), Cassava Flour sold loose, etc.”
The report said in March 2026, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bayelsa (33.35 percent), Sokoto (28.02 percent), and Adamawa (21.67 percent), while Kano (4.29 percent), Oyo (4.86 percent), and Katsina (7.48 percent) recorded the slowest rise.
On a month-on-month basis, however, NBS said food inflation was highest in Sokoto (11.78 percent), Niger (8.59 percent), and Gombe (8.10 percent).
The bureau added that Katsina (0.09 percent), Ogun (0.77 percent), and Adamawa (1.30 percent) recorded a decline in food inflation.
