Nigeria’s Inflation Rises to 15.38% in March as Food, Transport Costs Drive Prices
By Abiodun Folarin
Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 15.38% in March 2026, up from 15.06% in February 2026, but significantly lower than the 27.35% recorded in the same month of the preceding year (March 2025), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The NBS, in its report released on Wednesday, stated that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 135.4 in March 2026, representing a 5.4-point rise from 130.0 recorded in February.
According to the report, the headline inflation rate in March 2026 rose by 0.32 percentage points compared to February 2026. On a month-on-month basis, inflation stood at 4.18%, which is 2.17 percentage points higher than the 2.01% recorded in February, indicating a faster pace in the increase of average prices.
The bureau attributed the upward pressure on inflation to rising costs in food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, restaurants and accommodation services, and transportation.
Food inflation stood at 14.31% on a year-on-year basis in March 2026, compared to 25.22% in March 2025. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate was 4.17%, representing a decline of 0.52 percentage points from 4.69% recorded in February 2026.
The movement in food prices was driven by increases in the average prices of items such as yam, fresh ginger, cassava tuber, shelled groundnuts, Irish potatoes, ogbono (dried, unground), fresh tomatoes, and cassava flour sold loose, among others.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending March 2026 stood at 18.21%, which is 17.81 percentage points lower than the 36.02% recorded in March 2025.
A breakdown of the data showed that, on a year-on-year basis, all-items inflation was highest in Bayelsa (27.37%), Sokoto (26.03%), and Bauchi (23.67%), while Osun (5.25%), Kano (9.85%), and Kaduna (10.38%) recorded the lowest increases.
On a month-on-month basis, the highest increases were recorded in Zamfara (10.77%), Bauchi (9.37%), and Sokoto (9.05%), while Lagos (1.54%), Akwa Ibom (1.80%), and Rivers (1.89%) recorded the slowest rise.
Similarly, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bayelsa (33.35%), Sokoto (28.02%), and Adamawa (21.67%), while Kano (4.29%), Oyo (4.86%), and Katsina (7.48%) recorded the slowest increase.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Sokoto (11.78%), Niger (8.59%), and Gombe (8.10%), while Katsina (0.09%), Ogun (0.77%), and Adamawa (1.30%) recorded the slowest rise.
