…As Benue Consumers Pay Highest For Food Items
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s statistical system coordinating agency, reported on Thursday that the nation’s headline inflation rate slightly dropped to 23.71% in April this year from the 24.23% rate recorded in the preceding month.
The statistics agency in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report indicated that the headline inflation rate for the month under review represented 0.52% month-on-month decline when compared to the March 2025 Headline inflation rate”.
The Statistician-General of the Federation/Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, in a statement indicated that at the divisional level, the three major contributors to the headline inflation were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages: 9.49%, Restaurants & Accommodation Services: 3.06%, and Transport: 2.53%; while the least contributors were Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics: 0.09%, Recreation, Sport, and Culture: 0.07%.
He reported that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in April 2025 was 1.86%, which was 2.04% lower than the rate recorded in March 2025 (3.90%).
On the Food Inflation Rate, Adeniran disclosed that in the month under review, the food inflation rate increased by 21.26% on a year-on-year basis, adding, however, that on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate 2.06%, dropping by 0.12% when compared to the 2.18% rate in March 2025
According to the NBS’ chief, the decrease is attributable to the reduction in average prices of items such as Maize (Corn) Flour, Wheat Grain, Okro Dried, Yam Flour, Soya Beans, Rice, Bambara beans, Brown Beans etc.
Also, the statement reflected that Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 23.39% in April 2025 on a year-on-year basis but on a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate stood 1.34% in April 2025, down by 2.39% when compared to the 3.73% recorded in the preceding month.
Adeniran stated that the inflation rate of the newly introduced sub-index were Farm Produce: 2.64%, Energy: 9.21%, Services: 3.44%, and Goods: 3.89%
When analysed on Urban and Rural Inflation Rates basis, the April CPI report revealed that on a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in April 2025 was 24.29%, adding that on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.18% in the month under review, or a decrease of 2.78% when compared to 3.96% rate in March 2025
The report also showed that rural inflation rate in April 2025 was 22.83% on a year-on-year basis and that on a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in the month was 3.56%, dipping by 0.17% when compared to 3.73% rate it stood in the preceding month.
A further analysis of the CPI report on state-by-state basis indicated that the all-item index for April 2025, on a year-on-year basis, was highest in Enugu (35.98%), Kebbi (35.13%), and Niger (34.85%), while Ondo (13.43%), Cross River (17.11%), Kwara (17.28%) recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
However, on a month-on-month basis, the report showed that in the month under review, the all-item index recorded the highest increases in Sokoto (16.26%), Nasarawa (16.02%), Niger (14.74%), while Oyo (-6.45%), Osun (-4.54%) and Ondo (-3.44%) recorded declines in month-on-month inflation.
The NBS further clarified that state-level analyses of the food index in April 2025 showed that food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Benue (51.76%), Ekiti (34.05%), Kebbi (33.82%), while Ebonyi (7.19%), Adamawa (9.52%), and Ogun (9.91%) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.
It, however, reported that on a month-on-month basis, in April 2025 food inflation was highest in Benue (25.59%), Ekiti (16.73%), and Yobe (13.92%), while Ebonyi (-14.43%), Kano (-11.37%) and Ogun (-7.06%) recorded declines in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.
