DESPITE Nigeria’s headline inflation rate easing marginally in June 2026, residents across more than half of the country’s states continued to experience severe price pressures, with annual inflation rates above 30 per cent recorded in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
News Point Nigeria reports that the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that headline inflation slowed slightly to 15.91 per cent in June from 15.93 per cent recorded in May.
However, an analysis of the state-by-state inflation figures revealed that 20 out of Nigeria’s 37 sub-national entities, representing 54.1 per cent of the states and the FCT, recorded annual all-items inflation rates exceeding 30 per cent during the period under review.
The analysis showed a wide gap between the national average and inflation realities faced by households across various states, as Imo, which recorded the lowest annual inflation rate at 19.47 per cent, still remained 3.56 percentage points above the national headline inflation rate.
According to the NBS data, Niger State recorded the highest annual headline inflation rate in June at 42.23 per cent, followed by Kogi with 41.59 per cent and the Federal Capital Territory with 39.91 per cent.
The NBS stated, “In June 2026, the All-Items inflation rate on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Niger (42.23 per cent), Kogi (41.59 per cent), and Abuja (39.91 per cent), while Imo (19.47 per cent), Ebonyi (20.79 per cent) and Katsina (21.87 per cent) recorded the lowest rise in Headline inflation on a Year-on-Year basis.”
Other states that recorded inflation above the 30 per cent mark included Kwara with 36.52 per cent, Plateau (35.82 per cent), Sokoto (35.22 per cent), Benue (35.06 per cent), Osun (34.46 per cent), Yobe (34.40 per cent), Kebbi (34.07 per cent), Enugu (34.00 per cent), Bauchi (33.68 per cent), Gombe (33.51 per cent), Oyo (32.81 per cent), Lagos (32.28 per cent), Akwa Ibom (31.85 per cent), Adamawa (31.82 per cent), Ekiti (31.00 per cent), Taraba (30.54 per cent), and Abia (30.28 per cent).
The remaining 17 states recorded annual inflation rates below 30 per cent.
Imo recorded the lowest inflation rate at 19.47 per cent, followed by Ebonyi at 20.79 per cent and Katsina at 21.87 per cent.
Other states with inflation below 30 per cent included Rivers (23.73 per cent), Zamfara (24.00 per cent), Kaduna (24.71 per cent), Edo (25.90 per cent), Cross River (25.91 per cent), Delta (26.31 per cent), Borno (26.62 per cent), Kano (26.80 per cent), Anambra (27.37 per cent), Ondo (28.14 per cent), Ogun (28.18 per cent), Jigawa (29.06 per cent), Nasarawa (29.11 per cent), and Bayelsa (29.66 per cent).
The statistics agency, however, cautioned that state-by-state inflation figures should not be interpreted as direct price comparisons because consumer spending patterns, household behaviour and the weighting assigned to goods and services vary across states.
The report further showed that food inflation remained significantly elevated across several states, with many recording rates far above the national average.
Kogi posted the highest annual food inflation rate at 53.02 per cent, followed by Niger at 43.83 per cent and Benue at 40.83 per cent.
The Federal Capital Territory recorded food inflation of 40.20 per cent, while Adamawa recorded 39.61 per cent, Osun 39.56 per cent, Kwara 39.00 per cent, Kebbi 37.59 per cent, Sokoto 37.01 per cent, Plateau 36.84 per cent and Yobe 36.68 per cent.
Other states that recorded food inflation above 30 per cent included Enugu (35.24 per cent), Gombe (34.43 per cent), Kaduna (34.41 per cent), Bayelsa (34.03 per cent), Jigawa (33.92 per cent), Ekiti (33.04 per cent), Akwa Ibom (32.93 per cent), Edo (32.66 per cent), Bauchi (31.54 per cent), Zamfara (30.84 per cent), Delta (30.66 per cent), Nasarawa (30.48 per cent), Cross River (30.39 per cent), and Oyo (30.17 per cent).
At the lower end of the ranking, Katsina recorded the lowest annual food inflation rate at 19.15 per cent, followed by Rivers at 23.81 per cent and Imo at 24.60 per cent.
Nationally, food inflation stood at 17.52 per cent year-on-year in June, compared with 25.41 per cent in June 2025.
However, on a month-on-month basis, food inflation accelerated to 3.75 per cent from 2.98 per cent recorded in May.
The NBS attributed the increase to rising prices of commodities including crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, dried green peas, yam flour, water yam, beef, banana, cassava flour, cowpea, garri, Irish potatoes and yam tubers.
The state-level data also showed varying monthly inflation movements.
Niger recorded the highest month-on-month headline inflation increase at 11.65 per cent, followed by Katsina at 8.13 per cent, Kwara at 7.52 per cent, Gombe at 7.09 per cent, Kebbi at 6.99 per cent, Plateau at 6.53 per cent and Lagos at 6.37 per cent.
Meanwhile, Bayelsa recorded the largest monthly decline in headline inflation at -6.48 per cent, followed by Benue (-5.58 per cent), Cross River (-5.12 per cent), Borno (-4.37 per cent) and Anambra (-4.17 per cent).
For food inflation, Katsina recorded the highest monthly increase at 16.82 per cent, followed by Kebbi at 9.79 per cent and Niger at 8.96 per cent.
Borno, Benue and Bayelsa recorded the biggest monthly food inflation declines at -3.54 per cent, -2.36 per cent and -1.34 per cent respectively.
Although Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly in June, economic experts warned that rising food prices remained the biggest challenge confronting households.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, said the latest inflation figures showed broad stabilisation in headline inflation but revealed renewed pressure in food prices.
Yusuf noted that headline inflation declined marginally from 15.93 per cent in May to 15.91 per cent in June, but food inflation continued to accelerate.
“The dominant concern in the report is the renewed acceleration in food inflation. Year-on-year food inflation increased from 17.43 per cent to 17.52 per cent, while month-on-month food inflation rose sharply from 2.98 per cent to 3.75 per cent, the strongest monthly increase in several months. This suggests that food prices have resumed an upward trajectory after a brief period of moderation,” he said.
According to him, food inflation remained the biggest driver of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, reducing household purchasing power, worsening poverty and food insecurity, and limiting the benefits of economic reforms.
Yusuf argued that the inflation challenge was largely structural rather than monetary, citing insecurity, transportation costs, logistics challenges, energy prices, fertiliser expenses, supply chain disruptions and imported inflation as major contributors.
He added that the latest figures did not justify another monetary policy tightening by the Central Bank of Nigeria, stressing that the priority should be coordinated structural reforms aimed at increasing food production, improving logistics, reducing energy and production costs, expanding domestic refining capacity and boosting productivity.
The economist said addressing these challenges remained critical to achieving sustainable reduction in inflation and improving living standards across the country.