Nigeria’s Inflation Rises To 24.2%

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 24.23 per cent in March 2025.
The NBS, in its consumer price index (CPI) for March 2024, released on Tuesday, April 15, said the increase marks an upward movement from the 23.18 per cent reported in February and also signals a return to levels (24.48 per cent) recorded in the beginning of year following the CPI rebasing.
According to NBS: “In March this year, the headline inflation rate rose to 24.23 per cent, relative to the February headline inflation rate of 23.18 per cent.
“Looking at the movement, the March 2025 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.05 per cent, compared to the February 2025 headline inflation rate.
“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.90 per cent, which was 1.85 per cent higher than the 2.04 per cent rate recorded in February 2025.
“This means that in March 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2025.”
It said the headline inflation rate was driven by cost of food, transport and accommodation services, adding: “The increase can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of ginger (fresh), Garri (yellow), broken rice (Ofada), honey (natural production), crabs, potatoes, plantain flour, peri-winkle (unshelled), pepper (fresh).”
The NBS report said food inflation, on a year-on-year basis, was highest in Oyo (34.41 per cent); Kaduna (31.14 per cent) and Kebbi (30.85 per cent).
Conversely, states such as Bayelsa (9.61 per cent), Adamawa (12.41 per cent) and Akwa Ibom (12.60 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on year-on-year basis.
The Bureau also stated that on a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Oyo (19.74 per cent), Kaduna (17.24 per cent) and Kebbi (14.03 perc ent), while states like Sokoto (-14.10 per cent), Nasarawa (-9.91 per cent) and Edo (-5.78 per cent) recorded a decline.