10 States in Nigeria With Highest Food Inflation Rate

• The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Nigeria's inflation rates dropped in May 2025
• The latest data released by the NBS showed that Borno, Niger, and Plateau, which are facing security challenges, have the highest inflation rates
• Additionally, the highest food inflation rates were recorded in Borno, Bayelsa, and Taraba states

Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of business journalism experience with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.

The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Nigeria's headline inflation rate, which measures the cost of goods and services over a period, has dropped 22.97% in May 2025.

This represents a 0.74% decrease when compared to the April 2025 headline inflation rate of 23.71%. The NBS disclosed this in its consumer price index (CPI) report released for May 2025.

Details of the NBS inflation report

According to the bureau, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 10.98% lower than the rate recorded 33.95% in May 2024

This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in May 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (May 2024).

NBS, however, explained that there is a different base year, November 2009 = 100

Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in May 2025 was 1.53%, which was 0.33% lower than the rate recorded in April 2025 (1.86%).

This means that in May 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2025.

NBS said:

"The All-Items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Borno (38.93%), Niger (34.97%), and Plateau (32.35%), while Katsina (16.25%), Adamawa (18.20%), and Delta (18.41%) recorded the lowest increases in headline inflation.

"However, on a month-on-month basis, May 2025 saw the highest increases in Bayelsa (9.11%), Bauchi (4.85%), and Borno (4.42%), while Kaduna (-6.75%), Jigawa (-4.40%), and Edo (-2.94%) recorded the lowest changes in monthly inflation."

Food Inflation drops

NBS reports that the food inflation rate in May 2025 stood at 21.14% year-on-year, representing a 19.52 percentage point decline compared to the rate recorded in May 2024 (40.66%).

This significant drop is largely attributed to a change in the base year used for calculations.

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in May 2025 was 2.19%, an increase of 0.12 percentage points from April 2025 (2.06%).

The report reads:

"This rise is linked to slower declines in the average prices of items such as yam, ogbono (wild mango seed), cassava tuber, maize flour, fresh pepper, and sweet potatoes."

Here are the 10 states with the highest food inflation rate

• Borno: 64.4%
• Bayelsa: 39.8%
• Taraba: 38.6%
• Niger: 30.3%
• Sokoto: 27.6%
• Cross River: 27.3%
• Abuja: 26.7%
• Ogun: 26.5%
• Kogi: 26.5%
• Ebonyi: 25.9%

Dealers Crash Price of Rice by N20,000

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the price of rice has crashed again to N65,000 per 50kg bag from N85,000.

Dealers disclosed that a consignment of the commodity berthed at Nigeria’s ports recently, leading to the crash.

The first time rice sold around that range was in February this year, when it was below N70,000 per 50kg bag.

Source: Legit.ng