Market News

Food price index in Africa’s most populous country dipped by 2.4 percent in April as prices of maize, wheat, okro and others eased, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday.

The NBS report shows that yam flour, soybeans, rice, bambara beans, and brown beans were major drivers of the decline for the month.

On a year-on-year basis, food inflation dropped 19.27 percent to 21.26 percent from 40.53 percent in April 2024. It also eased by 2.4 percent from 21.79 percent in March 2025.

“The food inflation rate in April 2025 was 21.26 percent on a year-on-year basis. This was 19.27 percent points lower compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (40.53 percent),” the NBS said.

It is worth noting that the significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2025 was 2.06 percent, down by 0.12 percent compared to March 2025 (2.18 percent),” it added.

According to state analysis, the NBS reported that food inflation in the period was highest in Benue at 51.76 percent, Ekiti at 34.05 percent, followed by Kebbi at 33.82 percent. While Ebonyi, Adamawa and Ogun States recorded the lowest rise with 7.19 percent, 9.52 percent and 9.91 percent, respectively.

“On a month-on-month basis, however, April 2025 food inflation was highest in Benue at 25.59 percent, Ekiti at 16.73 percent, and Yobe at 13.92 percent.”

Similarly, it noted that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate slightly dropped to 23.71 percent in April 2025, down from 24.23 percent in March.