ABUJA — Nigeria's headline inflation rate eased to 14.63 per cent in September 2026, down from 15.39 per cent in August, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It is the fourth consecutive monthly decline since June, and the rate is 6.35 percentage points lower than the 20.98 per cent recorded in September 2025. Food prices drove much of the slowdown. Food inflation stood at 19.59 per cent year on year, compared with 20.16 per cent a year earlier. On a month-on-month basis, food prices actually fell, with the rate dropping to minus 1.55 per cent from 1.02 per cent in August. Items that became cheaper included local rice, maize flour, guinea corn flour, eggs, onions, palm oil, potatoes, okra, tomatoes and plantain. The 12-month average food inflation rate fell to 15.72 per cent from 28.37 per cent. Core inflation, which excludes farm produce and energy, told a different story. It rose to 12.95 per cent year on year, although this remains far below the 22.11 per cent of a year ago. Month on month, core inflation climbed to 1.11 per cent from minus 0.06 per cent, a sign of renewed underlying pressure in the economy. The 12-month average core rate was 16.54 per cent, against 25.68 per cent a year earlier, while the 12-month average for all items stood at 15.80 per cent, down from 27.31 per cent. Across the states, Imo recorded the highest headline inflation at 30.04 per cent, followed by Enugu at 22.38 per cent and Niger at 22.05 per cent. Taraba had the lowest at 1.78 per cent. For food inflation, Lagos topped the list at 34.40 per cent, ahead of Imo at 33.79 per cent and Ondo at 31.49 per cent, while Taraba recorded a negative rate of 7.47 per cent.