10 States With Highest Food Inflation in February 2026
- The NBS has reported that food inflation figures in February 2026 slowed, easing the pace of price increase
- Despite the improvement, data shows that Nigerians continued to face rising food costs
- Residents in Kogi, Adamawa, and Benue experienced the highest increases in food prices nationwide
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Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has experience in business journalism, with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, the stock market, and broader market trends.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s food inflation rate eased on a year-on-year basis in February 2026 to 12.12%.
This represents a decline of 14.86 percentage points compared to 26.98% recorded in February 2025.
Source: Twitter
However, the latest data shows a sharp increase in food prices on a month-on-month basis.
According to the NBS in its latest price watch reports released on Monday, March 16, while prices reduced on a yearly comparison, on a month-on-month basis, however, food inflation rose sharply to 4.69%, increasing by 10.70 percentage points from -6.02% recorded in January 2026.
The increase during the month was attributed to rising average prices of key food items such as beans, carrots, okazi leaf, cassava tuber, crayfish, millet flour, yam flour, snails, ogbono (apon), and cowpeas.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending February 2026 stood at 19.08%, which is 18.31 percentage points lower than the 37.40% recorded in February 2025.
States with highest food inflation
On a year-on-year basis, the states with the highest food inflation in February 2026 were:
- Kogi – 26.91%
- Adamawa – 23.12%
- Benue – 21.89%
States with lowest food inflation
The slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in:
Month-on-month analysis
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in:
- Bayelsa: 8.81%
- Ebonyi: 8.51%
- Edo: 7.72%
Meanwhile, the slowest increases were recorded in:
- Katsina: 0.70%
- Nasarawa: 0.17%
- Kano: 1.39%
Source: Getty Images
Year on year analysis
Top 10 highest food inflation states
- Kogi: 26.9%
- Adamawa: 23.1%
- Benue: 21.9%
- Bayelsa: 18.9%
- Kebbi: 18.0%
- Edo: 17.7%
- Abuja: 17.3%
- Sokoto: 16.9%
- Zamfara: 16.7%
- Rivers: 16.3%
Top 10 lowest food inflation states
- Katsina: 5.1%
- Bauchi: 7.1%
- Imo: 7.6%
- Ondo: 10.1%
- Ebonyi: 10.3%
- Abia: 10.6%
- Lagos: 11.1%
- Kaduna: 11.6%
- Kano: 11.8%
- Gombe: 11.9%
FG releases specific foods, drinks Nigerians can't import
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian Customs Service has shared a list of food items that are not allowed to be imported into Nigeria in 2026.
These prohibited items will be seized when discovered at airports, land borders, and ports by Customs officers.
The food items cover animal products, processed foods, beverages, and packaged goods.
Among the key products affected by the ban are live or dead birds, including frozen poultry. Similarly, the importation of pork and beef is prohibited.
Source: Legit.ng
