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- NBS unveils initiative to improve data management
The National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate slightly dropped to 23.71 percent in April 2025, down from the 24.23 percent in March.
The NBS announced the increase in its consumer price index on Thursday.
According to the bureau, the movement for April 2025 “headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.52% compared to the March 2025 headline inflation rate.”
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in April 2025 was 1.86%, which was 2.04% lower than the rate recorded in March 2025 (3.90%).
“This means that in April 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in March 2025,” the NBS said.
The NBS further said the food inflation rate in April 2025 was 21.36 percent on a year-on-year basis.
This, the bureau said, is 19.27 percent lower compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (40.53 percent).
“The significant decline in the food annual inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” the statistics firm said.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2025 was 2.06%, down by 0.12% compared to March 2025 (2.18%).
“The decrease can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of Maize (Corn) Flour, Wheat Grain, Okra Dried, Yam Flour, Soya Beans, Rice, Bambara beans, Brown Beans.”
The report said that in April 2025, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Benue (51.76 percent), Ekiti (34.05 percent), and Kebbi (33.82 percent), while Ebonyi (7.19 percent), Adamawa (9.52%), and Ogun (9.91 percent) recorded the slowest rise.
On a month-on-month basis, however, NBS said food inflation was highest in Benue (25.59 percent), Ekiti (16.73 percent), and Yobe (13.92 percent).
The bureau added that Ebonyi (-14.43 percent), Kano (-11.37 percent) and Ogun (-7.06 percent), recorded a decline in food inflation.
Nigeria has experienced a sharp increase in food prices in recent years.
This trend worsened in 2023 following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies and adoption of a floating exchange rate for the naira.
This shift has led to a steep increase in the cost of staple food, pushing many Nigerians further into poverty and heightening food insecurity.
The persistent price surge over the past year has led to several farms and businesses closing, with many agricultural producers scaling back their output due to insecurity and unpredictable weather conditions affecting rural areas.
In response, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food insecurity in July 2023, aiming to combat rising food costs.
Despite these efforts, at the time, food inflation has continued unabated.
In July last year, President Tinubu unveiled some proactive measures to address skyrocketing food prices in the country. Amongst these is the decision to suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on importing essential food items such as beans, wheat, and husked brown rice.
In February, the NBS said Nigeria’s annual inflation rate dropped to 24.48 per cent in January from 34.80 per cent in December 2024 after rebasing.
NBS unveils initiative to improve data management
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics has said it is committed to strengthening service delivery among Ministries, Departments and Agencies through effective management of administrative data.
The Statistician General of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran, stated this during a two-day In-Boarding Training of Integrated Systems of Administrative Statistics and Equipment Distribution to MDAs in Abuja on Thursday.
Adeniran said the event was a strategic turning point in the nation’s journey toward a more integrated, efficient, and responsive national statistics system in the country.
He noted that the administrative data system had been forgotten in silos, destroyed, incorporated, and underutilised.
Adeniran, however, said with the ISAS in place now, the story would change for the better.
“The ISAS initiative represents our bold response to this long-standing challenge.
“It is a comprehensive, historic approach to transforming how administrative data is collected, managed, shared and used across all tiers of government.
“With ISAS, we are laying the foundation for an integrated and interoperable data system where we can operationalise our data and exchange them seamlessly with our MDAs,” Adeniran said.
He stressed that the ISAS would serve as a centralised data repository that would be accessible to policymakers, researchers, and citizens at large.
He said the transformation was not merely technical but very crucial, cultural, institutional, and above all, collaborative.
Adeniran said the training would equip the participants with the knowledge and tools required to engage with ISAS confidently and productively.
As part of the ISAS implementation, he distributed essential equipment, both hardware and software, to support seamless integration and communication between the NBS and the MDAs.
“These tools are not just pieces of technology; they are the enablers of a new era of collaboration, data quality and institutional synergy.
“Today, we gather as co-builders of a new data ecosystem for Nigeria, one that is robust, harmonised, and capable of underpinning the aspiration of good governance and sustainable development,” he said.
Azeez Mustapha, the Project Coordinator, explained that ISAS offered the solution, which was a harmonised technology-enabled platform that integrated statistical processes and brought all the MDAs into one coordinated framework.
“Over the next two days, we will explore our ISAS works, what is expected from each of us and most importantly, how we can institutionalise this system for the long term,” he said.
Mustapha said the participating MDAs would also sign the Data Supply Pledge, thereby committing to the regular and timely sharing of administrative data.
The World Bank Representative, Victor Okafor, said that the programme was proof of the technical and statistical advancement of MDAs as well as the country.
According to him, this is because the technology incorporated to set this up has taken us, the statistical system in Nigeria, to the next level.
Okafor said the World Bank was happy to support the project and would continue to support the development of Nigeria’s national statistics ecosystem.
Victoria Ojogbane, from the Ministry of Justice, who spoke on behalf of the participants, gave the assurance that the equipment would be used for the purpose they were given, as she thanked the NBS for their collaboration.
About 15 MDAs would be on board in the pilot phase, and they include Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Water Resources, Justice, Education, Health, and Women Affairs, and the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Identity Management Commission, National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria Immigration Services, and the Nigeria Police Force.