NBS drops old consumption habits, refreshes inflation data

By Cynthia Alo

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has   dropped outdated consumption habits that no longer reflect how Nigerians live and spend, following a long-overdue rebasing of the Consumer Price Index, CPI.

Speaking at a virtual stakeholder engagement on the December 2025 inflation figure, organised with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Mr Adeyemi Adeniran, said the overhaul was necessary to align inflation measurement with present-day realities.

“We were still tracking inflation with a basket built around a 2009 lifestyle,” Adeniran said. “After 15 years, that basket could no longer tell the true story of prices in Nigeria. This rebasing allows inflation data to reflect what people actually consume today.”

The CPI rebasing, completed in 2025 with 2024 as the new base year, is Nigeria’s first in 15 years, far beyond the five-year cycle recommended by international standards. According to NBS, the delay meant that inflation figures were increasingly shaped by obsolete items and distorted price movements.

As part of the exercise, a nationwide household expenditure survey conducted in 2023 and 2024 across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory revealed that Nigerians no longer consume 201 items previously included in the CPI basket.

Director of Price Statistics at NBS, Dr Ayo Anthony, said the items were removed strictly based on evidence from the survey. “It is not NBS that woke up and removed items,” he said. “People did not report spending on them for 12 months.”

Among the items quietly dropped are black-and-white televisions, Nokia 3310 phones and old Motorola handsets. “These are things people no longer spend their limited income on, so they cannot continue to influence inflation figures,” Anthony explained.

At the same time, 404 new products that Nigerians now regularly buy were added, expanding the CPI basket to 934 items from about 740 previously. According to NBS, the changes better capture modern consumption patterns, including new technologies and evolving household needs.

The rebasing, however, comes with technical challenges. Adeniran explained that using December 2024 as the new index reference period could create a misleading spike in December 2025 inflation due to a base effect.

“If we publish the figure the old way, it will show a sharp rise that is purely arithmetic,” he said, adding that NBS has adopted international best practice to normalise the figure and avoid misinterpretation.

In his remarks, NESG Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tayo Aduloju, welcomed the changes, stressing that credible data is crucial as Nigeria moves into a consolidation phase of reforms.

“When consumption habits change, statistics must change with them,” he said. “This new look at inflation data is essential for sound policy and investor confidence.”

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