As Nigerians enter the height of the “Detty December” season, official inflation knowledge suggests a moderation in headline value pressures, at the same time as households proceed to grapple with elevated meals prices.
In line with the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the meals inflation charge stood at 11.08% year-on-year in November 2025, representing a pointy 28.85 percentage-point decline from the 39.93% recorded in November 2024.
The NBS, nevertheless, notes that this important drop is largely technical, pushed by a change within the inflation base 12 months fairly than a broad-based fall in meals costs.
On a month-on-month foundation, meals inflation rose by 1.13% in November 2025, reversing the -0.37% recorded in October.
This uptick was pushed by larger common costs of key meals objects comparable to dried tomatoes, cassava tubers, periwinkle, grounded pepper, eggs, crayfish, unshelled egusi, oxtail, and recent onions, components that function prominently in lots of Nigerian festive meals. Headline inflation also eased to 14.45% in November from 16.05% in October, whereas the Shopper Worth Index (CPI) rose to 130.5, reflecting a 1.6-point improve from the previous month.
In opposition to this combined inflation backdrop, Nairametrics, utilizing value knowledge from a Nairalytics market survey, estimates the price of getting ready a modest however full Christmas meal for a family of 4. The assumed menu widespread throughout many Nigerian houses contains rice (jollof or fried), rooster, and vegetable salad.
Christmas meal value breakdown
Rice stays the muse of most festive meals.
- A 5kg bag of Royal Stallion rice, enough for a household of 4 with minimal leftovers, at present sells for about N8,000.
- For rice preparation, tomatoes and pepper value an estimated N2,000, whereas a roll of sachet tomato paste provides N900. Onions, a core ingredient throughout dishes, are priced at N1,000. Cooking necessities comparable to curry and thyme packs value N1,400, whereas a one-litre sachet of Kings vegetable oil sells for N3,800.
Making ready fried rice requires greens, together with carrots (N1,500), inexperienced beans (N500), inexperienced peas (N1,500), inexperienced pepper (N1000), and a can of candy corn (N1,000). Extra protein, comparable to cow liver typically added to fried rice or stew, prices about N1500.
Protein stays the most costly part of the meal. One kilogram of combined frozen rooster(Nigerian) sells for round N4,800, whereas rooster breast prices about N6,500 per kilogram.
Vegetable salad, a staple facet dish throughout Christmas celebrations, additional provides to the meals finances. A mean-sized cabbage prices N1,200, Irish potatoes for the salad base promote for N2,000, cucumber is priced at N1,000(x2), and lettuce prices N500. Baked beans, one other widespread ingredient, promote for N1,200. The most costly part of the salad is the dressing, with salad cream or Bama mayonnaise priced at about N4,500 for the massive container.
Estimated complete value
In complete, Nairametrics estimates that getting ready a Christmas meal for a family of 4 utilizing frozen rooster would value between N45,000 and N50,000. Choosing stay rooster may push the overall value above N60,000, exhibiting how protein selections considerably affect festive meals budgets.
In the end, whereas inflation metrics counsel easing pressures on the macro stage, the lived expertise for households throughout Detty December tells a extra nuanced story.
For a lot of Nigerian households, celebrating Christmas continues to require cautious budgeting, ingredient substitutions, and strategic procuring highlighting the hole between headline inflation developments and on a regular basis client realities.
Methodology
In line with the Nairalytics value survey, these figures symbolize common city market costs and are topic to variation. Prices may be decrease for households that purchase in bulk, store at semi-wholesale or area people markets, or benefit from Christmas reductions and retailer promotions. Markets positioned nearer to food-producing areas additionally have a tendency to supply extra aggressive pricing, a technique many households undertake in the course of the festive season to handle prices.
