The story is getting more complicated as the numbers are getting better. Nigeria's headline inflation ticked up to 15.93 per cent in May 2026 from 15.69 per cent in April. This is a modest deterioration, but one the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) frames within a far richer analytical context than Nigerians have previously had. Within the May consumer price index (CPI) report is embedded the fingerprints of the rebasing exercise completed in early 2025, which shifted the base year from a fossilised 2009 to 2024 and introduced five granular sub-indices, including Farm Produce, Services, Energy, Goods and Imported Food. These combine to tell a story the headline number alone cannot.