The Special Adviser to the Presidency on Economic Matters, Tope Fasua, has assured Nigerians that the inflation rate is heading towards a single digit, which, according to him, will translate to better living conditions for the masses.

Fasua gave the assurance as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday.

According to him, the drop in the inflation rate has impacted on prices of food items, which are beginning to ease.

The Presidency’s assurance followed headline inflation data just released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The NBS said the inflation rate eased to 20.12 per cent in August 2025 compared to the July 2025 rate, which stood at 21.88 per cent.

Fasua also reacted to former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s recent claim that Nigerians were dying from hunger daily.

“Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, merely made a political statement which is expected at this time, because he’s trying to see how he can wangle himself back into the presidency, and I don’t comment on political things

“He doesn’t have to commend the current government for the achievement, but the rest of us just need to stick with the black and white

“A 20.12 inflation is still large in many quarters because what it says is that prices are still increasing in some quarters, but not as they used to be. It is rebasing. The rebasing came in about six years after it ought to have been done. Our concern should be that our statistics and data should be much more on point and frequent.

“So the rebasing was done, and it gave us the true picture of where we are. So, for every emotional reason, somebody believes that we should still be around 30 per cent. Well, that is their own cup of tea. The most important thing is that the rebasing was done several months back, and what we are seeing is then consistent drop in inflation.

“Inflation does not increase forever, not in any country. We have Ghana next to us, with inflation up to 40 per cent. Today, their inflation is trending down to a single digit.

“Nigeria’s inflation will get to a single digit as well; it’s a matter of time.

“Pakistan’s economy experienced inflation of up to 40 per cent some two years ago. Today, they are battling deflation, which is even a bigger issue because when there is no incentive for people to produce more goods themselves, everything goes down again.

“Nigeria’s inflation will certainly go to a single digit. Besides, that’s not the only positive thing we can see,” he noted.

He also spoke to the naira appreciating to the N1,400 region, including the increase in crude oil prices at the international market.

“Yesterday, the naira traded at some point, N1,497/$1. For the first time in like eight months, we have clocked the N1,400 region, and that’s remarkable.

“And if we look at why the inflation is reducing, for anybody that cares to know, of course, crude is one of our key drivers of inflation. The exchange rate is also another key driver. The exchange rate has stabilised, and it’s actually via market forces.

The crude prices are also increasing. A very respected source I respect in the agriculture sector, told me that for the first time in 26 years, this year, we did not have the usual recourse around tomato prices soaring and shortages. Some farmers are even complaining that the government is now crashing food prices to make it affect their businesses negatively.

Nigerians, including these farmers, are enjoying the drop in food prices because they are much more stable.

The NBS said the rate showed a decrease of 1.76 per cent, as against the July 2025 headline inflation rate.

The statistics office says in its report that the month-on-month headline inflation rate in August 2025 was 0.74 per cent, while the food inflation rate was 1.65 per cent on a monthly basis.

On a year-on-year basis, the rate was 12.03 per cent lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (32.15 per cent).

This, the NBS said, showed that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in August 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., August 2024), “though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100”.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2025 was 0.74 per cent, which was 1.25 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July 2025 (1.99 per cent).