Economy
Airtel Seeks NCC Support for SMEs to Drive Economic Recovery
By Adedapo Adesanya
Airtel has advocated support from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to stimulate economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era.
This came as the commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring accelerated licensing of new spectrum that would usher in new technologies which include 5G, broadband satellite services, high altitude platform services, and others.
This assertion came at a virtual webinar organised by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) tagged Nigeria’s Telecommunication Industry-Post COVID.
Speaking at the event, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, the Managing Director of Airtel, in his presentation, said that the SMEs were most hit by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Airtel had created incentives and discounts for them to support their businesses.
This, he said, was the company’s ultimate objective to reduce the digital divide between those who have access to the internet and those who do not.
According to him, access to the internet is key and imperative because it acts as a leveller that provides information opportunities to small and big businesses alike.
Mr Ogunsanya said that contrary to conventional thinking, the telecommunications industry recorded a decline in its revenue in the first month after the lockdown.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced a total lockdown in Lagos State, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory in March 2020 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The said that the pandemic had transformed the conventional ways of carrying out businesses, with online engagements becoming more popular.
“The impact has been huge on social and economic activities but we thank the authorities for creating a good environment for the virus to be contained very quickly.
“The telecoms industry is not isolated from the main economy and you can see the impact on the five key areas of the GDP.
“There was an initial reduction in consumer spending on telecoms services and products and a rise in the demands for data services at the initial stage of the lockdown.
“We got a decline in the second quarter and a lot of pressure is being put on us to increase capital expenditure as a result of increased backhaul requirements,” he said.
Mr Ogunsanya urged telecommunications industries to live up to their key responsibility of creating the right access either through mobile broadband, fibre or wireless connectivity to improve the future trend of businesses in the country.
“We need both fibre and wireless because it’s slightly more difficult to leave fibre but easier to spread the wireless access.
“We have seen a shift from coverage and capacity to customer experience, but data requires a lot of bandwidth.
“We’re focusing more on the kind of experience we’re giving our customers,” he said.
Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mr Umar Danbatta, noted that “We will create additional areas of investments with the opening of new spectrum, especially for broadband deployment in both urban and rural areas, and facilitate fibre deployment through initiatives such as the information communication.
“NCC is committed to the provision of infrastructure, transparency and ease of doing business in Nigeria,” he said.
Mr Danbatta, represented by Mr Babagana Digima, Head, Digital Economy Department, NCC, added that some operators had reported an increase in data usage and volume of calls.
This had, in turn, raised the demands for better network connectivity and improved internet coverage, especially in the rural areas, he said.
He said that the telecommunications industry was committed to the delivery of better service and internet infrastructure that would provide quality service and experience as well as address customers’ complaints.
“Some of the complaints raised by the customers during the pandemic were attributed to poor mobile network signals’ absorption and low internet speed.
“The immense contribution of the telecommunications industry during this pandemic is undoubted because it has managed to keep people connected, informed, entertained and enlightened about the disease which has helped in curtailing its spread.
“Governments worldwide, especially in developing countries like ours, have since recognised the need for telecommunications’ infrastructure.
“The pandemic has laid bare the urgency of such interventions,” he said.
Also, Mrs Bisi Adeyemi, the Deputy President of NBCC, stressed the importance of the telecommunications industry on small businesses due to the evidence of more reliance on data and voice connectivity.
“People across the world have had to rely on technology to deal with the new realities of working from home.
“It has, therefore, become necessary to evaluate the impact of the industry on creating an enabling business environment and economic growth,” she said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s crude oil production slipped slightly to 1.422 million barrels per day in December 2025 from 1.436 million barrels per day in November, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), quoting primary sources, noted that the oil output was below the 1.5 million barrels per day quota for the nation.
The OPEC data indicate that Nigeria last met its production quota in July 2025, with output remaining below target from August through December.
Quarterly figures reveal a consistent decline across 2025; Q1: 1.468 million barrels per day, Q2: 1.481 million barrels per day, Q3: 1.444 million barrels per day, and 1.42 million barrels per day in Q4.
However, the cartel acknowledged that despite the gradual decrease in oil production, Nigeria’s non-oil sector grew in the second half of last year.
The organisation noted that “Nigeria’s economy showed resilience in 2H25, posting sound growth despite global challenges, as strength in the non-oil economy partly offset slower growth in the oil sector.”
According to the report, cooling inflation, a stronger Naira, lower refined fuel imports, and stronger remittance inflows are improving domestic and external conditions.
“A stronger naira, easing food prices due to the harvest, and a cooling in core inflation also point to gradually fading underlying pressures”, the report noted.
It forecast inflation to decelerate further on the back of past monetary tightening, currency strength, and seasonal harvest effects, though it noted that monetary policy remains restrictive.
“Seasonally adjusted real GDP growth at market prices moderated to stand at 3.9%, y-o-y, in 3Q25, down from 4.2% in 2Q25. Nonetheless, this is still a healthy and robust growth level, supported by strengthening non-oil activity, with growth in that segment rising by 0.3 percentage points to 3.9%, y-o-y. Inflation continued to decelerate in November, with headline CPI falling for an eighth straight month to 14.5%, y-o-y, following 16.1%, y-o-y, in October”.
OPEC, however, stated that while preserving recent disinflation gains is important, the persistently high policy rate – implying real interest rates of around 12% – risks weighing on aggregate demand in the near term.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday revealed that inflation rate for December 2025 stood at 15.15 per cent compared with the 14.45 per cent it put the previous month.
However, it recalculated the November 2025 inflation rate at 17.33 per cent after using a 12-month index reference period where the average consumer price index (CPI) for the 12 months of 2024 is equated to 100. This is a departure from the single-month index reference period, in which December 2024 was set to 100, which would have produced an artificial spike in the December 2025 year-on-year inflation rate.
The NBS had earlier informed stakeholders a few days ago that it was changing its methodology for inflation to reflect the economic reality. This is coming after the organisation changed the base year from 2009 to 2024 earlier in 2025.
In its report released today, the stats agency explained that this process was in line with international best practice as contained in the Consumer Price Index Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) Manual, specifically in Section 9.125 and the ECOWAS Harmonised CPI Manual, which address index reference period maximisation, following a rebasing exercise.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2025 was 0.54 per cent, lower than the 1.22 per cent recorded in November 2025.
The NBS also revealed that on a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate for last month stood at 14.85 per cent versus 37.29 per cent in December 2024, while on a month-on-month basis, it jumped to 0.99 per cent from 0.95 per cent in the preceding month.
As for the rural inflation rate in December 2025, it stood at 14.56 per cent on a year-on-year basis from 32.47 per cent in December 2024, and on a month-on-month basis, it declined to -0.55 per cent from 1.88 per cent in November 2025.
It was also disclosed that food inflation rate in December 2025 was 10.84 per cent on a year-on-year basis from 39.84 per cent in December 2024, while on a month-on-month basis, it declined to -0.36 per cent from 1.13 per cent in November 2025 (1.13%).
This was attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of tomatoes, garri, eggs, potatoes, carrots, millet, vegetables, plantain, beans, wheat grain, grounded pepper, fresh onions and others.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Companies operating in Lagos State have been reminded of their obligations to file their annual tax returns for the 2025 financial year on or before January 31, 2026.
This reminder was given by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) in a statement made available to Business Post on Thursday.
In the notice signed by the chairman of the tax agency, Mr Ayodele Subair, it was stressed that filing the tax returns is an obligation as stipulated in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025.
He explained that employers are required to file detailed returns on emoluments and compensation paid to their employees, as well as payments made to their service providers, vendors and consultants, and to ensure that all applicable taxes due for the year 2025 are fully remitted.
Mr Subair emphasised that filing of annual returns is a mandatory legal obligation, and warned that failure to comply will result in statutory sanctions, including administrative penalties, as prescribed under the new tax law.
According to Section 14 of the NTAA, employers are required to file detailed annual returns of all emoluments paid to employees, including taxes deducted and remitted to relevant tax authorities. Such returns must be filed and submitted not later than January 31 each year.
“Employers must prioritise the timely filing of their annual income tax returns. Compliance should be part of our everyday business practice.
“Early and accurate filing not only ensures adherence to the law as required by the Nigerian Constitution, but also supports effective revenue tracking, which is important to Lagos State’s fiscal planning and sustainability,” he noted.
The LIRS chief disclosed that electronic filing via the organisation’s eTax platform remains the only approved and acceptable mode of filing, as manual submissions have been completely phased out. This measure, he said, is aimed at simplifying and standardising tax administration processes in the state.
Employers are therefore required to submit their annual tax returns exclusively through the LIRS eTax portal: https://etax.lirs.net.
Dr Subair described the channel as secure, user-friendly, accessible 24/7, and designed to provide employers with a convenient and efficient means of fulfilling their tax obligations, advising firms to ensure that the tax identification number (Tax ID) of all employees is correctly captured in their filings, noting that employees without a Tax ID must generate one promptly to avoid disruptions during the filing process.
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