Economy
Osun Eyes $70m, 10,000 Jobs from Ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Osun State Government is targeting the creation of 10,000 jobs in the state following the flag-off the Osun Ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory on Thursday.
Speaking at the event, the Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, said that the facility will stimulate the economy of the state towards socio-economic growth, development and sustainability.
The ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory situated at Ayekale, along Egbeda-Iragbiji Road, Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area of the State, would be achieved through a robust and mutually-benefitting Public-Private-Partnership (PPP).
He said the administration would collaborate with partners and private investors to achieve the dream of making Osun the industrial hub of the Southwest.
The Governor reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to continually adopt creative means to deliver good road network, health facilities, good schools and other facilities as means for developing Osun and putting it on the path of greatness.
The factory was part of the positive responses received by the government from members of the private sector, particularly local and foreign investors who had earlier been wooed during the Osun Economic and Investment Summit held late last year.
When completed, the Osun Ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory will be operating on over 21 hectares of land conceded to it as equity, and on a full operation, it is estimated that it will attract about $70 million to the state and generate 10,000 jobs.
The product, ethanol, is one of the safe energy sources the world is turning to as a measure of preventing global warming. It would be converting cassava to ethanol, thus empowering thousands of persons in the chain of planting, harvesting, transporting and processing cassava to ethanol and marketing a final product that is hot in today’s world pharmaceutical and energy market.
Laying the foundation of the factory, Mr Oyetola said his administration was poised to deliver the benefits of democracy to all and sundry and provide an enabling environment for private concerns to establish industries in the State.
He expressed confidence in the ability of the factory to complement the government’s efforts at resuscitating the ailing economy of the state and deliver prosperity to the people.
In his words, “Today is an important day in the life of our administration and the annals of this state as it marks the ground-breaking of another project harvested from the Osun Economic and Investment Summit which was convoked in November last year to reposition the economy of the State and deliver prosperity to the people.
“Coming shortly after the harsh economic realities occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, this flag-off is an indication that our strategy for the delivery of economic prosperity has begun to yield good returns and a sign of the good things to come. We have no doubt that Osun Ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory will open a window of investment opportunities for the state.”
“As you all know, our administration is in a hurry to transform the state and deliver prosperity to our people. This determination informed the convocation of the Osun Economic and Investment Summit within one year of coming into office. At that summit too, we promised to hit the ground running.
“We are happy to find a worthy ally in Osun Ethanol Bio-Refinery Factory. The management submitted a proposal for the project we are flagging off today a few weeks after the convocation of the economic summit”, Mr Oyetola further said.
In their separate remarks, the Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Mr Sola Oladepo and his counterpart in the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Industries and Empowerment, Mr Bode Olaonipekun, expressed confidence in the ability of the factory to liberate the State from abysmal economic gloom to enviable wealth.
Earlier, the Chairman of the SMEFUND, promoters of the project, Mr Temitope Ologunoye, commended the administration of Governor Oyetola for thinking outside the box to resuscitate the economy of the state through workable and realistic diversification.
Mr Ologunoye said the factory will be completed in the next 24 to 36 months with a production capacity of 7 million litres of biofuel annually.
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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