Economy
UPDATED: Etisalat Nigeria Gets New Management Team
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Information reaching us confirms that a new board has been constituted by Etisalat Nigeria as a result of the ongoing restructuring efforts.
A statement issued by the company’s representative disclosed that Mr Joseph Nnanna has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Etisalat Nigeria. He replaces Mr Hekeem Belo-Osagie, who resigned last week as Chairman of the telecom firm.
It was also revealed in the statement made available to Business Post on Tuesday, July 4, 2017, that Mr Boye Olusanya has been confirmed as the Chief Executive Officer of the company, to replace Mr Matthew Willsher.
In addition, Mrs Funke Ighodaro takes over from Mr Olawole Obasunloye as Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of Etisalat Nigeria.
Other appointments announced by Etisalat Nigeria today were Mr Oluseyi Bickersteth as a Non-Executive Director of the board, and Mr Ken Igbokwe, also a Non-Executive Director.
The statement noted that, “The consortium of lenders, working with the regulators; the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are committed to the on-going efforts to restructure the company towards a path of long term success of the business and the appointment of a seasoned board of directors and top management is a testament to this.
“The decisions reached so far reflect the high confidence all the stakeholders have in the continued viability and sustainability of the business.
“The smooth transition is also proof of management’s commitment to ensure that the operations of the company run seamlessly, and customers continue to enjoy superior network quality and positive customer experience.
“Etisalat Nigeria remains committed to continuously serving our subscribers, through the provision of innovative products and services with its committed staff, partners and vendors to empower the needs of our customers and improve their experience on the network.”
Etisalat Nigeria concluded the statement by thanking “all our customers for your loyalty, understanding and continued patronage.”
Etisalat Nigeria is the country’s fourth largest telecoms firm with over 20 million subscribers. It came into the country in 2008.
Mr Joseph Nnanna is an economist and a Central Banker. He has three decades of post qualification professional experience.
He attended William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey and University of Houston, in Houston Texas, USA from 1975-80, where he read Finance, Public Policy and Economics. He graduated with B.A, M.A and PhD diplomas. Since graduation, Dr Nnanna has attended several economic policy oriented training programs.
In 2003 and 2004, he studied at Harvard University and participated in the macroeconomic policy and leadership/ organizational management training programs. Dr Nnanna was appointed Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability) Central Bank of Nigeria on February 3, 2015.
His work experience includes: a brief period of teaching at the University of Houston at Clear Lake City campus (USA) and at the federal government Polytechnic, Akure (Nigeria) in 1980-82. And from 1982-1989, he worked as a staff economist in the international trade and exchange rate section of the Research Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Dr Nnanna also served as full time consultant to the government of Nigeria as a technical assistant to the National Economic Management Team and the Presidential Steering Committee on Global economic crisis.
He was also a part-time consultant to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In 2012-2014, Dr Nnanna served as the Alternate Executive Director, representing Nigeria and 21 other sub-sahara African countries on the Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington D.C.
Mr Boye Olusanya – Managing Director/CEO is bringing on board an impeccable wealth of experience from the Nigerian telecoms sector.
At ECONET Wireless, he was Deputy Chief Executive Officer and subsequently the Acting Chief Executive Officer where he successfully managed the affairs of the Company after the disengagement of the former operators.
At CELTEL NIGERIA LIMITED, Mr Olusanya assumed the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and led the business strategy initiative for data services as well as key strategic operational changes in the business.
He has handled high level responsibilities at Dangote Industries Limited where he served as Chief Business Transformation Officer responsible for management of all enterprise-wide projects in the Group.
He was also MD at Dancom Technologies Limited with responsibility for managing all the telecom assets and the IT Infrastructure. He oversaw the sale of the 3G subsidiary as well as managed the rollout of the fibre backbone network covering 4400km across the country.
Mrs Funke Ighodaro Executive Director, Finance was Chief Financial Officer of Tiger Brands Limited from 2011 to 2016. She held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Primedia (Pty) Ltd, from 2001 to 2011.
Prior to 2001, she was Managing Director of a private equity firm, Kagiso Ventures Limited and Executive Director of its parent company, Kagiso Trust Investment Company.
Mrs Ighodaro also worked in the corporate finance division of Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank. She trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, where she spent a total of 10 years in audit and tax. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Mr Oluseyi Bickersteth – Non Executive Director, is the National Senior Partner of KPMG Professional Services, Nigeria; he oversees KPMG West Africa Region and is a Member of the Global Board.
Mr Bickersteth has provided advisory services to major companies in varied industries, including oil and gas, financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, commercial, public sector and not for profit organisations.
He has been extensively involved in privatisation activities and has provided tax and business advice to several local and international companies on privatisation, business organisation, entity restructuring and business regulatory issues.
Mr Bickersteth was a member of the Trade and Investment Committee of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce; was a director of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce and currently a Director of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. He was also involved in Vision 2010, which prepared a memorandum on the vision for Nigeria by year 2010. He chaired a working group on “Nigerian Tax Reforms 2003 & Beyond” for the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Mr Ken Igbokwe – Non Executive Director joined Price Waterhouse in London in 1978 and moved to PwC Nigeria in 1988. He became the Country Business Executive Leader of PwC Nigeria and West Africa and was a member of the PwC Africa Executive Committee.
Mr Igbokwe holds a B.Sc. (Eng.) degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London University, and over 36 years’ experience in the provision of assurance, taxation, business advisory, and consulting services.
He specialises in strategy, enterprise transformation, process reengineering, taxation advisory and business reconstruction.
He is a member, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, and Nigeria; Member, City and Guilds Institute London; Member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, and Member, Business Recovery & Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria.
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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