The Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Friday said they will proceed with the impeachment of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The House stated this during an ongoing press conference in Port Harcourt.
the governor and the members of the Assembly have been embroiled in a political face-off.
Details to follow
Lagos State Internal Revenue Service has restated that employers operating in the state must submit their annual tax returns for the 2025 financial year on or before January 31, 2026.
The agency, in a statement issued on Thursday, said the obligation is in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, which mandates employers to file detailed records of staff emoluments and ensure that all applicable taxes are properly remitted.
Executive Chairman of LIRS, Dr Ayodele Subair, stressed that compliance with the filing requirement is compulsory, warning that defaulting employers would face statutory sanctions as provided by law.
He explained that the annual returns must reflect accurate employee information, including valid Tax Identification Numbers, noting that discrepancies could delay processing and attract penalties.
Subair further disclosed that all submissions are to be made exclusively through the LIRS eTax platform, as the service no longer accepts manual filings.
He encouraged employers to avoid last-minute submissions by filing early and to utilise official LIRS support channels for guidance or technical assistance where necessary.
The management of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, has approved the immediate engagement of retired midwives and qualified young midwife nurses to restore full services at its labour wards.
The decision targets the main hospital complex, the BSUTH Annex, and the Muhammadu Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, all of which have faced challenges in maintaining uninterrupted delivery and obstetric care due to insufficient staffing.
This was contained in statement by the Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Tsenenghul Moses.
He said under the emergency arrangement, ten retired midwives, often referred to as matrons, alongside competent young midwife nurses will be brought on board to bridge the gap.
Mr Emmanuel said the hospital management emphasized that the intervention is designed to guarantee seamless services, reduce delays in patient care, and ultimately improve health outcomes for pregnant women and newborns across Benue State.
“Interested and qualified applicants have been directed to report to the Office of the Head of Nursing Services for documentation on Thursday, January 15, and Friday, January 16, 2026, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
” Successful candidates are expected to commence duties on Monday, January 19, 2026.”
He said the move is part of sustained efforts to enhance service efficiency and address critical gaps in the labour wards, where timely and skilled midwifery support is essential for safe deliveries and emergency obstetric interventions.
Meanwhile the decision of management of BSUTH has been welcomed by health stakeholders in the state, who view the emergency recruitment as a pragmatic step toward bolstering maternal and child health services at the state’s premier tertiary facility.
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo has sacked, Ms Tinyan Otuomagie as the Managing Director/CEO of New Edo Line Transport Services Limited.
DAILY POST reports that Governor Okpebholo said the sack is with immediate effect.
The State Commissioner for Transportation, Hon Uwuilekhue Saturday Idehen disclosed this in a statement dated Thursday, January 15, 2026 in Benin City.
The governor, however, appointed Mr Smart Aigbodion, the General Manager, Maintenance as the Acting Managing Director/CEO of the transport company, pending the appointment of a substantive Managing Director.
He ordered the deployment of the sacked Managing Director/CEO to the Ministry of Information for other assignments as may be determined by the State Government.
The four-paragraph statement read in part: “The Edo State Government wishes to inform the general public that His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has approved the termination of the appointment of Ms Tinyan Otuomagie as the Managing Director/CEO of New Edo Line Transport Services Ltd, with immediate effect.
“Following this development, the General Manager, Maintenance, Mr. Smart Aigbodion, has been appointed as Acting Managing Director/CEO of New Edo Line Transport Services Ltd, pending the appointment of a substantive Managing Director.
“Furthermore, His Excellency has directed that Ms Tinyan Otuomagie be deployed to the Ministry of Information for other assignments as may be determined by the State Government.
“This announcement takes immediate effect.”
A defence witness, Nnamdi Offial, on Thursday told the Special Offences Court in Ikeja that officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission attempted to coerce his client, Henry Omoile, into implicating former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Offial, who represents Omoile—the second defendant in the ongoing $4.5bn and N2.8m fraud trial of Emefiele—made the allegation while testifying in a trial-within-a-trial ordered by Justice Rahman Oshodi to determine whether Omoile’s statement to the EFCC was given voluntarily.
He alleged that EFCC investigators offered inducements, including the promise of bail and possible non-prosecution, if Omoile agreed to provide incriminating evidence against Emefiele.
Emefiele and Omoile are facing charges relating to accepting gratification, receiving gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent receipt of property.
The EFCC also accused them of conferring corrupt advantages on associates, contrary to the Corrupt Practices Act 2000. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Offial testified that the head of the EFCC interrogation team assured Omoile that cooperation would earn him leniency.
He further alleged that investigators conducted the interrogation in a restrictive question-and-answer format, refusing to allow Omoile to write responses that did not align with their expectations.
“On several occasions, questions were put to the second defendant and he answered, but he was not allowed to write them down because the answers did not conform to what the interrogators wanted him to say. I objected to this many times,” Offial said.
He recounted that after the session of February 26, 2024, officers informed him they would continue to detain Omoile.
The following day, he found his client being interrogated without his presence and challenged the process.
Offial said an officer identified as David confronted him over his intervention, leading to a showdown in which he was escorted out of the premises.
“I reported the incident to the team leader, who asked me to remain in the waiting area,” he said.
He added that he could not access Omoile again until about 8pm, when officers returned him to the detention facility.
“Later, I was told that he had refused to cooperate with them and that they were not going to release him. That was when I applied for bail from the EFCC zonal head,” Offial said.
He disclosed that EFCC detained Omoile for 21 days, prompting him to file a fundamental rights enforcement suit at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
According to Offial, Justice Muslim Hamza granted bail but ordered that Omoile be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending the perfection of bail conditions.
During cross-examination, EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), elicited several admissions from the witness.
Offial confirmed that investigators cautioned Omoile in his presence and that Omoile signed the caution.
He also admitted that he participated in the statement-taking process and understood that anything written could be used against his client in court.
When asked whether he reported the alleged misconduct or filed a petition against the EFCC, Offial said he did not.
He further acknowledged that the judge in the fundamental rights suit did not indict the EFCC for misconduct, and that his client was not harassed in his presence.
Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter to January 16, 2026, for continuation of the trial-within-trial.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said Nigeria spent N11.1tn on capital expenditure in 2024, achieving 85 per cent implementation, following an extension of the budget cycle to ensure the completion of priority projects.
However, some economists have questioned whether the spending has had a tangible impact on the economy. Renowned Professor of Economics, Akpan Ekpo, said the effect of the capital outlay was not being felt due to delays in disbursement.
“It’s capital expenditure that enhances growth. Now he’s talking about 2024, which has almost a one-year or nearly two-year lag. For the 2025 budget, only 17 per cent of the capital expenditure has been released. We are not feeling the impact because of the delay in releases,” Ekpo said.
He added, “The delay in releases is a problem. The impact is not felt. Capital expenditure supports growth and development. We hope that, as the President has said, by March there will no longer be these delays. Right now, 2026 is to start, while 2025 has not ended yet because of capital releases.”
Similarly, Marcel Okeke, a former Chief Economist at Zenith Bank, described the situation as “money illusion,” noting that naira depreciation and inflation have eroded the real impact of spending.
“The cost of materials for infrastructure has risen sharply. A bag of cement in 2023 is now around N12,000. That is why you don’t see much impact because of inflation and naira depreciation. This applies across the board. PMS prices rose sharply after subsidy removal, and what we see now is largely what they claim,” Okeke said.
Speaking at the 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook event of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Lagos on Thursday, Edun defended the capital spending outcomes, saying they reflected the government’s decision to prioritise project execution over abandonment.
“In terms of the capital budget, the budget, at the end of the day, is a law of the National Assembly. They extended the 2024 budget for the full year to ensure that projects were completed,” Edun said.
He added, “In aggregate, capital expenditure in 2024 reached N11.1tn, so that was 85 per cent performance.
The 2025 capital is below that. That reflects that the government’s emphasis was on completing the priority projects of 2024, and despite these fiscal challenges, it’s important to note that all statutory obligations — foreign debt service, domestic debt service, and salaries- were all met by the government. An important promise of the President.”
Edun described the outcomes as indicative of transparency, fiscal discipline, and structural reform, and linked capital spending to the government’s broader economic strategy.
“All these outcomes create macro and fiscal conditions required to stabilise food prices, lower the cost of capital, expand mortgage lending, scale electricity delivery, and accelerate road construction across the federation,” he said.
The minister stressed that capital expenditure must translate into shared prosperity. “Nigeria cannot afford to pause, cannot afford to retreat, and cannot afford to sleep,” he said. “Success would determine whether stability is converted into sustained growth.”
Edun highlighted the importance of productive investment and the role of the private sector in driving development. “Global capital development, even multilateral financing, is retreating. The SDGs are not going to be met. You need three to four trillion dollars a year. It’s not going to come before 2030. We’ve seen how multilateralism is retreating. It means that we have to rely on our own holistic resource utilisation,” he said.
He concluded by calling on Nigerians at home and abroad to invest in the economy, reaffirming the government’s commitment to turning fiscal stability into inclusive, job-rich growth.
Nigeria imported approximately 1.31 billion litres of petrol in December 2025, according to data released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
During the same period, the Dangote refinery reportedly supplied 992 million litres, showing a notable contribution from domestic refining compared to November. In December, total petrol supply was 74.2 million litres per day: imports took 42.2 million litres per day, while Dangote supplied 32 million litres per day.
The figures represent a stark contrast to November, when petrol imports were 1.57 billion litres, and Dangote supplied just 585 million litres. The average daily supply in November was 71.5 million litres per day; 52.1 million litres were imported, while 19.5 million litres were sourced from the Dangote refinery, the only petrol-producing plant in Nigeria as of the time of this report.
It was observed that the jump in petrol supply from 2.15 billion litres in November to 2.3 billion litres in December reflects seasonal demand pressures during the Yuletide.
It was observed that while local refining is growing, some marketers still have a passion for imported petrol.
According to a report released for November, the NMDPRA justified fuel import licences, stating that there was a shortage in September and October. Data from the authority showed that NNPC and other marketers imported 1.5 billion litres of petrol in November alone.
The November import figure of 52.1 million litres per day was the highest since the Dangote refinery started petrol production in September 2024.
The NMDPRA explained that low supply in September and October 2025, below national demand, necessitated increased imports. It said that in September, Dangote supplied 17.6 million litres per day, while imports stood at 22.1 million litres per day.
Reacting, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, accused the former NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, of granting what he called “reckless licences” for fuel importation while his tanks were full, accusing Ahmed of sabotaging the economy.
“As we speak now, even our tanks are full because the NMDPRA has issued reckless licences. And we have to now go and complain to the government,” Dangote said.
“They are now ready to issue licences for about 7.5 billion litres for the first quarter of 2026, despite the fact that we have guaranteed to supply enough quantity,” he added.
In response, Dangote disrupted the market by crashing the pump price of petrol from around N900 to N739/litre, though at a heavy loss to both refiners and importers.
On Wednesday, the Managing Director of the Dangote refinery, David Bird, disclosed that the Dangote refinery has commenced night-time loading operations as it intensifies efforts to sustain a daily supply of more than 50 million litres of petrol across Nigeria, signalling a major shift to full 24-hour operations at Africa’s largest refinery.
Speaking during a press briefing at the refinery, Bird said the transition to round-the-clock loading had become necessary to meet market demand and improve turnaround time for product evacuation.
According to him, the refinery is now meeting the 50 million litres daily petrol requirement in both production and evacuation.
“What I’m incredibly proud of is that, in the second half of 2025, while we were still ramping up capacity of our conversion units and downstream units, we were still able to deliver 50 million litres a day, more frankly than 52 million litres on some occasions,” Bird said.
He added, “We’re already doing nighttime loading. So it’s a 24-hour operation. We have celebrated over 50 million litres of offtake as well, which means over a thousand trucks progressing through the gate and through the gantry.”
Meanwhile, The PUNCH observes that the landing cost of imported PMS has remained stuck at rates above the Dangote refinery’s ex-depot price of N699 per litre.
According to reports by the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, while the Dangote refinery’s ex-depot price has remained at N699 since December, the landing cost has been fluctuating between N780 and N750, intensifying the price war for importers.
In its bulletin on Wednesday, MEMAN disclosed that the landing cost dropped to N754.96 from N758 last week. The association noted that Dangote’s gantry price was still N699 per litre, representing a difference of about N44.
As a result, many importers are finding it difficult to sell petrol at competitive prices compared with the Dangote-backed MRS filling stations.
When Aliko Dangote slashed the petrol gantry price by N129 in December, he said the move was to ensure Nigerians bought petrol at prices not above N740 during the Yuletide. He added that it was also intended to discourage importation.
The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service has reiterated the statutory deadline of January 31, 2026, for all employers of labour in the state to file their annual tax returns for the 2025 financial year.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Executive Chairman of LIRS, Dr Ayodele Subair, reminded employers that the obligation to file annual returns is in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025.
Subair explained that employers are required to file detailed returns on emoluments and compensation paid to their employees, as well as payments made to service providers, vendors, and consultants, and to ensure that all applicable taxes due for the 2025 year are fully remitted.
He emphasised that the filing of annual returns is a mandatory legal obligation and warned that failure to comply would attract statutory sanctions, including administrative penalties, as prescribed under the new tax law.
According to Section 14 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, employers are required to file detailed annual returns of all emoluments paid to employees, including taxes deducted and remitted to the relevant tax authorities.
The Act stipulates that such returns must be filed and submitted no later than January 31 of each year.
Subair urged employers to treat tax compliance as a core business responsibility, stressing the importance of early and accurate filing.
“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 said.
He further noted that electronic filing through the LIRS eTax platform remains the only approved and acceptable mode of filing in Lagos State, as manual submissions have been completely phased out.
According to him, the move to full electronic filing is aimed at simplifying and standardising tax administration processes across the state, while improving efficiency and transparency.
Employers are therefore required to submit their annual tax returns exclusively through the LIRS eTax portal at https://etax.lirs.net.
Subair described the eTax platform as secure, user-friendly, and accessible 24 hours a day, adding that it was designed to provide employers with a convenient and efficient means of meeting their tax obligations.
He advised employers to ensure that the Tax Identification Number of all employees is correctly captured during the filing process, noting that employees without a TaxID are required to generate one promptly to avoid delays or disruptions.
The LIRS boss also encouraged employers who require further information or assistance to visit any of the service’s offices or make use of its official support channels.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that about 20 deposit money banks have already met the new capital requirements under the ongoing banking recapitalisation programme, as the apex bank shifts focus toward ensuring that stronger balance sheets translate into real sector credit growth.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Muhammad Abdullahi, on Thursday while speaking on a panel at the launch of the 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Lagos.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting of 2025, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed that 16 banks have achieved full compliance with the revised capital requirements, ahead of the deadline.
According to Abdullahi, the recapitalisation programme was designed to build stronger banks capable of supporting Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy.
“I think that even at the inception of the capitalisation programme, the major focus is how do we ensure that we have stronger banks that can support our drive towards a trillion-dollar economy? And the only way to get there is through the credit-review sector, to SMEs, to businesses that require funding at good rates. So as we close up towards March, I mean, the efforts have been quite impressive. We have about 20 banks that have already met it. A number of banks are meeting it every day.
They’re huge. It’s very busy within CBN today, tomorrow, and through to March, as you can imagine.”
However, he stressed that recapitalisation alone was not sufficient, warning that the focus must now shift from bigger balance sheets to productive and sustainable lending.
“The focus that we really are turning our attention to, especially from the financial system stability side, is that we ensure that a strengthened capital base translates into credit that is productive, that is well-targeted, and that is sustainable,” he said.
He said the CBN has spent the past year strengthening its regulatory capacity through technology to ensure that the benefits of recapitalisation are transmitted to priority sectors of the economy.
“The entire work we’ve been doing institutionally over the last year is to ensure that the Central Bank itself improves its regulation capacity through using technology to ensure that we can actually monitor that the effects of this capitalisation translate into real sector credit to SMEs,” Abdullahi said.
He added that the apex bank would intervene where banks fail to channel increased capital into productive lending.
Beyond banking, Abdullahi said Nigeria faces a significant development finance challenge, estimating the country’s funding needs at about N230tn across critical sectors.
“Nigeria needs about N230tn in terms of development finance for various sectors. The capitalisation on average for all of the development finance institutions combined is not up to nine trillion naira, so there’s a huge gap,” he asserted.
According to him, the focus has shifted toward mobilising private sector capital, both domestic and international, to close the funding shortfall.
“How do we crowd in private sector capital globally and domestically? How do we ensure that when that capital comes in, it’s used efficiently?” Abdullahi asked.
He disclosed that the Central Bank has held extensive discussions with the Ministry of Finance, which has now taken the lead on development finance strategy, while the CBN supports the framework through financial system stability and regulation.
Abdullahi said efforts are also underway to correct incentives within development finance institutions to ensure funds are deployed efficiently and not treated as expendable public resources.
“There’s a clear programme to see how we correct the incentives in each of the DFIs to ensure that when people give up money, it’s not seen as government money that should just be wasted,” he said.
He expressed optimism that progress would become evident in the coming months as fiscal and monetary authorities align to mobilise capital for growth and development.
Meanwhile, the Senior Economist for Nigeria, World Bank Group, Dr Samer Matta, noted that the monetary authorities had done as much as they could with the instruments available to them.
The Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Enoh, also unveiled the National Industrial Policy, aimed at driving job creation, boosting manufacturing capacity, and reducing the country’s long-standing dependence on imports.
According to him, the policy is built on execution-led design, clear sequencing, institutional ownership, performance benchmarks, timelines, and alignment across trade, investment, finance, energy, skills, infrastructure, and regulation.
The policy is structured around six pillars, including competitive industrial production, value-chain deepening and import substitution, MSME-to-industry transition, trade competitiveness and AfCFTA readiness, and institutional governance anchored on a strong Nigeria First policy.
Enoh said the value-chain pillar targets sectors such as agro-processing, solid minerals, petrochemicals, automotive, and pharmaceuticals, with defined local value-addition thresholds. He raised the question of whether manufacturing’s contribution to GDP could reach 20–25 per cent by 2030, describing the target as ambitious but achievable with commitment.
On MSMEs, he noted that while Nigeria has over 40 million small businesses, the challenge lies in ensuring they feed into industrial value chains through supply development, access to long-term finance, and industry-aligned skills.
He also cited the controversy over last year’s temporary ban on shea nut exports as an example of the need to take industrial aspirations seriously, noting that Nigeria is a major producer but exports mostly raw materials.
Enoh said implementation would define the success of the policy, acknowledging public fatigue with policies that fail to deliver results. An implementation framework, he said, will be unveiled alongside the policy.
“The question is no longer what the policy is,” he said. “The question is how we deliver.”
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) yesterday revealed that of the 74.2 million litres per day (ml/d) of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) supplied to the domestic market in December 2025, the Dangote Refinery accounted for 32.12 ml/d.
The state-owned refineries – Warri Refinery Petrochemicals Company (WAPC) and the Kaduna Refinery Petrochemicals Company (WAPC), which remain in shut down contributed none.
This was made in the NMDPRA Factsheet titled: “State of the Midstream and Downstream December 2025,” which was released in Abuja.
According to the document, national domestic supply of petrol rose from the 71.5ML/D in November.
In the period under review national petrol consumption hit 63.7ml/d from the 52.9ml/d recorded in November.
NMDPRA revealed that PMS stock sufficiency rose to 29.20 days from the 16.64 days in the previous month.
Specifically on Dangote, the report said average capacity utilization of the 650barrels stream per day (bspd) plant in December was 62.94 per cent while its PMS performance was 64.02 per cent.
The report revealed that although the actual domestic supply planned by the plant was 50ml/d, it sent 32.12ml/d of petrol to the Nigeria’s market.
Commending the Dangote Refinery’s performance in the period under review, NMDPRA said, “Dangote Refinery shows strong capacity utilization for the month of December realizing a maximum of 71 per cent utilization.”
According to the report, Dangote also supplied an average of 5.783ml/d of the Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) to the domestic market in the month under review.
NMDPRA said the national refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) – PHPRC and WRPC did not record production activities in December as they remain in shut down.
“No production activities as the refinery remained on shut down mode. However, evacuation of prior AGO produced while the refinery was operational before the 24 May 2015 averaged 0.247million litres/day,” said the factsheet.
On key refinery project update, the factsheet said the Waltersmith Refinery train 2 completed, pre- commissioning hydrocarbon to be introduced by January.
