Federal government has announced it will impose a new 5 percent refined fossil fuel tax from January.

The surcharge, which has been signed into law by President Bola Tinubu to encourage clean energy use, could raise more than half a billion dollars annually.

The fee will apply to petrol and diesel, while cooking gas and compressed natural gas — which the government has tried to promote — are exempted.

Nonprofit group ActionAid Nigeria said the policy will “disproportionately impact the poor” and deepen inequality, noting that Nigerians have not recovered from the inflationary effect of the removal of fuel subsidies in 2023.

Dinesh Balsingh, managing director and chief executive officer, Airtel Nigeria, has identified data demands and network connectivity access as two of the critical areas in which the organisation is actively innovating to further improve customer satisfaction.

Mr Balsingh made this revelation at an exclusive roundtable with senior media executives in Lagos. The event, which was held at Radisson Hotel Ikeja, brought together business editors, brands and consumer editors, ICT editors, and capital market editors from legacy print and the digital press for an elaborate discussion on the company’s quality of service innovations.

The special roundtable provided a valuable opportunity for journalists to engage directly with Airtel Nigeria’s leadership to gain deeper insights into the strategies deployed by the organisation to address Nigeria’s growing telecom and technology ecosystem.

During the conversations, Mr Balsingh noted the exponential explosion of data usage across Nigerian cities, particularly Lagos, as rapid urbanisation, digitisation, and mobile-first lifestyles continue to drive bandwidth consumption at unprecedented rates.

“Cities like Lagos are growing at lightning speed—more people, more businesses, more devices. At Airtel, we recognise that data is the new oxygen.

That’s why we’re investing heavily in 5G and fibre to build a smart, scalable network that can carry the weight of Nigeria’s digital future. This isn’t just about faster internet; it’s about enabling education, healthcare, commerce, and opportunity through reliable, high-capacity connectivity,” he said.

The event spotlighted several other advancements such as the Airtel Business Network as a Service (NaaS) solution to boost Nigerian enterprise; collaborations with Starlink and OneWeb to deepen data coverage in remote areas; self-service customer experience products; AI-enabled user data and privacy protections; and the ongoing cashback programmes offered on the Smartcash mobile app.

Other programmes highlighted by Mr Balsingh and his team include Airtel’s ground-breaking AI-powered Spam Alert Service, which currently flags about 30 million spam SMS messages monthly; the NXtra Data Centre, which is set to go live in 2026 as the largest data centre in Nigeria; and the scale of education support projects like the N1 billion investment in the federal government’s Three Million Technical Talents (3MTT) initiative, Adopt-a-School, and the Reimagine Education programme which currently benefits over 1.5 million Nigerian learners of which over 880,000 are public elementary school pupils across the 1450 Airtel/UNICEF schools nationwide.

“Airtel Nigeria is responding with cutting-edge solutions to power the future of digital connectivity in urban areas as well as hard-to-reach areas across the country,” Balsingh said.

With the introduction of 5G-ready technologies and aggressive fibre rollout in major urban areas, he stated, Airtel is ensuring that Nigerians are not left behind in the global digital economy, stating that Airtel’s evolving network infrastructure is designed to serve the needs of modern consumers who demand high-speed, uninterrupted access to online services

This roundtable forms part of Airtel Nigeria’s broader commitment to innovation, customer focus, and thought leadership within the telecom industry. As Nigeria continues to embrace digital transformation, Airtel remains focused on delivering multilayered solutions that match the speed and ambition of Nigerians.

Ola Olukoyede, executive chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),  has denied claims that he compelled Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to step down from his role.

Bayo Ojulari,

The allegations stemmed from an August 2, 2025, online publication which alleged that Olukoyede and Adeola Ajayi, director general, Department of State Services (DSS),  pressured Ojulari into signing a resignation letter during a closed-door meeting in Abuja.

The report also suggested that Ojulari was interrogated over his purported links to Olatimbo Ayinde, British-Nigerian oil mogul, who is reportedly close to key figures in the present administration.

In a follow-up story, the news outlet further claimed Ojulari was later invited to the Presidential Villa, where First Lady Senator Remi Tinubu reportedly opposed his resignation.

Responding to the allegations, Dele Oyewale, spokesman, EFCC<  issued a statement on Wednesday on behalf of the Commission, noting that Olukoyede, through his legal counsel Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), described the publications as defamatory and injurious to his integrity.

“The publications and the imputations conveyed by them are so damning and cannot be ignored or treated with levity,” the statement quoted.

Olukoyede denied any suggestion that he was acting at the behest of Ayinde or that his actions were influenced by external political figures.

A letter addressed to the editor of the publication, signed by Olumide-Fusika, reiterated the gravity of the claims and insisted on corrective measures.

“He, therefore, demanded that the medium acknowledge your wrongdoing, expressly admit that what you published and imputed against my client are false, apologise for it unreservedly and retract and pull down the stories from your newspaper website and social media handles,” the statement added.

Olukoyede said the story portrayed him as “someone that has betrayed and subverted public trust by submitting the authority of his public office and trust as Chairman of the EFCC to the dictates and directives of one Olatimbo Ayinde.”

Labelling the report as entirely fabricated, Olukoyede demanded an official apology and complete removal of the story from the outlet’s digital platforms within 48 hours.