President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared that Nigeria would deploy its vast oil and gas resources to build a modern, diversified economy, challenging operators to reciprocate the incentives and regulatory reforms introduced by his administration with higher investment, increased production, local content development and compliance with work programmes.
Speaking at the 5th anniversary of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in Abuja, Tinubu emphasised that the government had been listening to investors’ complaints about high operating costs, lengthy contracting processes and uncertainty surrounding fiscal terms, leading to a series of measures designed to make Nigeria more competitive for long-term capital.
The event, which marked five years of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the establishment of NUPRC, brought together government officials, regulators, operators, unions, host communities and industry groups under the theme, “From Uncertainty to Stability: Unlocking the Next Phase of Investment.”
Tinubu specifically cited the 2024 tax incentives and directives on local content and petroleum contracting costs and timelines, the 2025 upstream petroleum operations cost-efficiency incentive order, Executive Order 9 on oil and gas revenue remittances and the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentive Tax Remission Order 2026.
According to Tinubu, who was represented by the Vice President, KashimShettima, the latest deep offshore incentive framework was designed to unlock up to $50 billion in new investment, beginning with the Bonga Southwest project, while providing published criteria for qualifying projects.
“Five years ago, the PIA brought to an end two decades of waiting. It gave this industry clear routes, gave investors a predictable framework, and gave our host communities, for the first time, a legal stake in the resources beneath their land. NUPRC was created to give life to that law.
“We are here today to recognise how well it has done so and to look honestly at the work that remains. There is much to recognise. Only a few years ago, our oil and gas fields were losing a large share of their output to theft and vandalism. Today, through the joint effort of our security agencies, operators, host communities and the Commission, protection is steadier and stronger.
“Investors who once looked elsewhere are returning, and for two years running, Nigeria has been ranked Africa’s leading destination for upstream investment. Acreage is now awarded through open and competitive processes. More than 170 host communities are funding schools, health centres and other projects chosen by the communities themselves.
“Of all these achievements, that last one gives me the greatest satisfaction, because peace in our oil-producing communities is being built on fairness, and that is the most lasting kind of peace,” he stated.
The Nigerian leader pointed out that the administration’s objective was not to perpetuate Nigeria’s dependence on petroleum, but to use the sector to provide the energy, foreign exchange and investment required to build other areas of the economy.
“These gains matter well beyond the oil and gas industry. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, we are building a diversified economy in which agriculture, manufacturing, the digital and creative industries all play their parts. We have already reduced our dependence on oil revenue and we intend to go further.
“A diversified economy still needs energy, foreign exchange and investment, and that is why this sector serves the nation. Our gas can power homes and factories. Petroleum mining supports a stable environment and helps fund the federation. A well-run upstream industry creates hope for Nigerian engineers and service companies.
“Our aim is to use our petroleum resources to build this wider economy rather than to depend on them. The PIA is a strong foundation, but the foundation is only the beginning,” the president stressed.
The president, however, warned that government incentives must translate into actual investment and production, charging operators that benefit from the new policy environment to deliver on their commitments.
He explained.“Laws set the rules. Investors decide on commercial terms. This is a listening government. And investors told us clearly that good rules were not enough while costs remained high. Contracting took too long and fiscal terms for complex projects were uncertain. We listened and we acted.
“Our message to the world is simple: Nigeria is open for long-term investment, and the terms are clear. Policy, however sound, achieves little until it is implemented, and that responsibility weighs in large part with the Commission. NUPRC is a bridge between government policy and investment on the ground.”
He charged the Commission to maintain clear processes and reliable timelines while working with sister agencies to eliminate overlapping requirements, stressing that the government would uphold the rule of law and sanctity of contracts.
Tinubu also called on operators enjoying incentives to fulfil their work programmes, local content, environmental and host-community obligations, while requiring the regulator itself to account publicly for its performance.
“Operators who enjoy incentives must deliver on their commitments to work programmes, local content, the environment and host communities. And the Commission must also account publicly for its own performance. We will uphold the rule of law and the sanctity of contracts so that disputes, where they arise, are resolved quickly and clearly,” he said.
Eyesan: $103bn Spending, Projections Realised in bid rounds
In her intervention, the NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said Nigeria had moved from an era in which uncertainty drove capital away from the country to one in which investment was increasingly returning, with the PIA providing the regulatory foundation for the change.
Eyesan said the delay in reform had contributed to Nigeria losing investment to Guyana, Namibia, Brazil and the United States Gulf of Mexico, while major discoveries such as Bonga Southwest, Zabazaba-Etan, Owowo, Preowei and Nsiko remained undeveloped.
“The PIA changed the terms of that conversation. The task of the Commission was to turn its provisions into working rules, and the rules into results. In consultation with industry, the Commission has developed and gazetted 19 regulations to operationalise the PIA. These regulations cover licensing, royalty, measurement, gas flaring, decommissioning, host communities and fees, among others.
“Discretion has given way to published rules. An investor can now read what is required before committing a single dollar. Since the PIA, the Commission has conducted the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round, the 2022/2023 Mini-Bid Round, the 2024 Licensing Round and the 2025 Licensing Round. Together, these rounds account for about $103 billion in investment spent and projected.
“In the 2024 and 2025 rounds, entry costs were deliberately lowered to bring more bidders to the table. The objective is not licensing for its own sake. The objective is to put capital to work, develop resources and create value,” she stated.
Eyesan said capital was now returning, citing the $5 billion Bonga North project, which reached final investment decision in December 2024 and is expected to produce about 110,000 barrels per day at peak, as well as the Ubeta, HI and Ima gas developments.
She said: “Since 2024, the Commission has approved 120 field development plans, carrying about $47.6 billion in capital and the potential to add about 1.74 million barrels of oil per day and 13.9 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day. Among them is the $10.3 billion Zabazaba-Etan development in OPL 245, a field held back by dispute for more than 20 years.
“In 2025, Nigeria accounted for 38 per cent of all upstream investment sanctioned in Africa, against an average of four per cent between 2015 and 2023. For the second year in a row, Nigeria ranked first in Africa for upstream investment. And this investment is cost-conscious: the average unit technical cost of field development plans approved this year is about $13.55 per barrel of oil equivalent.”
She said the improvement was also reflected in production, which had risen from 1.44 million barrels per day in 2022 to an average of 1.75 million barrels per day in the first seven months of 2026, reaching 1.84 million barrels per day in April, while gas production increased from 6.83 billion standard cubic feet per day to about 7.97 billion standard cubic feet per day.
Eyesan said the Commission had also reduced approval time for reactivating shut-in wells from between two and six weeks to between two and four hours and approved 37 new crude evacuation routes.
On the next phase of the regulatory regime, she said NUPRC would move into what she described as the “age of compliance”, under which every licensee and lessee would be scored and the results published.
“For this reason, the Commission will begin to score the compliance of every licensee and lessee, and to publish the results. The scores will cover the obligations that matter: work programme delivery; payment of royalties, rents and fees; domestic crude and gas supply obligations; measurement and data reporting; gas flaring; health, safety and environment; decommissioning provisions; and host community trust contributions.
“The criteria will be clear, results will be verified, and operators will have the opportunity to correct factual errors before publication. Investors, financiers, host communities and the public will then be able to see who is keeping faith with the PIA,” she added.
She said NUPRC itself would be subject to the same culture of accountability, with the Commission finalising service-level agreements with industry that would establish timelines for approvals and enable operators to assess the regulator’s speed, consistency and complaint-resolution record.
Eyesan said the immediate priority was to restore more than 788,000 bpd of shut-in production across 63 operators, take offshore projects valued at between $30 billion and $50 billion to FID and raise domestic gas delivery from about two-thirds of the obligation to full delivery.
Emmanuel Addeh
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