• Boasts of $103b upstream investment, transparency in oil block award
• PENGASSAN urges end to casual workers in oil sector

Nigeria is making a decisive break from decades of dependence on crude oil revenue,  President Bola Tinubu declared yesterday, boasting that his administration has significantly reduced oil’s dominance in the nation’s finances and will accelerate the transition towards a diversified, gas-powered economy.

The President said the objective was no longer to build an economy that merely extracts and exports petroleum resources, but one that uses oil and gas to stimulate manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure, jobs and investment across the country.

He said reforms in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector had attracted or projected about $103 billion in investment, while ensuring greater transparency in the award of oil blocks.

Meanwhile, the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Bosun Olabiyi-Agoro, urged the government and regulators to address contract staffing and disparities between permanent and casual workers in the upstream sector.

Speaking in Abuja at the fifth anniversary of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), he said Nigeria’s economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA) was being driven by growing contributions from agriculture, manufacturing, digital economy and creative industries.

Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President said the development of the petroleum sector remained critical to the country’s economic stability, but stressed that the government was determined to ensure that oil revenues no longer defined Nigeria’s economic fortunes.

“We have already reduced our dependence on oil revenue, and we intend to go further,” he declared. “Our gas can power homes and factories. Petroleum earnings support a stable naira and help fund the federation.”

The President’s declaration came as his administration seeks to reposition the country’s energy architecture around natural gas, describing the present period as “the decade of gas”.

Tinubu said: “With the largest gas reserves in Africa, we will expand gas supply for power, industry and clean cooking, reduce flaring and methane emissions, and grow renewable energy alongside it.”

He added that Nigeria would pursue an energy transition based on its own development realities, insisting that climate commitments must not undermine the country’s need for energy access, industrialisation and economic growth.

The President also linked the country’s changing economic structure to renewed confidence in the upstream petroleum sector, saying oil production had become more stable through the combined efforts of security agencies, operators, host communities and NUPRC.

He said investors who had previously moved their capital out of Nigeria were returning, with the country now ranking as Africa’s leading destination for upstream investment for two consecutive years.

But he warned that the government would no longer tolerate a situation in which investors enjoyed incentives without fulfilling their obligations.

He pledged to protect the sanctity of contracts and ensure that disputes were resolved quickly and fairly, arguing that regulatory certainty remained essential to attracting long-term capital into the sector.

The President said the PIA provided the foundation for reform, but acknowledged that legislation alone could not guarantee investment, adding: “Investors told us plainly 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.”

Tinubu, therefore, charged the NUPRC to make regulation more predictable and investor-friendly, describing the commission as the “bridge between government policy and investment on the ground.”

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Oil, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, said despite the progress recorded in the sector, Nigeria needed more investment, exploration and additional licensing rounds to unlock its petroleum potential.

According to Lokpobiri, the country produces about 1.7 million barrels of crude oil daily and had more than 37 billion barrels of oil reserves.

He urged the NUPRC to sustain regulatory reforms and dismantle bureaucratic obstacles capable of discouraging investors.

Chairman of the NUPRC Governing Board, Sen. Magnus Abe, attributed the commission’s progress to the Tinubu administration’s reform drive and its decision to protect the regulator from political interference.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, Jarigbe AgomJarigbe, similarly said the PIA strengthened transparency, regulatory certainty and investment prospects in the sector.

Asserting that reforms in the upstream petroleum sector had attracted or projected about $103 billion in investment, while ensuring greater transparency in the award of oil blocks, Shettima added: “Acreages are now awarded through open and competitive bidding processes, and I can bear witness to this part. A friend of mine with no connection whatsoever got awarded an upstream location through a fair and just process.”