Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 13 February 2026 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed Executive Order No. 9 of 2026 directing all Production Sharing Contract operators and contractors to remit Royalty Oil, Tax Oil, Profit Oil, and Profit Gas directly to the Federation Account, bypassing prior NNPC Limited intermediated collection. The order simultaneously eliminates NNPC Limited's 30% management fee on profit oil/gas, suspends the 30% Frontier Exploration Fund deduction, and redirects Gas Flare Penalty proceeds to the Federation Account — materially walking back the fiscal architecture established under Petroleum Industry Act 2021 §§ 9 and 53. An Implementation Committee chaired by the Minister of Finance was established to operationalise the order and resolve disputes.

On 20 December 2025, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a USD 750 million dual-tranche senior secured reserve-based lending facility for Heirs Energies Limited, a Nigerian upstream oil and gas producer chaired by Tony O. Elumelu, at a ceremony in Abuja. Afreximbank acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Facility Agent and Security Agent; the facility is intended to optimise Heirs Energies' capital structure and fund working capital as the company pursues its field development programme on OML 17, where it produces roughly 50,000 barrels per day plus associated and non-associated gas supplying three power plants that account for about 15% of Nigeria's installed electricity-generation capacity. Global Trade Alert logs the transaction as a state-linked loan intervention given Afreximbank's supranational, treaty-based public-development-finance mandate.

On 4 August 2025, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a USD 1.35 billion financing facility in favour of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), acting as Mandated Lead Arranger within a larger approximately USD 4 billion syndicated facility. The financing refinances capital expended on constructing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex — the world's largest single-train refinery at 650,000 barrels per day — alleviating initial operating expenditure and strengthening DIL's balance sheet. Global Trade Alert logs the transaction as a state-linked loan intervention given Afreximbank's supranational, treaty-based public-development-finance mandate.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the Upstream Petroleum Operations (Cost Efficiency Incentives) Order, 2025 on 29 May 2025, introducing a performance-based tax-credit framework for upstream oil and gas operators who beat NUPRC-set Unit Operating Cost benchmarks. Eligible lessees, licensees, and PSC contractors receive tax credits capped at 20% of their annual petroleum tax liability per licence area, applied against Petroleum Profits Tax, Hydrocarbon Tax, or Companies Income Tax. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) conducts annual terrain-specific (onshore, shallow-water, deep-offshore) Unit Operating Cost benchmarking, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) co-administers with claw-back provisions for non-compliance; the regime runs through 31 May 2035.

On 28 February 2024 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed one executive order and two presidential directives to revive upstream oil and gas investment in Nigeria after years of declining FDI: (i) the Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc.) Order, 2024 — establishing a gas tax credit for non-associated gas (NAG) greenfield projects and fiscal enablers for deep-water oil and gas; (ii) the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 — instructing the NCDMB to adapt enforcement of the Local Content Act to in-country capacity gaps; and (iii) the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 — streamlining NUPRC and NNPCL contracting approvals. Effective immediately on signing.