President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order to improve the investment climate in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this through a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the move is in line with the president’s commitment to remove obstacles to investments in Nigeria, harness the nation’s resources, and diversify the economy for the benefit of Nigerians.
The order, according to Ngelale, followed the president’s initiation of amendments of primary legislation to introduce fiscal incentives for oil and gas projects, reduce contracting costs and timelines, and promote cost efficiency in local content requirements.
He said the president has directed the introduction of fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, midstream, and deepwater developments.
Tinubu also ordered the streamlining of the contracting process to compress the contracting cycle to six months and the application of the local content requirements without hindering investments or the cost competitiveness.
“The details of these policy directives would be gazetted and communicated by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
“These incentives were developed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Petroleum, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Other agencies in the collaboration are the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
“The Special Adviser to the President on Energy had been directed to continue coordinating the stakeholders to ensure implementation of the directives,” the presidential aide added.