NIES 2025: Tax, Other Reforms Reposition Nigeria As Global Energy Powerhouse – Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has emphasised that Nigeria’s ongoing tax and energy reforms are positioning the country as a global powerhouse in the energy sector.

This is as the minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri said Africa does not need loans but strategic partnerships and investments to address energy poverty and drive economic growth in the continent.

Tinubu who declared open the 2025 Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES), in Abuja on Tuesday, highlighted the government’s efforts to create an enabling environment for investments through tax reforms and energy policies.

The President, who was represented by the minister of state for finance, Dr. Doris Anite, said these reforms aim to attract both local and international investors by eliminating bottlenecks and promoting a market-friendly economic framework.

According to him, the Reforms are fashioned to simplify the country’s tax regulations, offer incentives, and ensure a more transparent and predictable fiscal framework.
He added that the Reforms are tailored to phasing out barriers to entry and supporting business growth in the country.

“As many of you are aware, we are currently implementing a series of comprehensive reforms in our fiscal and tax policies.

He said the revival of domestic refineries and establishment of new petrochemical plants present opportunities for investors to participate in value-added processing and production with the coming on-stream of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), two refineries, the country is going to have more refining capacity to produce, to process food and also deliver these products at the cheaper cost to Nigerians.

He assured the stakeholders that the government will keep removing the bottlenecks and red tape that block investments.

He revealed: “We are seeing more investment flow through the creation of enabling environments and regulations and the policies to support your investment flow.”

He said the government is making efforts to expand power generation and improve transmission infrastructure offering investment opportunities in both conventional and renewable energy sources.

He added that the government’s focus on increasing the short-term renewable energy in the energy mix aligns with global trends and presents a sustainable investment opportunity.

On hydrogen, Tinubu said, “Here in Nigeria, we are actively developing a hydrogen policy to attract investors, and it is great hydrogen in our energy mix, we have unveiled a hydrogen development agenda committed to creating a unified national hydrogen policy.”

He explained that the policy aims to harness the potential of both blue and green hydrogen, leveraging other natural resources and strategic geographic position.

He encouraged the stakeholders to be a part of Nigeria’s hydrogen journey, and other critical energy minerals.

Continuing, he said “Finally, this is a key sector to the economic growth of our nation, and we are committed to its rapid development. Our large deposits of copper, lithium nickel cobalt, and rare earthy neurons, which are all very critical for clean energy technologies, present investors with significant investment opportunities.

“We will also build local refining capacities for these resources to ensure more value addition and more revenue to the country.”

Africa Needs Strategic Investments Not Loans– Lokpobiri

Meanwhile, the minister of state, petroleum resources, Heineken Lokpobiri noted that the strategic policies being undertaken by President Bola Tinubu’s administration prove Nigeria’s readiness and commitment to business.

Giving the oil industry address, Lokpobiri said the International Oil Companies (IOCs) are not leaving Nigeria.

He said the companies are only migrating to deep water offshore operations, stressing that they have no alternative to Nigeria.

“Nigeria is an investment destination. No IOC is leaving Nigeria. All the IOCs cannot find a better destination than Nigeria. They confirmed to me they are not leaving Nigeria and that the worst is they are leaving for the deep offshore.”

He said already out of the four Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) taken in the African oil and gas industry, three were in Nigeria.

He noted that $20 billion in investments is on the way to Nigeria soon.

Lokpobiri announced that the African Energy Bank with its headquarters in Nigeria will begin operations in the first quarter of 2025.

He recalled how he was in Davos in January this year and he was told there was a loan for oil and gas available but he turned down the offer and told them Nigeria prefers investment to loan at the moment.

He attributed all the progress in the sector to the Executive Order from Tinubu last year.

He urged the stakeholders to ignore the campaign about the energy transition, stressing there must be energy security before the energy transition.

He said: “In January at Davos, I was in a panel with eight other ministers of different parts of the world and one of the ministers said that Europe have about 300 billion euros available for loans to Africa and I made a suggestion telling them that we don’t need loans we need investments, we need partnerships don’t give us loans. Go and invest and then make your returns instead of giving us loans.

“I can assure you that the world is ready to invest in Africa, the world has recognised that Africa has enormous resources, but these resources have no value unless we are able to bring them to the market before we can have value.”

The minister noted that the current administration has been able to change the entire energy landscape in Nigeria, making the country an investment destination for new investors and those who had earlier mulled plans of divestment.

He said: “Before we came, for over two years, there were pending divestments in Nigeria that were basically disincentive to investment in Nigeria.

“The global norm is that you go to any country you want to invest at will and also have the permission to divest at will but where that is not the case, there will be a major fundamental disincentive to investment.

“When this President came, the story was like that. When he came as a businessman, he changed the narrative.

“Today I’m very proud to announce that Nigeria is ready for business, Nigeria has shown readiness for business and that is why four major divestments that were pending before have been completed.

“Nigeria is a very attractive investment destination. Bring your capital to invest, you can diversify as well.

“It also shows that we have developed or grown enormous local capacity that those who are buying over these assets are those who have worked in Shell and the IOCs alike and they have capacity to be able to run these companies in a manner that will be profitable. Nigeria has nothing to lose.

Lokpobiri added, “No IOC is leaving Nigeria, all the IOCs cannot find a better location than Nigeria for business, they told me that Nigeria is still the best destination and they are firm in their commitment to say they are not leaving Nigeria. At the worst, they are leaving for deep offshore which is beyond the capacity of IPPG members.”

The minister who disclosed that Nigeria would secure some investments in the next few months, urged Africa to unite in order to collectively provide solutions to the energy poverty problems bedevilling the continent.

“We have to collectively work together to ensure that we bridge the gap that exists in technology, in finance, in everything you can think of. We should also have competitive fiscal and regulatory regimes.

“We are not in competition, we are in this together to provide energy to African countries. We have a common objective of unlocking the potential that exists in Africa and is in abundance. Let’s see how we can attract a requisite investment and solve the issue of energy poverty in Nigeria.

“Africa needs strategic partnerships. Africa needs investment. Africa already has substantial investment in oil and gas.

“We want to expand the investments so that we can, first of all, address the issue of energy poverty and then, we will transition.”