Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday signed three Executive Orders on the oil and gas sector to introduce fiscal incentives for related projects, reduce contracting costs and timelines, and promote cost efficiency in local content requirements.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said the Policy Directive the president issued was to improve the investment climate and position Nigeria as the preferred investment destination for the oil and gas sector in Africa.
This according to the statement followed “extensive engagements, analyses, and benchmarking with other jurisdictions.”
The statement partly read: “The President initiated the amendment of primary legislation to introduce fiscal incentives for oil & gas projects, reduce contracting costs and timelines, and promote cost efficiency in local content requirements.
“Recognising the urgency to accelerate investments, the President has directed as follows:
“(1) Introduction of fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, midstream and deepwater developments.
“(2) Streamlining of contracting process to compress the contracting cycle to six months.
“(3) The application of the local content requirements without hindering investments or the cost competitiveness.”
Ngelale, however, noted that the details of these Policy Directives would be gazetted and communicated by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
The presidential spokesman explained that 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, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
He said that the Special Adviser to the President on Energy has been directed to continue coordinating the aforementioned stakeholders “to ensure the implementation of these directives within a stipulated timeframe”.