. Insist Nigeria must never wait a lifetime to unlock its resources again
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Special Adviser to the President on Oil and Gas, Olu Verheijen has reiterated that Nigeria has fixed the investment case for oil and gas but insists there is urgent need to fix what that investment builds.
She stated this while presenting her keynote address at the 44th NAPE Annual International Conference And Exhibition in Lagos with a clear message that the Conference was not about geology rather It is about about bankability.
Speaking on the theme “Unlocking More Barrels: From Energy Recovery to National Renewal,” Verheijen said the Tinubu administration will judge its reforms by four tests she set last year: reserves, revenues, reliability and responsibility.
This year, she added a fifth test — whether the next barrel builds the country above the ground.
Recounting on the the 53-year lesson from IMA gas field, discovered in 1973, she noted that IMA only reached Final Investment Decision in September 2026 — more than half a century later.
Stressing that “A child born when that gas was discovered could have finished school, entered the workforce and raised a family before the decision to develop it was taken,” Verheijen said.
“The gas did not suddenly appear in 2026. The conditions for investing in it changed.”For too long, she argued, Nigeria asked excellent geology to compensate for uncertain fiscal terms, slow contracting, uncompetitive economics and no reliable route to paying customers.
According to her the reform blueprint under President Bola Tinubu was designed to reverse that: reward production, protect existing revenues, keep rules workable, and tailor incentives to the resource — with time-bound eligibility to force projects up investors’ portfolios.
‘’In gas, fiscal reform had to move with commercial reform — particularly opening third-party gas supply to NLNG to make projects financeable.The results, she said, are now visible: Ubeta and Bonga North reached FID in 2024, IMA has joined them in 2026, moving billions in capital from PowerPoint to execution.
On demands for operator, Verheijen laid out three commercial responsibilities for the next phase: first . Replenish the opportunity: “A country cannot produce tomorrow what it does not discover today.” She challenged operators to bring forward credible exploration programmes, infill drilling and improved recovery plans — with clear government decisions needed, capital committed, and execution plans attached. Mature fields and new developments must advance together.
Secondly is Prove Nigerian capability: With Nigerian independents now driving onshore and shallow-water growth while IOCs concentrate on deepwater and integrated gas, success will depend on governance, balance sheets and technical competence. Local content, she said, must leave Nigeria more capable — engineers who can lead the next development and fabrication yards that can win work beyond Nigeria.
Deploy technology for performance: Better seismic, reservoir modelling, digital monitoring and methane measurement must translate into lower costs, less downtime and higher recovery. AI, she noted, will expand what professionals can do, but not replace good data and sound judgement.
Verheijen warned investors and operators not to be complacent. Guyana and other African producers mean Nigeria must compete on proposition, not just potential.“Our projects must remain competitive when prices fall and new supply arrives. A disruption elsewhere may create an opening. It cannot be our business plan,” she said.
She linked upstream success directly to the wider economy — power debts, metering, and targeted support for vulnerable consumers are now part of the oil and gas investment case, because “a gas field is only as bankable as the customer at the other end of the pipe.
”Without dependable power, she argued, factories cannot compete, agro-processing stalls, and youth unemployment persists.
For her the goal is to trace a direct line from a well to a business that grows, from a project to a skill that endures, from public revenue to public value.“A family struggling with the cost of living cannot spend a forecast. A business cannot run on a policy announcement,” she said.
Her closing pitch to the young professionals at NAPE: they should not wait another 53 years to see Nigeria’s promise put to work.
