President Tinubu Signs Deep Offshore Order to Target $50bn in Oil Investments

By Temitope Adebiyi, Correspondent

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives (Tax Remission) Order, 2026, marking his administration’s 10th major oil and gas policy directive.

The transparent, rules-based framework replaces case-by-case negotiations to unlock up to $50 billion in capital, targeting an initial $10 billion for the Bonga South West project before a December 31, 2029 Final Investment Decision deadline.

The President disclosed this in a statement posted to his official X handle on Tuesday, corroborated by a separate statement from Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, obtained by Advisors Reports.

The reform replaces project-by-project negotiations with a transparent, rules-based investment framework designed to restart Nigeria’s large, capital-intensive offshore developments that have remained stalled for decades, while strengthening the country’s competitiveness for globally mobile investment capital.

Onanuga said the decision builds on Tinubu’s engagement with Wael Sawan, Chief Executive Officer of Shell plc, during which the President directed the development of the next wave of measures required to unlock Nigeria’s deep offshore investment pipeline.

President Tinubu said each of his administration’s ten oil and gas directives had dealt with a constraint holding back investment, production or value creation.

“Taken together, they represent a deliberate effort to make our oil and gas industry more competitive, attract capital back to Nigeria and ensure that more of the value created from our resources remains here at home.

“There is urgency to this work. Capital moves, and countries compete for it every day. The countries that attract long-term investment are not necessarily those with the greatest natural resources.

“They are the ones that provide the greatest certainty. Nigeria must be one of those countries,” he said.

The President said attracting investment was “only half” of his purpose. “I want the work that comes with these projects to come home to Nigeria.

“I want our engineers involved, our fabrication yards working, our marine and technical service companies securing contracts, and our young people acquiring skills that will remain valuable long after the first barrel is produced.”

He said the Order reflects this priority: for projects accessing its supplementary incentives, activities are to be performed in Nigeria, subject to clearly defined exceptions and Nigerian Content requirements.

“My ambition is that we use this new investment cycle to build Nigeria into Africa’s regional hub for deep offshore project execution.

“We should not only possess the resources. We should increasingly possess the skills, businesses and industrial capacity required to develop them,” he said.

Tinubu said he had directed his team, following his engagement with Sawan, to look beyond a solution for one company or one project.

“We needed a framework that could unlock a wider pipeline of investment while protecting Nigeria’s long-term interests. That framework is now in place.

“Ultimately, I will judge its success by what Nigerians see from it in terms of good jobs, stronger Nigerian businesses, greater production, increased revenues for the Federation and new capabilities built here at home,” he said.

Onanuga said the President’s approval also enables NNPC Limited, as the Federal Government’s nominated counterparty under the Production Sharing Contracts, to proceed with the necessary amendments to eligible contracts required to implement the framework.

Olu Arowolo-Verheijen, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Oil and Gas, said a defining feature of the reform is its emphasis on Nigerian industrial capability.

She said projects qualifying under the framework will maximise execution within Nigeria wherever commercially and technically feasible, strengthening domestic engineering, fabrication, marine logistics, technical services and project management.

The President’s S. A further added that the objective is not only to increase investment and production, but also to create skilled jobs, deepen local supply chains and position Nigeria as Africa’s regional hub for deep offshore project execution.