Stakeholders and youths across the North-West geopolitical zone on Monday converged on Kaduna to deliberate on the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and the need for citizens to play a more active role in governance.
The event, held under the auspices of the First Citizens Connect Conference – Nigeria, had as its theme: “Amplifying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda through Excellence in Regulatory Frameworks and Upstream Oil and Gas Performance as a Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Prosperity Beyond 2027.”
The conference brought together youths, traditional rulers, academics, policymakers, civil society actors, and community leaders to discuss the country’s economic direction and the role of civic engagement in driving reform.
In his keynote address, Professor Usman Mohammed of the Department of Political Science and International Studies, Kaduna State University, described the ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector as crucial to the nation’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity.
Mohammed urged citizens to support the drive toward transparency, efficiency, and national self-reliance.
Delivering a paper titled: “Amplifying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda Through Excellence in Regulatory Frameworks and Upstream Oil and Gas Performance as a Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Prosperity Beyond 2027,” the political-science scholar insisted that regulatory excellence and production optimisation were vital if Nigeria was to achieve inclusive growth.
“Regulatory excellence, anchored on transparency, efficiency and accountability, can enhance investor confidence, drive technological innovation and improve energy-sector governance,” Mohammed said.
According to him, Nigeria’s energy endowment — an estimated 37 billion barrels of crude oil and 209 trillion cubic feet of gas — remains under-utilised due to inefficiency, subsidy distortions, and weak institutional oversight.
“The energy and natural resources sector has been both a blessing and a burden. For too long, leakages, weak regulations, and poor coordination have limited our national potential,” he said.
The don identified the Petroleum Industry Act PIA 2021 as a major milestone that reshaped the oil and gas landscape by creating two dedicated regulators — the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority NMDPRA — to ensure clarity between policy, regulation, and operations.
“The PIA changed our trajectory, offering a legal, fiscal, and institutional rebirth for Nigeria’s most strategic sector,” he noted, adding, “But laws alone are not enough — implementation and enforcement are the true tests of reform,” he stressed.
Mohammed lamented that despite reforms, Nigeria’s crude-oil production averaged just 1.4 million barrels per day in 2024, far below its OPEC quota, largely because of oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and decaying infrastructure.
“Merely producing oil is no longer enough. What matters is efficient management of the upstream sector and judicious use of revenues to drive industrialisation and job creation,” the don warned.
He recommended several policy measures to consolidate the gains of the PIA, including full operationalisation of the regulatory agencies, adoption of digital monitoring systems, rehabilitation of pipelines and export terminals, incentives for gas monetisation, and stronger local-content enforcement.
“Regulatory excellence without macroeconomic discipline can not deliver prosperity. We must align oil-sector reforms with fiscal stability, exchange-rate management, and anti-corruption efforts,” Mohammed maintained.
He also urged Nigerians to protect the nation’s sovereignty by supporting reforms in good faith and resisting foreign manipulation disguised as partnership.
“The strength of our sovereignty lies in our unity and our capacity to debate, reform and rebuild within — not by surrendering our autonomy to others who neither share our struggles nor our aspirations,” the expert insisted.
Earlier in his remarks, the co-convener of the Citizens Engagement Conference, Mallam Nasir Abdulquadri, said the initiative was conceived as a platform to connect leadership with the people and strengthen participatory governance across the six geopolitical zones.
“Governance is not the duty of government alone but the responsibility of all who call Nigeria home,” Abdulquadri told participants.
He described Kaduna as a symbolic venue for the North-West edition, being the political and intellectual heart of Northern Nigeria.
“Kaduna stands as a bridge between history and modern governance. Hosting this edition here underscores the region’s central role in driving Nigeria’s reform agenda,” he said.
Abdulquadri commended President Tinubu for building on the PIA framework through bold steps such as subsidy removal and deregulation, which, though painful, were necessary to restore long-term economic stability.
“The President has shown uncommon courage by implementing policies that are steering Nigeria toward sustainability. Deregulation has begun to open space for private investment, refinery rehabilitation, and modular refining across regions,” he said.
Thus, the co-convener cautioned against external interference and divisive politics, stressing, “true partnership is welcome; manipulation is not. A nation can correct itself without collapsing itself.”
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