…Says ‘time for Africa to retain more value from its hydrocarbon resources
WED OCT 01 2025-theGBJournal| Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to playing a leadership role as Africa confronts the challenge of financing its energy future.
”We believe that for the continent to overcome the persistent issue of energy poverty, African nations must take ownership of financing solutions through strategic policy alignment, intra-continental collaboration, and optimized resource mobilization,” he said.
In his remarks on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the opening of the Africa Energy Week in Cape Town, he emphasized that the time has come for Africa to retain more value from its hydrocarbon resources.
”Nigeria is leading by example—implementing reforms that create a transparent, investor-friendly environment, while enabling indigenous participation and attracting significant capital inflows.
Africa holds nearly $4 trillion in domestic capital, yet struggles to finance its energy ambitions.
The issue is not the absence of capital, but the lack of strategic deployment.
That is why Nigeria strongly supports the establishment of the African Energy Bank in Abuja, as a bold step towards African-led, Africa-financed energy solutions.”
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, equally outlined measures the country has taken to boost investor confidence and expand production, including an Executive Order signed earlier this year to reduce production costs.
The sector overhaul has already spurred significant activity, including $5 billion in new Shell investment in Bonga North, planned investments in Bonga Southwest and other deepwater projects, and the restructuring of state-owned NNPC into a commercially viable company.
“Investors want predictability, efficiency and incentives, as well as alignment between stakeholders and industry,” he said.
Lokpobiri also pointed to successes from asset divestments as evidence of Nigeria’s growing strategic role.
“The companies that acquired IOC assets – Renaissance acquiring Shell’s onshore and shallow-water assets, Seplat acquiring ExxonMobil’s, Oando acquiring Eni’s – between the time the divestments were enabled and today, we have increased production by at least 200,000 barrels per day. That shows that divestment was the right decision,” he said.
Looking ahead, Lokpobiri urged Africa to capture more of global oil and gas capital expenditure, and to “transition from being net importer to strategic value creator.” He also emphasized the need for partnerships rather than energy abandonment: “No continent or country is slowing down. What is needed is to reduce emissions, not abandon any form of energy, and what we need from the West is partnership.”
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