Tinubu Sets Up Presidential Task Force to Drive Petroleum Sector Reforms
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Petroleum Reform and Value Optimisation Task Force to design and coordinate the next phase of structural reforms in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
The newly constituted body will function as a high-level executive working group responsible for developing practical reform blueprints aimed at consolidating ongoing initiatives, unlocking capital within the petroleum industry, and strengthening Nigeria’s position as a global energy investment destination.
Co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank, Fola Adeola, will chair the task force and oversee the coordination of its activities as well as ensure the timely delivery of its mandate. Other members of the panel include Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, Osagie Okunbor, Abubakar Suleiman, Adaeze Aguele, Farouk Gumel, Phillipa Osakwe-Okoye and Seyi Bella.
Mofoluwasho Fadayomi will serve as secretary of the task force.
The group has been set up as a time-bound technical reform body that will engage industry operators, regulators, investors and civil society stakeholders while focusing primarily on designing actionable policy frameworks and implementation strategies for the petroleum sector.
The task force will report directly to the president and submit monthly progress memoranda. An interim report is expected after three months, while the final outputs are scheduled for submission within six months of its inauguration.
Among its core responsibilities is the development of three major reform blueprints. The first is an implementation toolkit for immediate structural fixes in the petroleum sector.
This will include draft legislative amendments, executive instruments and proposals for institutional restructuring.
The second deliverable is a capital and liquidity acceleration blueprint aimed at unlocking between five and ten billion dollars in sectoral liquidity while protecting Nigeria’s sovereign interests.
The third blueprint will focus on a National Energy Transformation Strategy, a ten-year roadmap designed to establish measurable targets for petroleum production levels, foreign exchange earnings, contribution to gross domestic product and improved cost competitiveness.
The initiative is intended to transform Nigeria’s petroleum industry into a more competitive, transparent and value-maximising sector capable of driving long-term economic growth, industrial development and macroeconomic stability.
As part of the reform process, President Tinubu has directed all ministries, departments, agencies and regulatory institutions within the sector to provide full technical support to the task force. These institutions are also required to submit inventories of ongoing reform initiatives to ensure alignment with the emerging framework.
The president further instructed that all existing committees, teams and working groups established under different reform programmes in the petroleum sector should align their activities, reporting structures and work plans with the new task force.
The directive is intended to streamline ongoing initiatives, eliminate duplication of responsibilities and provide institutional clarity in the petroleum sector reform architecture.
All relevant documentation, institutional knowledge and ongoing workstreams are also to be made available to the task force to support the development and implementation of its comprehensive reform strategy.
The task force will automatically dissolve once its final report is submitted and accepted.
