The Arewa Economic Forum has reacted to the three executive orders signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which are aimed at improving the investment climate and positioning Nigeria as the preferred investment destination for the oil and gas sector in Africa.
The Chairman of the Forum, Alhaji Shehu Ibrahim Dandakata, said in a press statement on Monday that the signing of the executive orders is a step in the right direction, although with the observation that there are critical components of the petroleum industry in Nigeria which the executive orders have missed.
‘’Alhaji Dandakata noted that the Forum is concerned that the orders did not support frontier businesses in the northern part of the country, saying, “we believe that the signing of the new executive orders is a positive step, but we also feel that there is a critical missing link somewhere,’’ the statement said.
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“The government should consider including the frontier businesses in the Northern region in its plans, and we at AEF can provide suggestions on how to encourage investments in this area,” it said.
‘’The chairman also expressed his concern over the security situation in the region, saying, “one of the key things that is hampering the development of frontier fields just like the Kolmani, is the issue of how the investor is going to recover his money.’’
“Now, from Kolmani to any export terminal is about 600-700 kilometres. The pipeline has to be built to go there. But with the security situation of the country or the way the country is, even the little pipelines that we have in the south, the 30, 40 kilometres are being continuously vandalised.
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“So, it doesn’t make sense for someone to invest and build a pipeline for it to be constantly vandalised. The whole thing is that most investors are looking at it in that fashion, that they are going to invest and they are not likely to recover their money. The issue here is, we in AEF, have ideas on how to incentivise this investment.”
President Tinubu had recently signed three executive orders on the following:
(1) Introduction of fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, midstream and deepwater developments.
(2) Streamlining of contracting process to compress the contracting cycle to six months.
(3) And the application of the local content requirements without hindering investments or cost competitiveness.
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According to a statement released by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, the full details of these Policy Directives will be made available to the public by the Ministry of Information and published in the official government gazette.