President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Petroleum Reform and Value Optimisation Taskforce to design and coordinate the next phase of structural reforms in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the task force will be chaired by Fola Adeola, co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank and founder of Fate Foundation.
Adeola will coordinate the activities of the group and ensure the timely delivery of its mandate.
Other members of the task force include Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, Osagie Okunbor, Abubakar Suleiman, Adaeze Aguele, Farouk Gumel, Phillipa Osakwe-Okoye and Seyi Bella, while Mofoluwasho Fadayomi will serve as secretary.
The statement said the task force is a time-bound, high-level executive working group mandated to produce execution-ready reform blueprints aimed at consolidating ongoing reforms, unlocking capital within the petroleum sector and strengthening Nigeria’s position as a global energy investment destination.
The body will operate as a technical reform team rather than a representative committee and will engage industry operators, regulators, investors and civil society groups as consultees while focusing on actionable policy design and implementation strategies.
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 report will be delivered within six months of its inauguration.
According to the presidency, the task force is expected to produce three key reform blueprints. These include an Implementation Toolkit for Immediate Structural Fixes, covering draft legislative amendments, executive instruments and institutional restructuring proposals.
It will also produce a Capital and Liquidity Acceleration Blueprint aimed at unlocking between $5 billion and $10 billion in sectoral liquidity while safeguarding Nigeria’s sovereign interests.
The third deliverable is a National Energy Transformation Strategy — a ten-year roadmap with measurable targets for production, foreign exchange earnings, GDP contribution and cost competitiveness.
President Tinubu has directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as regulators and other relevant institutions, to provide full technical support to the task force and submit inventories of ongoing initiatives to ensure alignment with the emerging reform framework.
He also ordered that existing committees, teams and working groups established under various reform initiatives in the petroleum sector align their activities and reporting structures with the new task force to avoid duplication and ensure coordination.
The presidency said all relevant documentation, institutional knowledge and ongoing workstreams in the sector must be made available to the task force to support the development and implementation of its reform framework.
The task force will automatically dissolve after submitting and securing approval for its final report.