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Petroleum fiscal regime, weak, discouraging investments— NNRC
Nigerian Natural Resource Charter NNRC, has described the fiscal terms of the Nigerian petroleum industry as weak, inflexible and unattractive to investors. This is contained in the findings of NNRC in a report that will be released to the public next year. The NNRC presented the executive summary of the findings from the 2017 Benchmarking Exercise Report in Abuja, as a prelude to the actual launch of the report next year.
The findings were presented to newsmen by Mrs. Tengi George-Ikoli, Programme Coordinator, NNRC, and its partners from the Centre for Social Justice, CSJ; Social Action, SA; Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, CPPA; Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, CSEA and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy, CISLAC. George-Ikoli explained that the purpose of the report is to provide a benchmark for measuring progress in the country’s oil and gas sector against the 12 Charter precepts of the Natural Resource Charter.. The NNRC is a subset of a global initiative designed to help governments and societies effectively harness the opportunities created by natural resources.
On the other hand, the petroleum fiscal regime of a country is a set of laws, regulations and agreements which governs the economical benefits derived from petroleum exploration and production. The NNRC report noted that the petroleum industry fiscal regime is not strong enough to attract investors, as compared with other African countries especially in the area of deep sea exploration. It also added that the fiscal regime is not flexible enough to respond to dynamic levels of production and profitability, while it added that the limited disclosure of fiscal terms affects effective oversight responsibilities by legislature, and other responsible agencies.
The report said, “The fiscal terms are constrained from being responsive to changing circumstances as reviews require amendments to laws or re-negotiation of contracts which can be time consuming. Oversight of the fiscal regime is not strong. The administration is routine and oversight by any external body is conducted only where an infraction is highlighted and huge revenue losses are reported. It is useful to make fiscal regime very simple and accessible to the general public.”
However, the report recognises efforts of the Federal Government to address this anomaly, noting that the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, is seeking to establish a progressive fiscal framework that encourages further investment in the petroleum industry while optimising revenue accruing to the Government. It also acknowledged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources had made repeated commitment to re-negotiate and review contracts such as the deep off-shore agreements with oil companies.
Furthermore, the report disclosed that the Federal Government does not have a clear policy governing the award of licenses, stating that the decisions are driven by the prevailing socio-political environment. Specifically, it explained that the ‘7 Big Wins’ policy for growing the oil sector clearly set out a strategy for increasing Nigeria’s reserves and production by conducting new licensing rounds and timely lease renewals, noting however, that the pace and areas to be licensed were not stated in the document.
“The licensing processes are usually delayed sometimes for as long as 36 months. This is attributed largely to unscheduled tendering of a huge number of projects by both public and private sectors and manual evaluation of bids. Government should do better planning and adopt an automated bid evaluation method,” it advised. The report also declared that the discretionary power of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, allows for conflict of interest, weakens the effectiveness of oversight institutions, making them respond reactively by seeking post-licensing information which are not disclosed, to assess the process of the bid round.
In addition, the NNRC argued that oversight functions by the National Assembly appear to be reactionary and ineffective in some cases, adding that although investigation committees are set up to investigate irregularities in the sector, no sanctions with far reaching implications had been recorded where inconsistencies were found.
A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians.
In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.
PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.
Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.
The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.
The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.
EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.
Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”
A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters
The spouses and children of billionaires inherited more wealth in 2025 than in any previous year since reporting began in 2015, according to UBS’s Billionaire Ambitions Report published on Thursday. In the 12 months to April, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298 billion, up more than a third from 2024, the Swiss bank said. “These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.
The report is based on a survey of some of UBS’s super-rich clients and a database that tracks the wealth of billionaires across 47 markets in all world regions. At least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years, the bank calculates.
Most of this inheritance growth is set to take place in the United States, with India, France, Germany and Switzerland next on the list, UBS estimated. However, billionaires are highly mobile, especially younger ones, which could change that picture, it added. The search for a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations are driving decisions to relocate, according to the report.
In Switzerland, where $206 billion will be inherited over the next 15 years according to the bank, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected 50 per cent tax on inherited fortunes of $62 million or more, after critics said it could trigger an exodus of wealthy people.
Switzerland, the UAE, the U.S. and Singapore are among billionaires’ preferred destinations, UBS’s Cavalli said. “In Switzerland, Sunday’s vote may have helped to increase the country’s appeal again,” he said. Reuters
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