Stakeholders from across the seven states of Nigeria’s North-West region have poured accolades on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for its bold strides in overhauling the oil and gas sector, hailing the reforms as the right step for economic revival and national unity.
At the ongoing three-day 1st Citizens Engagement Conference in Kaduna, participants urged the federal government to double down on these gains by ramping up oil production to alleviate pressing citizen needs amid lingering transitional pains.
The conference, a groundbreaking civic forum drawing traditional rulers, academics, policymakers, civil society leaders, and entrepreneurs from Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states, kicked off on Monday under the theme: “The Positive Impacts of Oil and Gas Reforms by the Asiwaju Administration.”
Organised as part of a nationwide series spanning Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 was highlighted as a cornerstone of regulatory clarity and operational efficiency.
Co-Convener Mallam Nasir Abdulquadri spotlighted the PIA as a pivotal turning point, crediting it with injecting clarity into the sector’s regulatory framework.
Abdulquadri lauded President Tinubu’s “uncommon courage” in enforcing deregulation and subsidy removal, measures that, despite short-term hardships, are unlocking private investments, revitalising refineries, and harnessing Nigeria’s vast gas reserves for industrial leapfrogging.
“These reforms are not without temporary discomforts, but every meaningful reform carries the pain of transition,” he noted, while calling for vigilance against external manipulations that could exploit internal divisions.
Professor Usman Muhammed of Kaduna State University’s Department of Political Science and International Studies also lauded the President with the theme: “Amplifying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda Through Regulatory Excellence and Upstream Oil and Gas Performance: Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Prosperity Beyond 2027”.
Highlighting empirical data, the professor revealed a robust correlation (r=0.74) between oil output and GDP growth, with regulatory quality exerting a significant influence (β=0.517) on economic performance.
He praised Tinubu’s administration for tangible advancements, including enhanced transparency and host community empowerment via the Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs), which are fostering local inclusion and economic diversification.
Drawing from comparative analysis, the academic urged a holistic push toward digitisation, renewable energy integration, and full PIA implementation to fortify institutions.
“Regulatory excellence is central to national prosperity,” he concluded. “Sustained institutional reform, innovation, and transparency will amplify the Renewed Hope Agenda beyond 2027, ensuring that reforms translate into jobs, affordable energy, and equitable growth for all Nigerians.”
The North-West citizens, however, tasked the government to sustain these hard-won gains by prioritizing institutional accountability, combating oil theft through advanced technology, and aggressively scaling up upstream oil production to meet surging domestic energy demands, stabilize fuel prices, create millions of jobs, and ensure that the benefits of a revitalized oil and gas sector directly improve the living standards of ordinary Nigerians.