Nigeria has regained its position as the most attractive destination for energy investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, following sweeping reforms in its oil and gas sector that have reshaped investor confidence across the continent.
Nigeria’s Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed that the country secured approximately $5.3 billion in upstream oil and gas investment during the 2025 calendar year alone. The disclosure was made on Thursday through a public update on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Okay News reports that Nigeria accounted for thirty eight percent of all major upstream energy project approvals across Sub-Saharan Africa over the past twenty four months, despite the region experiencing an overall decline of about eighteen percent in upstream spending during the same period.
Verheijen explained that the renewed investor confidence marks a sharp turnaround from the previous decade, when Nigeria struggled to compete for capital. Between 2015 and 2023, the country secured only four percent of all African Final Investment Decisions, translating to six projects valued at roughly $5 billion over nearly nine years.
She noted that under recent regulatory and fiscal reforms introduced by the administration of Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria approved five out of eight major upstream projects sanctioned across Africa within just two years, covering 2024 and 2025.
“Nigeria has been able to prove that this approach works. We moved from gridlock to greenlight, and investors responded,” Verheijen said, adding that Nigeria now offers the most competitive gas investment terms on the African continent.
Central to the recent investment surge is the Shell–Sunlink HI Field, officially known as Oil Mining Lease 144, a shallow-water non-associated gas project that reached Final Investment Decision in 2025. The project was developed through a partnership involving Shell, one of the world’s largest energy companies headquartered in the United Kingdom.
According to Verheijen, the project became commercially viable due to the introduction of Non-Associated Gas incentives in 2024, which helped unlock critical gas supply for Nigeria LNG Limited, a major liquefied natural gas producer jointly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria and international energy firms.
“Our task was to design a system that eliminates rent-seeking while preserving the true meaning of local content, empowering Nigerian talent and enabling indigenous enterprise,” she stated.
She further explained that Nigeria’s adoption of data-driven benchmarking has elevated the country into the top quartile of global investment destinations, with major projects such as Bonga North and Ubeta gas developments advancing steadily.
As Nigeria enters a new phase of upstream investment expansion, Verheijen stressed the need for regulators to abandon outdated approaches and focus on speed, clarity, and efficiency to sustain growth into 2026.
