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To Stem Investment Elsewhere, Nigeria’s Oil Sector Requires Change (By NJ Ayuk)

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2 years ago

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TotalEnergies

With two-thirds or more of its revenue coming from oil, investor flight is a serious problem for Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria, July 29, 2024/APO Group/ — 

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber (www.EnergyChamber.org).

Nigeria, a previous bright spot on big oil and gas investors’ radar screens, has dimmed substantially as investor attention is increasingly drawn to new and emerging developments in Namibia, Ivory Coast, Angola, and the Republic of Congo.

With two-thirds or more of its revenue coming from oil, investor flight is a serious problem for Nigeria.

Divestments: The Reasons and the Buyers

Big foreign players, including TotalEnergies and Shell, are exiting or shifting their priorities in Nigeria, rattled by a variety of deleterious forces: an uninviting regulatory environment, lack of transparency, safety issues, vandalism, and theft, among other factors.

For a country whose economy is dependent on fossil fuels, this divestment by majors, totaling around £17 billion since 2006, is catastrophic. Nigeria’s 37 trillion barrels of reserves can do the country no good underground.

Among those looking to pull out of the country, at least in part, is France’s TotalEnergies. The company is seeking to sell its share of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Limited (SPDC), although it will continue to have 18% of its investments in Nigeria.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne says (https://apo-opa.co/3A2CNbe) his company hasn’t explored for oil in Nigeria for 12 years, explaining, “There is always a new legislature in Nigeria about a new petroleum law. When you have such permanent debates, it’s difficult for investors looking for long-term structure to know what direction to go.”

TotalEnergies’ stance highlights the obvious — investors want predictable environments and simple, trustworthy systems of regulation. A dearth of these factors seems to have trumped the fact that Nigeria yet contains large reserves that could be tapped.

Five global oil companies are still working in the country, but three of those — Shell, Eni, and ExxonMobil — are selling in-country assets valued at £1.8 billion, £4 billion, and £11.9 billion, respectively.

Both Shell and Eni have stated an intent to continue operating in Nigeria’s offshore sector, and ExxonMobil has expressed a commitment to continued investment in Nigeria.

Nigerian companies such as Seplat, Aiteo, and Eroton have moved quickly to buy divested assets. So has the Nigerian government, which has been named top bidder for 57 oilfields and granted licenses to 130 firms for development.

I am pleased to see indigenous companies seizing these opportunities created by divestments. I also urge them to take serious measures to control emissions and limit flaring, as large international firms have. In doing so, they will be taking care of their own families, neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens, while building top-notch reputations.

Large or small companies — Nigeria must never choose one or the other. International oil companies, national oil companies, independents, and indigenous companies all have important roles to play in Nigeria’s economic growth.

Where the Investments Are Going

As I said, Ivory Coast, Namibia, the Republic of Congo, and Angola are drawing investors’ attention away from Nigeria.

Shell is pursuing deepwater blocks in Ivory Coast for exploration, while large Italian firm Eni has just added offshore Block CI-205 to its vast Murene Bailene discovery of 2021. Production from the Baleine discovery has shot Ivory Coast’s production to 30,000 barrels per day (bpd), a number that is expected to rise an astonishing 556% to 200,000 bpd by 2027.

All of this is happening while Ivory Coast is successfully emphasizing carbon-reducing technologies and natural gas as a transition fuel.

Overseas investment has also spurred significant recent discoveries in Namibia, earning the country the nickname, “new Guyana.” (That South American country’s crude oil production soared by a yearly average of 98,000 bpd from 2020 to 2023, making Guyana the third-fastest growing non-OPEC oil-producing country.)

Notable among recent Namibian discoveries is TotalEnergies’ Venus Discovery, for which the French major is seeking approval to move ahead by the close of 2025. Venus is expected to produce up to 180,000 bpd of oil.

Nigeria must work tirelessly to mitigate not only government instability, but other factors that discourage investment

TotalEnergies is also looking to invest $600 million in exploration and production in the Republic of Congo’s Moho Nord deep offshore field this year. As I have said before, this kind of investment is evidence that the company is in the Republic of Congo to stay.

Angola, too, has become a major investment site for TotalEnergies. The firm’s CEO has said (https://apo-opa.co/3A2CNbe) it will invest $6 billion in energy in Angola, as “a country with a more stable policy framework.”

Nigerian Reforms and Rules Changes

March 2024 brought some much-needed federal policy reforms to Nigeria’s petroleum industry in the form of presidential executive orders and policy directives. The reforms are aimed at improving the country’s investment environment and reinvigorating growth in its petroleum industry.

The changes include investor tax credits, an investment allowance, simplifying contracting procedures, and easing local content rules.

The tax credits apply to non-associated gas greenfields — that is, new ventures — both onshore and in shallow water and vary according to hydrocarbon liquids (HCL) content. The credit becomes an allowance after 10 years, making it an ongoing investment incentive.

A 25% investment allowance has also been added for qualified capital expenditures (QCEs) on plants and equipment, cutting down on large capital outlays and thus encouraging industry growth and improvement. 

Changes in third-party contracting aim to decrease both contracting costs and the time it takes for companies to get to production. The new rules encompass financial approval thresholds, consent timelines, and contract duration.  The requirements call for only one level of approval at each contract stage and establish time limits for completion of approvals.

Local content requirements have also been modified to take local capacity into account, enabling investors to keep their projects cost competitive.

Overall, the executive orders help clear up the regulatory fog that has been discouraging major investment and will hopefully help the country regain its status among investors.

The Economy and the New Licensing Round

It’s been estimated that Nigeria requires USD 25 billion of investment per year to keep its production at 2 million bpd — a level that will sustain the nation’s economy. Historically, 2014 marked the peak of investment in Nigerian oil at USD 22.1 billion.

The federal government is strategizing for increased oil production to meet this fiscal need in an environment where vandals have attacked pipelines and stolen oil — factors the government has claimed as reasons it has fallen short of its 1.5 million bpd OPEC quota. (Though not by much: for example, production in March 2024 declined from 1.47 million bpd to 1.45 million bpd, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.)

Looking to improve those figures in the remainder of 2024, the government’s target is 1.78 million bpd. Although recent problems on the Trans Niger Pipeline and maintenance by oil companies have dropped output, President Bola Tinubu expects a return to target levels.

By using every available well to increase production and revenue, the government aspires to increase crude production to 2.6 million bpd by 2027.

In April 2024, Nigeria began a new oil and gas licensing round, with an attached promise to investors that the process would be transparent. The new round is intended to help stem the flow of investments to African competitors like Angola and Namibia by easing the process of acquiring oil blocks.

The new licensing round offers 19 onshore and deepwater oil blocks, plus an additional 17 deep offshore blocks. These were chosen for their attractiveness to foreign investors who have both the necessary finances and technical savvy to develop the areas.

Successful bidders will be held to precise exploration timelines.

Bidding had begun on seven offshore blocks in 2022 but was delayed for the installation of a new government — just the sort of shaky situation large foreign investors like to avoid.

With that experience in mind, Nigeria must work tirelessly to mitigate not only government instability, but other factors that discourage investment, be they regulatory hurdles, lack of transparency, or safety and security issues.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

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Africa gains governance momentum in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index, but sustaining progress is the real test

Published

14 hours ago

on

October 29, 2026

By

Africa

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship

This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives

KIGALI, Rwanda, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ –Africa was the second best-performing region for governance progress in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI), with 71% of the African countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026 achieving higher overall scores. However, the continent remains the lowest-scoring region overall, highlighting the challenge of translating improvement in government capabilities into better outcomes for citizens.

 




 
 

These findings were highlighted by the Chandler Governance Group (CGG) at a joint session with the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) to launch the 13th edition of the Rwanda Governance Scorecard at the Kigali Serena Hotel on Thursday, 22 October 2026.

“This year, Africa’s strongest gains came in Financial Stewardship, followed by Helping People Rise, the CGGI’s outcomes pillar. This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives, from access to quality education and healthcare to the public finances that fund them. The task now is to sustain that progress over the coming years,” says Dinesh Naidu, Director (Knowledge) at CGG.

Now in its sixth edition, the CGGI assesses government capabilities and effectiveness across 133 countries representing 94% of the world’s population, up from 120 countries in 2025. It measures 35 equally weighted indicators across seven pillars, providing governments with a framework to benchmark performance, identify gaps and learn from the experience of other countries.

Globally, the findings point to improving governance performance. Of the 120 countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026, 61% recorded higher scores, representing the highest annual share of countries improving since the Index launched in 2021. However, longer-term progress has been less consistent, with only 43% of the 104 countries tracked since 2021 recording an overall improvement.

Africa’s leading governments

Mauritius remains Africa’s highest-ranked country, placing 55th globally, followed by Rwanda (62nd), Botswana (70th), Morocco (79th) and Tanzania (80th). South Africa ranks sixth on the continent, in 85th place globally.

Rwanda features prominently in the discussion, ranking 11th globally for Leadership & Foresight and emerging as the highest-ranked low-income country in the Index. It ranks 61 places above where its income alone would predict. Across the Index, government capabilities track citizen outcomes more closely than national wealth does, suggesting that strengthening government capabilities matter in delivering better outcomes for citizens.

The joint session brings together the CGGI’s international benchmarks and the Rwanda Governance Scorecard’s assessment of governance in the Rwandan context, creating an opportunity to consider both global perspectives and country-specific priorities.

Progress across key governance pillars

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship. These improvements point to progress in areas associated with public services, including healthcare and education, as well as the management of public finances.

Longer-term trends also highlight areas of progress. Between 2021 and 2026, nearly every African country assessed across the period improved its Data Capability score, with Morocco recording the largest gains. Ghana’s overall score improved in 2026, supported by stronger Financial Stewardship, while South Africa continues to show relative strength in Robust Laws & Policies, ranking 44th globally, and Attractive Marketplace, ranking 48th.

Despite these gains, the scale of the challenge remains clear. Africa’s regional average is still below its 2021 level, 23 of the 35 African countries in the 2026 Index rank outside the global top 100, and none is in the top 50. Seven African countries joined the Index this year: Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia and Togo.

“Rankings provide a useful starting point, but the broader value of the CGGI lies in helping governments understand where they are making progress and where further work is needed. Sustained improvements depend on the ability to strengthen institutions, manage resources responsibly and turn policy into meaningful outcomes for citizens,” says Naidu.

A tool for learning and improvement

The CGGI is designed as a practical diagnostic tool, helping governments identify gaps, track progress over time, and learn from peers facing similar constraints. The collaboration with the RGB brings international benchmarking together with locally grounded assessment.

“Every country faces its own governance challenges and is driven by varying priorities. Governments that are willing to take stock of the evidence and learn from peers to strengthen their institutions are well placed to achieve real improvements,” concludes Naidu.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Chandler Governance Group.

 

 




 

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Spiro brings electric motorcycles and battery-swapping technology to Ghana, expanding its pan-African footprint

Published

14 hours ago

on

October 29, 2026

By

Spiro

The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles

ACCRA, Ghana, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ —

  • Spiro’s entry into Ghana introduces the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution, bringing a new mobility option to commercial riders and delivery fleets.
  • The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles.
  • Test rides and product demonstrations across Greater Accra will support the rollout and help riders experience the benefits of electric mobility.

 




 
 

Spiro (www.Spironet.com), Africa’s largest electric mobility company, is expanding its footprint in Ghana with the introduction of the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution. Combining electric two-wheelers with access to charged batteries, Spiro aims to make everyday transport more affordable and practical for riders while supporting Ghana’s transition towards sustainable mobility.

For commercial riders and delivery fleets, fuel expenses and time spent off the road directly affect daily earnings. Spiro’s integrated offering addresses both challenges: riders can exchange a depleted battery for a charged one at a Spiro battery-swapping station in just two minutes, while potentially saving up to USD 2 per day in operating costs compared with conventional petrol-powered motorcycles.

Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets

Designed to meet the everyday mobility needs of African riders, the Ekon 450 M1 V3 offers an alternative to petrol-powered motorcycles. Supported by Spiro’s battery-swapping technology, it allows riders to get back on the road without waiting for their motorcycle to recharge.

Auroasish Choudhuri Managing Director Central and West Africa, commented: “Our entry into Ghana is an important step in strengthening Spiro’s presence in West Africa. Our focus is on building a local ecosystem that riders can rely on, combining electric motorcycles with convenient access to battery swapping. By working closely with local partners and listening to riders’ needs, we aim to support the long-term adoption of electric mobility in Ghana.”

Kaushik Burman, CEO Mobility of Spiro said: “Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets. By bringing the Ekon 450 M1 V3 together with our battery-swapping solution, we are addressing two key barriers to adoption: operating costs and access to charging infrastructure. Our ambition is to build a strong foundation for electric mobility to scale across Ghana.”

To support its rollout, Spiro is engaging with prospective customers through test rides, product demonstrations and live demonstrations of its battery-swapping technology across Greater Accra. These activities give riders the opportunity to experience the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and understand how battery swapping can fit into their daily routines.

Mr Maxwell Dodd, Managing Director of Spiro Ghana, said: “For riders in Ghana, the value of electric mobility lies in what it can deliver every day: lower operating costs, less downtime and more time on the road. Through the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and our battery-swapping solution, we want to make those benefits accessible and support riders as they make the transition to electric motorcycles.”

Ghana forms part of Spiro’s wider expansion across Africa. Building on its recent USD 270 million equity funding round and an additional USD 18 million in debt financing from the Africa Go Green Fund, the company is scaling its electric mobility ecosystem with the ambition of establishing a presence in 20 African markets. Spiro is also preparing to enter new countries, including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Spiro.

 

 




 

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Huawei Wireless Unveils Innovation Breakthroughs to Pioneer New Communications Networks

Published

14 hours ago

on

October 29, 2026

By

Huawei

The innovation breakthroughs for pioneering new communications networks include RetinaMIMO, new materials, and OSCAR solution among other root technologies. By tackling coverage, energy consumption, and capacity challenges, the breakthroughs drive ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. The breakthroughs have unlocked a wealth of new capabilities, including the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series.
Huawei promotes A2A-T standards and drives commercial open-source OpenAN through extensive partnerships to build an open telecom agent ecosystem.

 




 
 

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 29 October 2026 – At Huawei Decoding China 2026, Fang Xiang, Corporate Vice President and President of Wireless Network Solution of Huawei, unveiled a series of innovation breakthroughs to pioneer new communications networks. The innovation breakthroughs mark major leaps in root technologies focused on ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. With the breakthroughs, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series. Additionally featuring the new progress in open ecosystem for telecom agents, the breakthroughs will lay a solid foundation for new communications networks.

With booming intelligent devices and services, new devices, traffic, and applications are taking shape in the mobile industry. The new devices are expanding network connectivity from people to things and agents, increasing the number of connections by 100 times. Device-cloud synergy for intelligent services calls for stronger uplink capabilities to support training and inference, shifting network focus from downlink dominance to both uplink and downlink. With new applications, come a diversity of new interaction modes, calling for higher standards in experience and driving networks to support ubiquitous steady ultra-low latency with a high reliability.

As the world steps into an intelligent era, the value of connectivity is not only about quantity—it’s more about quality. This has been inspiring Huawei to convert cutting-edge breakthroughs into the commercial practices of new communications networks by focusing on root technologies for ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency.

Pioneering ubiquitous experience

RetinaMIMO is a new pioneering technology designed to solve the challenge of concurrent ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage. It features the industry’s first Retina scanning system that allows RF link topologies to be reconstructed to eliminate coverage collapse in the vertical direction. It also adopts a reconstructed antenna array architecture to address the diminishing marginal gains as array elements (AEs) increase.

Based on RetinaMIMO, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU. Compared with similar products with 1024 AEs, VitaAAU widens coverage by about 30%, enabling U6 GHz to match C-band in both horizontal and vertical directions. This enables operators to deliver U6 GHz coverage for new communications networks on their C-band sites, minimizing overall TCO. To date, VitaAAU has seen commercial adoption in the UAE and other markets, with peak downlink speeds exceeding 10 Gbps, making ubiquitous premium experience a reality.

Pioneering simplified, green networks

Huawei’s pioneering EP power amplifier (PA) architecture capitalizes on new materials and technologies to solve the problem of energy efficiency decline on higher frequency bands, maximizing energy conversion efficiency. The industry’s first-ever multimode dielectric filters allow antennas to have small dimensions and low power consumption on multi-channel networks with high frequency bands. Powered by new materials, technologies, and architectures, VitaAAU antenna is reduced to 1.5 m in diameter while supporting “0 Bit 0 Watt 0 Loss”, delivering superior energy saving efficiency. These innovations enable Huawei’s GigaGreen Plus series products to achieve significant reductions in dimensions, weight, and power consumption, better positioned to power simplified and green networks.

Pioneering superior spectral efficiency

Multi-band, multi-cell, and multi-user interference is a major restrictive factor of capacity. The time scaling of the Tau (τ) law is introduced to base stations for the first time to realize optimal dynamic resource scheduling across all domains based on the OSCAR solution. With low-latency bus and high-speed interconnect technology, a high-speed architecture is built to enable the real-time exchange of massive data. Thanks to software and hardware synergy, new UBBPi series products improve average user experience by 1.3 times while reducing power consumption by approximately 40%, further improving spectral and energy efficiency.

Pioneering open-source autonomous networks

Autonomous networks have emerged as an inevitable choice to deal with the growing AI services and increasing network complexity. RANSpirit is another industry first from Huawei, implementing single-domain network autonomy based on the telecom foundation model and digital twins. To date, RANSpirit is serving more than 1.2 million cells across 25 networks around the world, providing assistance to more than 2,000 engineers.

Extensive agent collaboration relies on an open, win-win ecosystem. This galvanizes Huawei to join industry partners to develop ecosystem standards, communities, and industry alliances. In terms of standards, Huawei adapts to the TM Forum, building a cross-agent foundation on the A2A-T standard and framework agreed upon by the industry. In terms of communities, Huawei jointly promotes neutral open-source communities and donates open-source agent components to the Linux Foundation, driving global collaboration and innovation. With regard to industry alliances, Huawei has taken the initiative to pool ecosystem strengths to accelerate business implementation based on the GSMA industry platform.

Fang concluded with the reiteration of Huawei’s unswerving pursuit of dual-drive innovation to promote new breakthroughs in mobile networks and work with partners from around the world to deepen the OpenAN ecosystem, advancing new communications networks through technological innovation and open collaboration.

FAQs

Q1: Why is it challenging to balance ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage?

Ultra-high bandwidth depends on higher frequency bands. As we know, a higher frequency leads to a greater propagation loss of electromagnetic waves and a weaker ability for them to penetrate obstacles, because high-frequency signals attenuate fast and have short coverage distances, while ubiquitous coverage requires signals to travel a long distance in complex environments. Inherently, the two priorities pull in sharply opposite directions.

  




 

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