By ISMAIL ABDULAZIZ

President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order to improve the investment climate and position of Nigeria as the preferred investment destination for the oil and gas sector in Africa.

This is in keeping with his commitment to remove obstacles to investments in Nigeria, harness the nation’s resources and diversify the economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

The order, Ngelale said, followed the President’s initiation of amendments of primary legislation to introduce fiscal incentives for oil and gas projects, reduce contracting costs and timelines, and promote cost efficiency in local content requirements.

He said that Tinubu, in recognising the urgency to accelerate investments in these sectors, has directed the introduction of fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, midstream and deepwater developments.

He also directed the streamlining of contracting process to compress the contracting cycle to six months and the application of the local content requirements without hindering investments or the cost competitiveness.

The presidential spokesman said that details of these Policy Directives would be gazetted and communicated by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

He said the incentives were developed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Petroleum, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Other agencies in the collaboration are the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

Ngelale said the Special Adviser to the President on Energy had been directed to continue coordinating the stakeholders to ensure implementation of the directives. (NAN)

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