For decades, Nigeria’s oil block licensing rounds have been among the most closely watched exercises in the country’s petroleum industry, historically generating intense scrutiny over transparency, fairness and investor confidence issues.
While earlier licensing exercises were often criticised for discretionary decision-making and post bid controversies that overshadowed the commercial objectives of the process, Emmanuel Addeh writes that the latest round appeared to be a clean break from the past.
The 2025 Licensing Round conducted by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) attempted to draw a clear line between that past and a new regulatory order envisaged under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
From its design to its execution, the exercise seemed deliberately structured around digital processes, competitive evaluation and independent oversight. Most significantly, the commercial bid conference was streamed live, allowing investors, observers and the wider public to witness the process in real time.
Combined with the participation of oversight institutions such as the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), journalists and civil society organisations, the licensing round, the first under the NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, represented perhaps the
