Oil rig
Not by speeches. Not by photographs. Not even by signature bonuses. But by whether, three years from now, we can point to producing wells, instead of framed licence certificates. The 2025 Licensing Round is over. The countdown has begun. Ninety days may not sound like a long time. But in Nigeria’s petroleum history, it could make all the difference.
Every now and then, something important happens in Nigeria without attracting the attention it deserves. It is almost as if we have become conditioned to ignore quiet successes, while reserving all our energy for loud failures. A fuel queue will trend. A political quarrel will dominate the airwaves. A celebrity’s social media drama will occupy our timelines. But a policy reform that could reshape one of the country’s biggest industries? Not so much.
That is why I have been thinking about what happened at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, on 21 July, when the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) concluded the country’s 2025 Oil Block Licensing Round. It was one of those government events that many people would dismiss as routine. Officials made speeches. Winners smiled for the cameras. Certificates changed hands. Everybody went home. But I suspect we may look back at that day differently.
