Energy
At GOCOP Confab: Liyel Imoke says alleged expenditure of a phantom $16b delayed Nigeria’s power sector reforms
Imoke, who was also Chairman of the Power Sector Technical Board under the Obasanjo administration, stated this as a matter of fact in his keynote at the 8th Annual Conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), themed: “Nigeria: Tackling insecurity, power deficit, and transitioning to digital economy.”
Admitting that the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), as it then was, was a monopoly, he said that electricity distribution was also a monopoly even as the execution of so many programmes faced various challenges.
He referred to the undue delay in implementation of the power sector reforms, which resulted from the probe of the claim of a phantom expenditure of $16 billion on the sector under the administration.
According to him: “The power sector probe took about two years. The delay led to huge cost overruns; doubling costs of various contracts awarded during my tenure. Several of these projects were delayed in completion. As we speak, we still have several IPP projects that are ongoing.”
He said that at the end of the probe, they found out that there was no missing $16b, but lamented that the alleged expenditure of the phantom $16b had been used as a political tool to criticize “those of us in government.”
Imoke fingered inadequate information as the trigger for the allegation, pointing out that, for instance, on his watch as Minister of Power, the actual spending was between $2b and $3b, much of which went to the original electric manufacturer.
The former power minister said that insecurity, power deficit, and the slowness in Nigeria’s transition to a full digital economy were challenges impeding national growth and development.
According to him: “These are challenges that impede our growth as a nation. They make us less globally competitive. If you look at electricity insecurity and digital economy and if we tackle these, we will be on our way to economic growth.”
He said to unlock Nigeria’s potential, the administration must tackle insecurity, noting that there had been insurgency and the emergence of Boko Haram, which split into ISWAP.
“We have experienced banditry, kidnapping, armed killings, mass kidnapping, and illegal mining. These days, we can’t go to a gathering of this magnitude without seeing someone who had been kidnapped before. This is one of our new realities,” he stated.
He implicated ethnic tension as a contributory cause of communal violence, adding that grievances in the Niger Delta caused a lot of insecurity in the region in the 2000s.
Imoke spoke about organized private crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, which created insecurity in the area and the separatist marginalization in the southeast region, leading to agitation
He stated that, for instance, between 2009 and 2020, insurgency by Boko Haram alone resulted in over 40,000 deaths.
Imoke listed poverty, high unemployment rate, which was in 1999 put at six per cent, in 2022 put at 22 per cent but which as of today is approaching 40 per cent, weak governance and corruption as well as climate change, as some of the factors that contributed or fuelled insecurity in the country.
He also listed proliferation of small arms and violent crimes across the country as a sore thumb, lamenting that there were more arms with some non-state actors put in their hands by desperate politicians and which at the end of elections, were not retrieved from them and on which they now depended to survive.
Saying that hope was not lost, Imoke declared that successive administrations had succeeded in degrading Boko Haram and recovering territories in the Northeast hitherto seized by the group.
According to him, “The military was able to degrade the group and reclaim the areas in the Northeast around Maiduguri.”
He listed other successes as the decrease in Boko Haram insurgency and deaths by 23 per cent according to the global terrorism index, adding that “there is also reduction of militancy in the Niger Delta as there is no more MEND in the region.”
He continued: “Oil production has significantly rebounded until recently because during the era of MEND, oil production dropped below 1.5 m barrels per day.
“There is anti-piracy measure launched through NIMASA and international collaborators to reduce the piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. Piracy decreased by 58 per cent between 2020 and 2021 in the Gulf of Guinea.
“In the Southeast, the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu is an achievement in the region…Nigerian government has increased its surveillance measures; its counter insurgency operation has been used in combating terrorism. We now have drone technology and others to attack security issues across the board. The persistent Boko Haram issue has been watered down, but there is a humanitarian issue. About 2.7m people have been affected. The UN said that 350,000 people have died as a result of insurgency.”
He, however, noted that Herder-farmers’ conflict was still ongoing, pointing out that over 2,600 people were reportedly killed in 2021 alone.
The former Cross River State governor said that continued separatist agitation had led to the death of police officers as well as IPoB members, adding that there had been extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrests, among others.
He said a multifaceted approach was required to effectively tackle security issues in Nigeria, recommending among others community policing, which should be legally regulated, deployment of vigilance groups in securing the communities, and giving consideration to decentralisation of security rather than centralisation that has not worked.
He also established a nexus between security and economy, arguing that “until we can address the state of our economy, we will not able to address security issues effectively.”
He stated that education, skill acquisition, entrepreneurship training, and access to SMES funding were key, adding that a strong and comprehensive rural development programme was necessary to address banditry and farmer-herder conflicts.
“I am a strong believer in peace and mediation. If the government can establish dialogue platforms between farmers and herders, it would reduce competition over land,” he said.
He also said that the procurement process must be transparent and resources should be deployed in the welfare and training of security personnel, adding that the nation’s judicial system must be able to tackle impunity.
While dwelling on power deficit, Imoke said that there was a lack of continuation of policies and programmes, pointing out that “your predecessor is your most valuable material. We always assume that our predecessor did not know anything, and there is a tendency to want to start afresh. It is important for me to always go back to my predecessor to ask for guidance.”
Admitting that electricity problem in Nigeria is the most humongous problem ever, Imoke said that with over 200 million Nigerians, the country’s installed capacity was like 13,000 megawatts. He said: “It sounds like good news, but we only manage to distribute an average of 4,000 megawatts whereas there are potential distributable 20,000 megawatts.”
He reeled out some sobering comparative statistics about per capita electricity consumption by Nigeria and some countries on the African continent based on recent data.
According to the data referred to by Imoke, “Nigeria per capita electricity consumption is between 150 and 200 kilowatts hours per year (kilowatts hour is the amount of electricity delivered to each household in the country in a year); Ghana is between 800 and 1000 kilowatts hour per year; South Africa is between 4000 and 5000 kilowatts hours per year while Ivory coast is between 500 and 600 kilowatts hour per year.”
Imoke lamented the Nigerian situation, adding that “these tell you the strengths of industrial bases of these countries.”
He, however, noted that despite numerous reforms in Nigeria, the power sector had continued to struggle.
Imoke asked if there was a solution in the face of growing demand? He resolved the question somewhat in the negative, pointing out that with the exponential growth in Nigerian’s population, there was a concomitant rising demand on the electricity supply.
On the transitioning to digital economy, Imoke said the growth in e-commerce platforms like Jumia and others was allowing for competition and efficiency.
According to him: “We are in the fourth industrial revolution, and it is a digital revolution. We missed out on the first, second, and third industrial revolutions. It is for us now as a nation, with a deliberateness of government policy, not to lose out on the fourth industrial revolution.
“All the three sectors-security, power and digital economy – are critical to our growth. The three are intertwined challenges that Nigerian must address to unlock her potential.
“With the collective effort of all, Nigerian can truly emerge as a global leader. Let us seize this moment to build a secure, electrified, and digitalized Nigerian that offers prosperity, growth, and development to all.”
The need to unlock Africa’s upstream potential has seen a call for stronger partnerships between governments, regulators, operators, and host communities.
General Manager (GM), Security, Government & External Relations at Oando Energy Resources, Kofo Olagunju, made the call during a panel discussion at the Africa Oil Week (AOW Energy) in Accra, Ghana.
The AOW held with the theme: “Building Dialogue, Leadership: Exploring the Challenges of Both Government and Private Sector Frameworks for Upstream Development,” Olagunju said such collaboration was critical to unlocking investment and driving sustainable growth across Africa’s upstream sector.
The discussion examined how African governments and private sector players can better align policies, regulatory frameworks, and commercial priorities to create the certainty required to attract investment and accelerate upstream development across the continent.
Olagunju argued that the relationship between regulators and operators must evolve beyond traditional oversight towards a more constructive partnership built on mutual understanding and shared responsibility.
“What we have seen in recent years is a growing recognition by both operators and regulators that we are ultimately working towards a shared objective.
Real progress requires genuine partnership, one in which regulators understand the operational realities and challenges faced by the industry, while operators remain mindful of the broader developmental and regulatory priorities governments are seeking to advance.”
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Olagunju, was joined on the panel by Cany Jobe, Director General, Petroleum Commission, The Gambia; IK Innocent Kihika, Board Member, Petroleum Authority of Uganda; Joe Kofi Mensah, Senior Vice President (SVP) & Head, Ghana Business Unit, Kosmos Energy; and Liz Ross, GM, New Ventures Exploration & M&A, Africa & Europe, CNOOC International.
From an investor perspective, Joe Kofi Mensah, SVP & Head, Ghana Business Unit, Kosmos Energy, outlined the conditions required to create an environment capable of attracting long-term capital. “Creating an environment that attracts and sustains investment requires four critical elements: regulatory stability, speed, ease of doing business, and competitive fiscal terms. These factors must work together to create the certainty investors need to commit capital for the long term.”
Addressing the regulatory perspective, Cany Jobe, Director General, Petroleum Commission, The Gambia, challenged the notion that governments must choose between protecting national interests and attracting investment. “Protecting national interests and enabling investment should not be viewed as competing objectives. A strong regulatory framework must achieve both, creating value for resource owners while providing investors with the clarity, predictability and commercial viability required to operate successfully.”
Turning to the role of host communities, Olagunju highlighted the shift towards deeper community participation in the success and sustainability of upstream operations. “Host communities have evolved from being neighbours to the resources, to stakeholders in the development process, and increasingly, to shareholders in the success of our operations.”
He stressed that sustainable operations depend on relationships that extend beyond regulatory compliance and transactional engagement. “For our operations to thrive, host communities must be integral partners in the journey. That requires more than compliance. It requires transparency, trust, and a shared understanding of the value that responsible resource development can create.”
The panel concluded with a call for African energy stakeholders to move beyond dialogue towards practical action, strengthening partnerships, and aligning regulatory and commercial frameworks to unlock responsible investment and long-term growth.
The AOW: Energy brings together African governments, energy companies, investors and industry stakeholders for critical dialogue on the opportunities and challenges shaping the continent’s upstream energy sector. Its 2026 edition provided a platform for dialogue on investment, policy, exploration, and the development of Africa’s energy resources.
Oando continues to bring its operational experience and indigenous perspective to critical industry conversations, advocating for the partnerships, policy certainty, and collaborative frameworks needed to unlock Africa’s energy potential, strengthen energy security, and deliver sustainable value for governments, investors, and host communities.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has credited the NLNG/SEPNU with leading the rise in Nigeria’s domestic cooking gas supply, which peaked at 5,332 tonnes per day in July 2026.
The NMDPRA’s July 2026 midstream and downstream statistics showed that total liquefied petroleum gas supply increased from 5,100 tonnes per day in June to 5,332 tonnes per day in July.
The NLNG/SEPNU supplied 2,031 tonnes per day through vessels, representing about 38 per cent of the total supply during the month.
Other processing plants supplied 1,513 tonnes per day through trucks, while the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP) supplied 829 tonnes per day.
Imports accounted for 959 tonnes per day.
The figures showed that domestic sources supplied 4,373 tonnes per day, representing about 82 percent of the total LPG supply in July, while imports accounted for the remaining 18 percent.
The July supply level was the highest recorded in the 13-month period covered by the NMDPRA data.
LPG supply stood at 4,500 tonnes per day in July 2025 before rising to 5,000 tonnes in August and declining to 3,900 tonnes in September last year.
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It subsequently increased to 4,500 tonnes in October, 5,000 tonnes in November and 5,200 tonnes in December.
In January 2026, supply stood at 5,100 tonnes per day before falling to 4,700 tonnes in February and March, 4,500 tonnes in April and 4,100 tonnes in May.
The supply level then rose to 5,100 tonnes per day in June before reaching 5,332 tonnes in July.
The latest figures indicate a continued strengthening of domestic LPG supply, with local sources now accounting for the bulk of the cooking gas available in the country.
However, our correspondent reports that LPG prices have yet to fall below the N1,000 per kilogramme level after the sudden surge in May.
Though prices have plunged from a high of N2,400/kg to between N1,300 and N1,600, depending on location.
The NLNG recently accused some marketers of contributing to the sharp rise in the price of cooking gas by buying liquefied petroleum gas from the company at prices between N800 and N900 per kilogramme and selling it for as much as N2,400/kg in the retail market.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG, Adeleye Falade, disclosed this during a recent media briefing in Lagos, where he attributed the price spike to supply shortages, artificial scarcity and distortions in the distribution chain rather than the company’s pricing.
According to him, when the retail price of LPG climbed to N2,400/kg, the NLNG was selling the product to buyers at between N800 and N900/kg. He said the price was supposed to be in the range of N1,000 to N1,200, going by the recommendation of the NMDPRA.
“When the product was being sold at N2,400 in the market, guess how much they (marketers) were lifting it from us? It was between N800 and N900 per kg. And NMDPRA recommended that by the time you put in transportation costs and all other things, it shouldn’t be selling more than N1,000, N1,100 or N1,200. So, there’s also some distortion that happened on the sales side, which I know the regulators are working on right now to get control of it,” he stated.
On Tuesday, renewed escalation of the conflict between the United States and Iran pressured oil prices to over $94/barrel.
Current hostilities which witnessed American air strikes on Iranian targets and triggered global concerns of disruption to crude supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Brent crude rose $4.06, or 4.49 percent, to $94.55 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate gained $4.44, or 5.18 percent, to $90.20 a barrel. Murban crude also surged by $7.19, or 7.30 percent, to $105.60 a barrel, according to Oilprice.com.
The rally followed the United States’ fresh strikes on Iran, with Washington saying its forces had targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC).
“Today (Tuesday) at 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT), US forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran.
“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the US Central Command said.
The latest attacks have raised fresh concerns about the security around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil supplies. Oil prices had already risen following the exchange of attacks between the two countries over the weekend, while reports of attacks on tankers further fuelled supply concerns.
Reuters reported that two supertankers carrying Saudi oil were struck by unknown projectiles within minutes of each other while travelling outbound through the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, according to shipping intelligence and tracking firms.
Following the reports, Brent crude futures, which were already up about two percent, jumped by almost another two percent.
Iran has also threatened to prevent oil exports from the Gulf if the US continues its attacks. “If the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one will be able to export oil,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
The renewed confrontation has heightened fears that the six-month-old conflict could escalate into a wider war and threaten crude supplies from the oil-rich Gulf region.
The conflict had previously shifted towards sanctions, blockades and economic pressure, but the latest exchange of attacks has raised concerns about a return to sustained military confrontation.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran that it would face a stronger response if it retaliated against the latest American strikes.The US strikes came after Iranian missiles were fired at two US air bases in Jordan in response to an earlier American attack on Iran’s Larak Island.
The latest escalation also coincided with plans by Washington to impose additional economic sanctions on Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bank sanctions against Iran were likely to be announced this week and next, while warning that Washington would also target other entities doing business with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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