President Bola Tinubu has constituted a Presidential Petroleum Reform and Value Optimisation Taskforce to coordinate and design the next stage of structural reforms in Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
Mr Fola Adeola, co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank and founder/chairman of the Fate Foundation, has been appointed chairman of the taskforce.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the taskforce would function as a time-bound, high-level executive working group mandated to produce execution-ready reform blueprints.
Other members of the taskforce include Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, Osagie Okunbor, Abubakar Suleiman, Adaeze Aguele, Farouk Gumel, Phillipa Osakwe-Okoye, and Seyi Bella, while Mofoluwasho Fadayomi will serve as secretary.
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According to the statement, the taskforce is expected to harmonise existing reforms, unlock capital within the petroleum sector, and reinforce Nigeria’s standing as a leading global destination for energy investment.
“The initiative reflects the President’s commitment to transforming Nigeria’s petroleum industry into a more competitive, transparent, and value-maximising sector capable of driving long-term economic growth, macroeconomic resilience, and industrial development,” it read.
The statement noted that the body would operate strictly as a technical reform group rather than a representative committee. It will consult industry operators, regulators, investors and civil society stakeholders while concentrating on practical policy design and implementation strategies.
The taskforce will report directly to the President and submit monthly progress memoranda. An interim report is expected within three months, while the final outputs are to be delivered within six months of its inauguration.
Tinubu has also mandated the team to produce three key reform blueprints.
The first is the Implementation Toolkit for Immediate Structural Fixes, which will include draft legislative amendments, executive instruments, and proposals for institutional restructuring.
The second deliverable is the Capital & Liquidity Acceleration Blueprint, aimed at unlocking between $5bn and $10bn in sectoral liquidity while protecting Nigeria’s sovereign interests.
The third blueprint will centre on the National Energy Transformation Strategy, a 10-year roadmap with measurable targets covering production levels, foreign exchange earnings, GDP contribution and cost competitiveness.
Tinubu has further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, regulators and other relevant institutions to provide full technical support to the taskforce. They are also required to submit inventories of ongoing initiatives to ensure alignment with the emerging reform framework.
The President equally instructed all existing committees, teams and working groups created under different petroleum reform initiatives to align their operations, reporting channels and programmes with the new taskforce.
“The streamlining will ensure coordination, avoid duplication of mandates, and provide institutional clarity, thereby ensuring coherence in the petroleum sector reform architecture,” the statement noted.
He also directed that all relevant documentation, institutional knowledge and ongoing workstreams be made available to the taskforce to aid the development and implementation of a comprehensive reform framework.
Onanuga described the establishment of the taskforce as “a strategic presidential instrument to accelerate petroleum sector reforms, strengthen governance architecture, optimise national energy assets, and position Nigeria’s petroleum resources as a foundation for sustainable economic transformation.”
The taskforce will be automatically dissolved once it submits its final report and the recommendations are accepted.
Adeola, a chartered accountant and entrepreneur, co-founded Guaranty Trust Bank in 1990 and served as its pioneer managing director until 2002. He later established the Fate Foundation in 2000 to promote entrepreneurship and wealth creation in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s petroleum sector has undergone several reforms under the Tinubu administration, including the removal of petrol subsidy, the unification of foreign exchange windows and initiatives aimed at boosting crude oil output from one million barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day.
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