Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has urged gas, power and financial stakeholders to stop working in isolation and adopt coordinated approaches to resolve Nigeria’s persistent gas and electricity problems. Speaking at the 2026 Gas-to-Power Sector Stakeholders’ Engagement at the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre in Abuja, themed “Power Sector Sustainability: Framework Implementation Assurance,” she said decades of policy talk and isolated interventions have produced little progress.
Eyesan traced the failure partly to fragmented implementation and poor alignment among upstream producers, infrastructure developers and distribution companies. She recalled that the Domestic Gas (DomGas) initiative began in 2008 and was formalized in 2009 with a focus on supplying power, but despite earmarked budgets and repeated efforts “the needle did not move” because stakeholders operated in silos.
Highlighting Nigeria’s 215 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, Eyesan argued the country should be a regional supplier rather than struggling to meet domestic demand. She also criticized institutional rigidity, excessive bureaucracy and policy “grandstanding” for stalling practical solutions, and warned that continued posturing will harm Nigeria and the continent.
On global trends, she noted Africa’s earlier decline in oil and gas investment until gas was acknowledged as a transition fuel, and welcomed renewed US-backed momentum to boost production. Eyesan concluded with a call for collaboration and innovation, saying that without breaking barriers and creating practical, joint solutions, Nigeria will still face the same problems a decade from now.
