Abstract
After many decades of an opaque oil and gas industry that has been non-responsive to the
Nigeria’s energy needs and its global commitments, the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act
2021 is considered a major step forward towards reforming the industry. The expectation is that
the new law will reposition the sector to attract private investments that have significantly
diminished, boost efficiency and achieve energy transition towards renewables and away from
fossil fuels. The paper, however, argues that the Act have band-aided most of the pre-existing
challenges and even created new ones. The Act contains provisions that are inconsistent with the
Constitution, featuring a flippant donation of wide berths of discretionary powers to partisan
political actors, inhospitable investment climate manured by corruption, non-delineation of roles,
overlap of functions and powers and the castration of regulatory institutions by a lack of
independence in form and substance and finally, a weak energy transition path that is ill positioned to meeting Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions. The Act is booby-trapped
by challenges plainly in sight that if left unattended, would a case of a legislation designed to fail,
ab nitio! The Act is missed but not lost opportunity to transpose Nigeria’s oil and gas industry
towards sustainable and enduring reforms. The paper signposts some compelling challenges that
need to be legislatively attended to in order to allow Nigeria’s oil and gas sector to deliver the
contemplated developmental outcomes of transparency, accountability, and good governance.