Economy
Stakeholders to Discuss Stronger Tax Regimes in Abuja
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has been scheduled to declare open the 3rd International Conference on Tax in Africa (ICTA) taking place in Abuja from September 25 to 29, 2017.
During the flagship conference of the African Tax Administration Forum, stakeholders will discuss stronger tax regimes under the theme ‘Building Strong Domestic Tax Regimes in Africa: Strengthening VAT, PIT and CIT.’
The conference program is designed along expert panel discussion sessions and presentations. The ICTA 2017 will look at the technical challenges, successes and good practice in the administration of VAT in Africa; enhancing performance of PIT through broadening the tax base, sanitising the taxpayer register and improved taxpayer experience with regard to managing compliance; and dealing with complexities of CIT taking into account the filing of corporate tax returns, enhanced customer service delivery, corporate structures vis-à-vis tax planning, tax audits and investigation.
This year’s ICTA is expecting delegates and panellists well beyond its 38-member countries including from other revenue authorities and organisations such as the African Development Bank, the World Bank, OECD, International Tax Compact, GIZ, Tax Justice Network – Africa, ECOWAS and CREDAF.
The programme will also celebrate and recognise the six African experts selected to serve on the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.
Five of the six members come from ATAF member countries and two of these are on the ATAF council. These include Mr William Tunde Fowler (Nigeria), the Chairperson of ATAF’s Council and Mrs Elfrieda Stewart Tamba (Liberia).
A statement issued by ICTA said to end poverty and hunger by 2030, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are premised on strategies that build economic growth to address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. Tax revenue, is therefore viewed as the main enabler for achieving these goals.
The African Union, for its part, has set Agenda 2063 to build “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in international arena.”
To fulfil this vision, Agenda 2063 talks of the need for inclusive growth and sustainable development as well as good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law. To bring this agenda into fruition, domestic resource mobilisation takes a central role, as donor fatigue is now only too evident.
African countries are signatories to both these ambitious milestones. For ATAF, continent meeting both these agendas will, largely hinge on effective domestic resource mobilisation (DRM) or strengthening domestic tax regimes in every African country. In light of this, both the Forum’s Council as well as its General Assembly have given the directive for a strong focus on domestic taxes, hence the theme for ICTA 2017.
The Conference is focusing on specific domestic taxes including VAT, Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Corporate Income Tax (CIT) due to their potential contribution and the underlying risks that are likely to undermine the revenue take.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is administered in 44 of the 54 African countries and is seen as the tax of the future as it has a broad base and therefore, needs review of processes for effectiveness and efficiency in its administrations.
Corporate Income Tax (CIT) is in the spotlight as more manufacturing industries take root in the continent. Similarly, there is a growing service sector constituting the financial, telecommunication and real estate.
Personal Income Tax derived from individuals such as employee PAYE, other withholding tax schemes and High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) are also key contributors to domestic revenue.
These tax heads have a quicker turn-around time if well administered in terms of taxpayer registration, return filing and payment, audits, collections, refunds and dispute resolution and can readily contribute to financing recurrent budgets of the African continent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) will, at the Commercial Bid Conference, announce the successful bidders for 50 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round on July 21, 2026.
The regulator said the conference would conclude an eight-month licence round that began on December 1, 2025, after President Bola Tinubu approved the exercise under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
The commission said the 50 blocks include 15 onshore, 19 shallow-water, 15 frontier and one deep-offshore block, covering basins such as the Niger Delta, Chad Basin, Benue Trough, Anambra and Bida.
It said the round aims to attract about $10 billion in fresh investment and to unlock discovered but undeveloped fields, fallow assets and gas resources. NUPRC described the 2025 round as the third licensing exercise under the PIA framework and stressed it is designed to prioritise natural gas development.
NUPRC outlined a five-stage process for the round — registration and pre-qualification, data acquisition, technical bid submission and evaluation, and the commercial bid conference — followed by ministerial approval and contracting. The Commission said it notified pre-qualified applicants on March 16, 2026, and closed technical and commercial bids on June 12, 2026.
NUPRC chief executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had said the selection would be merit-based and would exclude weaker applicants.
She said only candidates with strong technical and financial credentials, professionalism and credible development plans would advance, and that winners would be chosen on a weighted combination of technical and commercial scores.
To widen participation, the federal government fixed signature bonuses for the round in a prescribed range of $3 million to $7 million per block, the Commission said, adding that bids outside that range would be non-compliant and excluded.
NUPRC said it would resolve the tied highest bids within the range by conducting a sealed rebid for the signature bonus, adding that successful bidders will receive Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs) and may elect either a Concession or a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) framework, noting that the choice of framework will determine fiscal terms for up to two decades.
The agency noted that bidders were required to present host community development plans and to commit to remit 3 per cent of operating expenditure to Host Community Development Trusts. It said decarbonisation objectives and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements were mandatory parts of submissions.
It warned that applicants with government debts, those that had previously failed to develop licences “vigorously and in a business-like manner,” or those found non-compliant with applicable laws could be disqualified at any stage.
The regulator said it expects ministerial approval and formal contracting between July and October 2026, after which awardees must execute concession contracts before licences take legal effect.
Recall that during the 25th Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja, the NUPRC issued PPLs to 12 companies across 19 blocks from the 2024 round. The Commission named recipients, including Boron Energy Limited, Energy Marketing and Supply Limited, Sahara Deepwater Resources Limited, Tulkan Energy E&P Company Limited and said that the exercise showed the licensing pipeline was functioning.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs Olu Verheijen, has said Nigeria requires about $38.3 billion in fresh investment to sustain current oil and gas production and achieve its 2030 output targets.
Speaking at the recently concluded 25th NOG Energy Week Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, Mrs Verheijen said global investors are now prioritising countries with predictable policies, competitive fiscal terms and credible regulatory systems.
“For Africa, that question is urgent. And for Nigeria, the scale of the task is equally clear: to sustain the current base and grow toward our 2030 production target, analysis shows a financing gap of about $38.3 billion,” she said.
According to her, the era when countries relied solely on resource endowment to attract capital has ended.
“Capital has no passport. It is rational. It prices risk. It follows credibility. It asks one question: can this country turn resources into bankable projects, and bankable projects into reliable returns?”
She said Nigeria had deliberately repositioned itself through reforms aimed at improving investor confidence and accelerating project execution.
“We recalibrated fiscal terms, clarified regulation and streamlined oversight. We introduced targeted incentives and cut contracting timelines by more than half. We made a clear statement to the world: Nigeria is no longer asking to be trusted; Nigeria is working to be bankable.”
Highlighting progress recorded under the reforms, Verheijen said Nigeria now has more than $50 billion worth of upstream projects in its visible investment pipeline.
“We now have more than 50 billion dollars of upstream projects in the visible pipeline. In the last three years, more than 10 billion dollars of long-awaited final investment decisions have come through.”
She added that crude oil and condensate production has increased by about 400,000 barrels per day since 2023, while onshore production is at its highest level in two decades.
“Crude oil and condensate production has risen by about 400,000 barrels per day since 2023. Onshore production is at its strongest level in twenty years.”
Mrs Verheijen said the Federal Government remains committed to achieving its target of producing three million barrels of oil per day and 10 billion standard cubic feet of gas daily by 2030, while strengthening Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global energy market.
She also highlighted ongoing reforms in the power sector, including the N4 trillion Presidential Power Sector Financial Reforms Programme, which she described as critical to restoring confidence across Nigeria’s electricity value chain.
On gas development, she said the government was expanding domestic LPG supply, improving affordability and supporting investments through tax and import duty incentives.
“A gas-rich nation cannot be comfortable when families are priced back to firewood, charcoal or kerosene,” she said.
Mrs Verheijen stressed that Nigeria’s ambition extends beyond exporting crude oil to building an industrial economy anchored on value addition.
“We have chosen not merely to produce molecules, but to convert molecules into megawatts, fertiliser, petrochemicals, mobility, manufacturing, jobs and exports.”
She concluded that the country’s reforms were laying the foundation for long-term growth despite lingering challenges.
“The age of Nigerian hesitation is ending. The age of Nigerian ambition has begun. Our task now is to turn reform into relief, capital into projects, projects into jobs, and energy into national greatness.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate in June 2026 moderated to 15.91 per cent from 15.93 per cent in May, as pressure from the Iran war mildly eased, though it largely remained in focus during the review month.
In the report on Wednesday, the statistical office showed that the headline inflation rate for June on a month-on-month basis was 1.66 per cent, 0.09 per cent lower than the 1.75 per cent recorded in May 2026.
On an annualised basis, the print was down from 25.29 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (June 2025). This was due to the rebasing of the calculation year from 2009 to 2024.
The rise in prices, which stemmed from the continued conflict in the Middle East, continued to stoke food prices and energy costs, which account for a huge chunk of average spending.
The food inflation rate in May 2026 on a month-on-month basis was 3.75 per cent, up by 0.77 percentage points from May 2026 (2.98 per cent), while on a year-on-year basis, it was 17.52 per cent and stood at 25.41 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (June 2025).
At 15.91 per cent print, the inflation marginally beat expectations by Meristem Research, predicted at 15.95 per cent.
There had been expectations that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran would help drive oil prices lower, raising expectations of some relief on the inflation front. However, with conflicts now flaring up again, oil prices are likely to increase again, and the anticipated easing in energy-driven inflation may not materialise as broadly as earlier envisaged.
Meristem Research said it expects inflationary pressures to re-emerge across key economies in the near term, as the re-escalation of the US-Iran conflict has reignited upward pressure on global oil prices.
This will be a core factor that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be looking at when it meets for the next policy meeting. At its last meeting, the committee left benchmarked interest rates at 26.5 per cent.
