It is a pleasure to speak on the theme “One Africa, One Regulator Voice: Aligned Policies for Continental Prosperity and Investment”, which underscores the importance of regulatory alignment across African countries.
Resource and Demographic Advantage
Africa’s prospects for shared prosperity are underpinned by the scale of its natural and human capital. The continent holds about 8 percent of global oil and gas reserves, produces over 7 million barrels of oil per day, 32 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day and accounts for nearly 30 percent of the world’s known critical mineral resources, including more than half of global cobalt reserves and substantial shares of manganese, graphite, and platinum group metals.
Alongside this resource base is a population of over 1.5 billion people, characterized by a youthful demographic profile, offering a rapidly expanding workforce and a dynamic consumer market. When these energy, mineral, and demographic advantages are developed through coordinated policies, integrated infrastructure, and aligned regulatory frameworks, they can drive industrialization, strengthen regional value chains, enhance energy security, and deliver sustainable and inclusive growth across the continent.
In this context, oil and gas resources remain integral to Africa’s development, supporting industrial growth, electricity generation, clean cooking initiatives, fertilizer and petrochemical industries, and public revenues that fund critical infrastructure and social services.
Distinguished Delegates and Colleagues, our energy and mineral wealth can either remain fragmented, leaving each nation to struggle alone, or they can serve as the bedrock of a new era of continental prosperity. The difference between these two futures is unity. The focus before us, therefore, is how African countries can strengthen cooperation and policy alignment to develop these resources responsibly and efficiently, while advancing common regional and continental objectives.
Africa’s Energy Reality
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Bank/SDG7 tracking reports, over 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, and nearly a billion rely on traditional biomass for cooking. At the same time, Africa’s historical emissions are a small fraction of the global total.
Speaking with One Voice on the Global Stage
A unified African voice at successive COPs and global energy fora played a decisive role in securing agreement on a just, orderly and equitable energy transition, with explicit recognition of national circumstances and the role of transitional fuels; thereby preserving Africa’s ability to sequence its transition and responsibly deploy gas to address energy poverty and development needs. Notably, this was a hard-won outcome that underscored how close the continent came to an indiscriminate fossil-fuel phase-out. This is the power of a coordinated African voice and the decisive value of speaking with one voice.
Similarly, working in concert with other developing countries, Africa helped secure the historic Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, marking a major step in recognizing climate justice for the most vulnerable. These outcomes were the result of deliberate coordination, with Africa speaking through a unified voice under the African Group of Negotiators, advancing a clear case for a just transition, differentiated pathways, and the practical role of gas in Africa’s development. This experience highlights the tangible impact of collective advocacy and reinforces the importance of sustained policy alignment and coordinated action in advancing the continent’s shared development and prosperity goals.
More Evidence that Unity Works
Clear evidence of the benefits of African cooperation can also be seen across trade, power and gas infrastructure. A notable driving force behind this progress is the African Union (AU), whose efforts to strengthen peace, security, and collective diplomacy continue to support deeper economic integration; most notably through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As the world’s largest free‑trade zone, the AfCFTA has the potential, if fully implemented, to lift approximately 30 million people out of extreme poverty by harmonizing policies and dismantling trade barriers.
In the power sector, regional interconnections such as the 1,303-kilometre CLSG line now enable cross-border electricity trade among Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, delivering affordable power to roughly 2.8 million people, with similar gains emerging from the OMVS, OMVG and North Core projects which are strengthening the overall West African Power Pool (WAPP) network.
Likewise, the West African Gas Pipeline, Sub-Saharan Africa’s first regional gas transmission system, supplies Nigerian gas to Benin, Togo and Ghana. This demonstrate how harmonized agreements and shared infrastructure can lower costs, improve reliability and reduce reliance on higher-emission fuels. Together, these few examples underscore a simple lesson:
when Africa aligns policies, institutions and infrastructure, development accelerates and its benefits reach more people.
Lessons from Missed Opportunities
While we rightly celebrate these gains, we must also be honest about the opportunities we lost when we did not act in concert. Data from the Global Energy Monitor indicate that more than 180 Tcf of discovered natural gas in Africa has yet to be sanctioned for development. In Nigeria, despite holding about 210 Tcf of proven gas reserves, many gas fields remain stranded or undeveloped, with an estimated over 600 Tcf in upside potential yet to be fully unlocked. A unified gas market posture with aligned fiscal terms could have accelerated FIDs and secured better pricing for African countries.
For years, we saw gas in one country, demand in another, and industries in a third: with no connecting pipelines or harmonized tariffs. Projects like Nigeria–Morocco and the revived Trans‑Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) are now addressing this, but the lag shows the cost of working in isolation, including shut power plants, flaring instead of utilization, and constrained industrial growth.
Catalyst for Global Partnership and Investment
A unified and integrated Africa is also better positioned to mobilize meaningful support from global partners. When countries harmonize policies and regulations, Africa can leverage its own financing institutions, such as the Africa Energy Bank and Afreximbank, to de‑risk projects, accelerate industrialization, expand electrification, and unlock jobs and revenue. At the same time, partners like the World Bank, and other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) can invest more efficiently in regional priorities.
Integrated energy markets, cross‑border infrastructure, and consistent regulatory regimes reduce risk, improve bankability, attract private capital, and enable development partners to confidently support transformative projects that drive shared, long‑term prosperity.
Nigeria’s Leadership: Unifying Policies and Building Continental Energy Connectivity
Distinguished participants, Nigeria has indeed taken deliberate steps to spearhead regulatory alignment and gas-driven development in this long-awaited new era of African energy integration. Through the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 we have strengthened governance, transparency, and investor confidence; laying the foundation that cross-border projects demand.
Under the visionary leadership of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, we are deliberately creating a fiscally attractive, cost-competitive, and business-friendly environment to unlock Nigeria’s vast gas reserves to power homes, industries, and regional growth, positioning gas as Africa’s transition fuel.
Alongside other complementary measures already in motion, we are currently conducting block licensing rounds with full transparency, giving investors a clear path to Nigeria’s vast and promising hydrocarbon basins, while supporting sustainable long-term growth. Our mission is clear: to expand reserves, optimize production, and responsibly increase output, ensuring that Nigeria’s energy development drives economic prosperity, safeguards the environment, and sets a benchmark for the continent’s energy future.
Across the continent, pipelines are turning vision into reality: the AKK pipeline backbone, the flexible West African Gas Pipeline, the Nigeria–Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline, and the revived Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline are knitting African energy markets together like never before. Complementing this, the Africa Energy Bank, headquartered in Nigeria, is mobilizing African capital for African projects, closing financing gaps left by global withdrawal.
These are not just national initiatives: they are continental commitments, unifying policy, connecting infrastructure, and building the energy corridors that Africa needs to thrive.
AFRIPERF: Institutionalizing One African Regulator Voice
Investors are not deterred by Africa’s geology; they are deterred by inconsistent rules. Understanding that a harmonised regulatory voice lowers risk premiums and facilitates cross‑border energy projects, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), together with sister regulators across the continent, established the African Petroleum Regulators’ Forum (AFRIPERF) last year. AFRIPERF is now advancing regulatory convergence through aligned standards, shared data, capacity‑building initiatives, and a unified African voice on global platforms. With these foundations in place, investors gain the predictability and consistency they need, while countries benefit from faster project execution and broader shared prosperity.
Closing/ Call to Action: One Africa, One Regulator Voice
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to conclude by reaffirming a simple truth: Africa’s unity has already begun to reshape global outcomes, but our greatest victories still lie ahead. From this NIES stage, let us commit to strengthening AFRIPERF, deepening our regional gas and electricity networks, adopting shared sustainability and decarbonisation standards, leveraging AfCFTA to mainstream energy‑trade and cross‑border investments, and maintaining a unified African stance at COPs and all global fora.
Our voice must be one, our frameworks aligned, and our actions coordinated. Only then can we fully unlock the transformative power of Africa’s resources for our people.
One Africa. One Regulator Voice. One Energy Future.
Together, we will deliver Africa’s energy promise.
Thank you.
Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan (Mrs.)
CCE, NUPRC