Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, has assured investors that the federal government will soon resolve the lingering problem of multiple taxation and levies, saying the country remains committed to becoming globally competitive.
He stated this while speaking at the 2026 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week.
Independent oil producers under the auspices of Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), had lamented that producers are burdened with payment of at least 270 taxies and levies to multiple agencies.
Lokpobiri said the federal government had commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in collaboration with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to benchmark Nigeria’s fiscal charges against those of competing oil-producing countries.
According to him, the exercise is part of the Tinubu administration’s efforts to make Nigeria’s petroleum industry more competitive and attract fresh investment.
Lokpobiri said operators currently contend with about 270 different taxes, fees and regulatory charges, many of which generate little revenue individually but create significant administrative bottlenecks.
“Sometimes when you hear that we have about 270 taxes, some of them are just a few cents. Instead of making companies process about 270 invoices, why don’t we aggregate them? The report will soon be ready, and I believe it will solve that problem once and for all,” he said.
According to the minister, the Federal Government has been engaging industry stakeholders on the issue since it was brought to its attention and has now commissioned PwC to compare Nigeria’s fiscal charges with those of competing petroleum-producing countries.
“Our attention was drawn by OPTS to this matter. And since then, we’ve had several engagements, and I’m happy to announce to you that part of the steps we’ve taken is to commission PwC to do a global benchmarking. IPPG, together with NUPRC, came together under my directive to commission PwC to do a global benchmarking,” he stated.
