The Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics has criticised the Presidency’s ‘Nigeria’s Energy Sector Reforms: A Three-Year Review (2023–2026)’ report, describing the document as a political communication exercise that overstates progress while overlooking major challenges facing the country’s energy sector.

In a statement titled ‘A House Built on Sand: The Illusion of Progress in Nigeria’s Energy Sector,’ the independent research and policy organisation challenged several claims contained in the review issued by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy and signed by Special Adviser Olu Verheijen.

The Presidency’s report presents the Tinubu administration’s energy reforms as a comprehensive reset of the sector, highlighting improvements in oil and gas investment, power sector financing, gas development, and the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

However, the Alliance said its assessment of the review against what it described as independently verifiable data, audited financial statements, regulatory reports and industry testimony led it to a different conclusion.

“Our conclusion is unambiguous: the report functions primarily as a political communication instrument,” the organisation stated.

According to the Alliance, the review “cherry-picks peak figures to obscure persistent volatility, celebrates financial interventions that have not resolved underlying structural crises, and is entirely silent on the most consequential failures of the past three years.”

One of the group’s major criticisms concerns the government’s claim that oil production reached 1.6 million barrels per day in 2025 and represented the highest onshore production level in two decades.

The Alliance argued that the figure combines crude oil and condensate production, creating what it described as a misleading picture of actual crude oil performance.

“The 1.6 mmbpd figure combines crude oil with condensate,” the group said, adding that when crude oil is isolated, production performance appears significantly weaker.

Credit: thepinnacleng.com