The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has revealed that the recently unveiled incentives in the oil and gas sector have so far attracted $3 billion to the economy.
Edun made this disclosure while speaking on the sideline of the Nigerian Economic Summit on Tuesday in Abuja.
He stated that in addition to the $3 billion investment, ExxonMobil has announced plans to invest approximately $10 billion in the country’s deep-water operations.
Furthermore, Edun noted that other indigenous oil companies are also following suit by investing in the sector.
According to him, the oil and gas sector remains the primary source of foreign exchange and government revenue.
“The oil and gas sector has been revamped. The incentive framework, the time it takes for people to process investment and transactions is being cut. Incentives in the oil and gas sector including deep-waters have yielded investment by total of about $3 billion.
“Exxonmobil announced $10 billion. And there are Nigerians coming behind. The first place to look for foreign exchange and oil revenue is the oil sector. We are being promised by operators in the oil sectors 2 million barrels per day and, of course, the Dangote refinery,” Edun said.
Manufacturers Investments
Speaking further, Edun explained that similar investments are being seen in the manufacturing industry, with players in the industry ready to invest in the economy.
- He said this readiness Is driven by the government’s incentives such as tax exemptions as well as tax reforms to drive growth and development.
- According to him, a major manufacturer recently announced $2 billion investment in the sector.
- “The other areas are manufacturing. Just last Saturday, I was with a major manufacturer. Of course, we’ve reeled out a whole range of incentives, tax reforms and exemptions and so forth for the manufacturing sector to help them with their cost.
“ And he said, having noted and followed the reforms so far, they are now at the stage where the environment is now conducive for them to bring in $1.2 billion worth of investment across different areas of the economy. Of course, these are the specific incentives that has been unveiled, including cheaper funding,” Edun added.
What you should know
Nairametrics previously reported that the federal government introduced tax reliefs for deep offshore oil and gas projects in the country as well as VAT exclusion on LPG, CNG, diesel and others.
The Ministry of Finance disclosed this via its official handle on X stating that the fiscal incentives were aimed at boosting investments in the oil and gas sector.
The orders from the Ministry are titled; Value Added Tax (VAT) Modification Order 2024 and Notice of Tax Incentives for Deep Offshore Oil & Gas Production, in accordance with the Oil & Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc.) Order 2024.
