Nigeria Would Be More Advanced If Protective Oil Laws Were Established From The Onset – Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that there was no legal framework to protect the interests of Nigerians during the early years of oil discovery in the country.

Speaking at the Champions of Nigerian Content Awards Dinner hosted by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Wednesday night, Jonathan recounted the discussion he had with a Ugandan counterpart.

He explained that the East African nation had made a conscious effort to build local capacity before engaging with international oil companies (IOCs) in an effort to avoid the missteps made by Nigeria.

Jonathan argued that the nation would be in a better place if it had made protective laws from the onset of oil discovery.

He said, “I recall a Ugandan once telling me how they deliberately developed skills and capacity before signing oil agreements with IOCs, learning from Nigeria’s mistakes.

“I bring this up because, had Nigeria established protective laws from the onset of oil discovery, we would have been far more advanced today.”

Jonathan noted that the first legal frameworks concerning oil in Nigeria—the Mineral Oil Ordinance of 1886 and the subsequent 1914 revision, were colonial legislations with little to no Nigerian input.

“I doubt many Nigerians today are even aware of these laws, let alone their implications,” he added.

He emphasized that it wasn’t until 1969, thirteen years after the first commercial oil discovery in Oloibiri in 1956 and nearly a decade after independence, that Nigeria passed the Petroleum Act, the first indigenous law aimed at regulating the sector.

Jonathan further pointed out that efforts to modernise oil governance continued during his administration, culminating in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021, a landmark legislation that had been in the works for years.