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By Adewale Sanyaolu
Despite ongoing reforms and efforts to attract fresh investments into Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, the sector accounted for only a marginal share of $10.37 billion of foreign capital channeled into the country in the first quarter of 2026.
Earlier this year, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed that Nigeria approved 28 Field Development Plans worth $18.2 billion in 2025.
The projects were expected to unlock additional crude oil reserves and support production growth.
However, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has revealed that the industry attracted just a paltry $460,000 between January and March 2026, highlighting the limited volume of actual foreign capital flowing into a sector widely regarded as the backbone of the nation’s economy.
Although the figure represents a 283.3 per cent increase from the $120,000 recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, the total amount remains insignificant when compared with overall capital inflows into the Nigerian economy.
The NBS Capital Importation Report showed that total foreign capital importation rose sharply to $10.37 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $5.64 billion in the same period of 2025 and $6.44 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
An analysis of the report indicated that the oil and gas sector contributed only a fraction of total inflows, lagging significantly behind other sectors that continued to attract the bulk of foreign investments.
The development comes at a time when the Federal Government is intensifying efforts to reposition the petroleum industry through the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), fiscal incentives, regulatory reforms, licensing rounds and policies aimed at boosting upstream and gas sector investments.
Despite these initiatives, the latest NBS data suggest that investor commitments announced in recent months are yet to be fully reflected in recorded capital importation figures.
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Historical data show that the sector attracted substantially higher inflows in some quarters of 2025. Capital importation into the industry stood at $9.5 million in the second quarter of last year before declining to $4.6 million in the third quarter and $3.76 million in the fourth quarter. In total, the sector received $17.98 million in foreign capital throughout 2025.
Industry stakeholders have continued to express optimism about the sector’s long-term investment outlook.
NNPC Limited’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, recently noted that ongoing regulatory reforms have helped attract multi-billion-dollar investment commitments into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector. However, the NBS figures highlight the gap between announced investment commitments and actual capital inflows recorded within the economy during the review period.
Across the wider economy, the financial services sector remained the dominant destination for foreign capital.
The banking sector attracted $7.55 billion, representing 72.79 per cent of total capital importation, while the financing sector accounted for $2.43 billion or 23.42 per cent.
The production and manufacturing sector received $152.27 million, equivalent to 1.47 per cent of total imported capital.
A breakdown by investment type showed that portfolio investments continued to dominate capital inflows, accounting for $9.86 billion or 95.09 per cent of total importation.
Other investments contributed $374.48 million, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stood at $135.08 million.
The report showed that the United Kingdom remained Nigeria’s largest source of imported capital during the quarter with $5.08 billion, followed by the United States with $3.18 billion and South Africa with $983.83 million.
