Want investors to stop sitting on the fence about Nigeria’s oil and gas? The NMDPRA says the secret sauce is lawyers and regulators actually talking to each other.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is basically saying: if we want serious money flowing into Nigeria’s petroleum sector, regulators and legal pros need to get in the same room more often.

That was the big message from NMDPRA Chief Executive, Malam Rabiu Umar, at the 2026 General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum in Abuja. The theme? “Beyond Compliance: Driving Regulatory Certainty and Investment Confidence in Nigeria’s Petroleum Sector.” And yes, the room was packed with legal advisers, regulators, industry operators and other stakeholders.

Umar didn’t mince words. Laws and regulations alone won’t cut it. It’s legal advisers, compliance folks and regulators who actually turn those rules into real-world results.

“We recognise that implementation challenges exist. We recognise that areas of ambiguity occasionally arise within even the most carefully designed frameworks,” Umar said.

So, here’s the pledge he made: NMDPRA will keep engaging openly, regulating fairly and consistently, and staying responsive as the industry evolves. The goal? Strengthen regulatory clarity, encourage responsible investment, and build the kind of partnerships the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) needs to actually work.

“We cannot achieve those objectives in isolation. We will achieve them through partnership, dialogue, and collective commitment of all stakeholders represented in this room,” he added.

Sure, compliance is the foundation. But Umar says the bigger picture is a sector that feels certain, transparent and predictable — the kind of environment where investors can drop capital without second-guessing, and operators can make long-term plans without regulatory surprises.

Five years into the PIA, the conversation has shifted. It’s no longer just about what the law says. People want to know: how are the regulations working on the ground? Are markets responding to the reforms? Do investors actually like what they see? And how can institutions team up to make the PIA’s goals a reality?

That’s what the forum dug into. Sessions covered everything from regulatory certainty and investment confidence to institutional coordination, energy security, midstream development and host community implementation. The idea is to walk away with practical fixes that make Nigeria’s petroleum industry more competitive, transparent and sustainable.

Umar was upfront: implementation hiccups and grey areas still exist. He called on participants to bring real, practical ideas to the table. The forum, he said, is meant to be a listening platform — a way for NMDPRA to get direct feedback from the legal reps of licensed operators.

Dr Joseph Tolorunse, Authority Secretary and Legal Adviser at NMDPRA, backed that up. Nigeria’s petroleum future isn’t just about how much oil and gas we have, he said. It’s about the credibility, predictability and integrity of our regulatory institutions.

“Beyond compliance lies the path to sustained investments, confidence, economic growth, and national prosperity,” Tolorunse noted.

So, what’s NMDPRA doing differently? According to Tolorunse: building compliance into the design, engaging stakeholders early, using dialogue to resolve issues, and treating regulatory certainty like the strategic business asset it is.

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