Exercise of ministerial powers under Nigeria’s petroleum industry act

The Nigerian Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 (PIA) repealed and replaced the Petroleum Act, 1969. Under the Petroleum Act 1969, the minister responsible for petroleum matters had wide discretionary powers including the power to grant petroleum exploration and production licences, power to revoke such licences and power to acquire the interest of any party in a petroleum joint operating venture. The minister had general supervisory and oversight powers over the petroleum industry. The PIA seeks to whittle down those powers, but still leaves the minister with considerable authority to exercise discretion and also exercise some control over the statutory bodies established by the PIA with responsibilities that would have effectively reduced the powers of the minister and ensured transparency and accountability. This paper reviews these powers and the legal limitation on the exercise of such statutory powers and suggests options for remedies available in cases of arbitrary or unreasonable exercise of such powers.