STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS FOR NIGERIA’S ENERGY SECURITY

Elumelu’s SEPLAT Investment provides an opportunity to look into the maritime and ports sector, argues  

CHUKWUEMEKA UWANAKA

The December 30, 2025 announcement that Heirs Energies owned by Tony Elumelu had emerged as the single largest shareholder of leading upstream firm Seplat Energy Plc, through the acquisition of 120.4 million ordinary shares from French firm Maurel & Prom at £3.05 per share, totaling $496 million and 20.07 percent equity stake of the London Stock Exchange listed Seplat, did not necessarily come as a surprise. This is due to the business trajectory and decades-long staying power of Elumelu, economist, banker and promoter of the Africapitalism economic philosophy across banking, insurance, real estate, electricity and petroleum sectors, plus social philanthropy through the multilateral Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). What the acquisition of majority shareholding in Seplat Energy however can do, is potentially optimise an emerging energy and maritime corridor in Imo and Abia States where Seplat and Heirs Energies already have significant economic presence, while providing the promoter of Africapitalism with the strategic opportunity to invest in the maritime and ports sector, especially in an era where geopolitics and geoeconomics require such strategic ownership.  

So what about Imo and Abia States, and the expansion of an economic corridor influenced by geoeconomics and geopolitics? 

Energy supply is crucial for economic and security purposes. With artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly an economic and geopolitical factor, the energy demands for data centers that are the key infrastructure for AI, cloud computing, hyperscalers, enterprise, lease and crypto-mining, is expected to double by 2030; from 386 terawatt-hours (TWh) to 755 TWh in North America, 145 TWh to 238 TWh in Europe, 267 TWh to 493 TWh in Asia-Pacific and globally from 860 TWh to 1,587 TWh all by 2030. The most valuable companies globally such as Nvidia, Google and Meta have been key players, with the United States (U.S.) government launching the $500 billion ‘Stargate Project’ in January 2025 for U.S. global AI superiority and massive AI infrastructure roll out. Also, the U.S. launched ‘Genesis Mission’ in November 2025, to coordinate an AI-accelerated innovation and discovery program that aims to resolve the world’s most challenging developmental problems, as well as for U.S. security and energy dominance, as part of its drive for AI and tech dominance. Most of the power for data centers is however from natural gas, and the Nigerian government lauched a ‘Decade of Gas’ policy initiative in 2021 to transform the country into a gas-powered economy by 2030, from its over 210.54 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.

It is this gas-powered AI and tech economic scenario, that positions Imo state, which has about 200 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas in proven reserves and additional potential 600 TCF in unproven reserves according to the Imo State government- one of the largest gas reserves in Africa, as a strategic geoeconomic and geopolitical location. Already, Seplat Energy is the operator of the $650 million 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscfd) capacity Assa North Ohaji (ANOH) Gas Processing Company at OML 53 in Imo state, with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as JV partner. ANOH GPC is designed with a 23km spur to Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) pipeline that will feed the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline when operational, and the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, if built.

Already operating in Imo are Waltersmith Refinery and OML 16, TotalEnergies/NNPCL JV, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources OML 54, Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Co (SEEPCO), Chrous Energy ltd (former Shell portfolio), Associate Oil & Gas ltd/Dansaki Petroleum ltd, while procurement has started for a new refinery in Nekede as part of the Iheoma Marginal Field Project. But of particular strategic interest is the Orashi Special Energy Free Trade Zone (FTZ), that has institutional and partnership commitments from African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), for the development of maritime and business opportunities that include the ongoing Oguta Port development, plus the dredging of Orashi River for ship navigation into the Atlantic Ocean. The roles the Ruhr River played and stills play in the economic and industrial development of Germany and Switzerland, the Mississippi river in the U.S. and the Yangtze river in China, are some of the examples that influenced the involvement of Afreximbank and Deloitte in the maritime project, with Prof. Oramah, immediate past President and CEO of Afreximbank quantifying its business opportunities in billions of U.S. dollars.

This maritime investment project provides Elumelu with a strategic opportunity to expand his portfolio into the maritime sector, while the existing role that Afreximbank plays in financing Heirs Energies also provides a comprehensive opportunity for Elumelu to consolidate into maritime, petroleum, manufacturing, real estate, logistics and other opportunities in the Orashi Energy FTZ. The ongoing maritime project also provides an additional opportunity for Elumelu to become a major player in the global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market, as the over 200 TCF of gas within proximity of Orashi FTZ is an opportunity Heirs Engeries and Seplat can harness to meet rising demand for energy globally due to technology and AI data centers, as well as rising global population now at over 8.1 billion people. And to mention that similar investors with portfolios the size of Elumelu have maritime or port investment. This is therefore an opportunity for Elumelu to add viable maritime investments to his portfolio.

In adjacent Abia State, there is the Aba Integrated Power Project (IPP), Nigeria’s first independent and integrated power utility owned by Geometric Power. Heirs Energies already supplies Aba IPP gas through OML 17, while Shell also provides industrial gas supply in the state. The Abia State Government has energy and maritime expansion plans in the state, especially through the Abia Industrial and Innovation Park (AIIP) in Obuaku and environs. It is also the location for the HIS Refining and Petrochemical Refinery, which is at project development stage, while the state government in November 2025 confirmed its proposed partnership with China Harbour Engineering Company for the development of Azumini port project 23 nautical miles from Atlantic coast, when  the ongoing feasibility study is concluded. At the Eco-Drive Green Tech Metropolis at Obuaku Industrial City, electric vehicles are being assembled by Roxettes Motors, among other thriving businesses.

With conceptual origins from the first republic under Premier Dr. Michael Okpara as a bridge megacity between Aba and Port Harcourt via the Ndokki-Azumini-Asa axis, the Obuaku Industrial City project began in 1993 under Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as state governor, with the acquisition of 260 hectares of land. It was a joint venture between the World Bank, Diamond Bank (Nig) Ltd and the Abia State government, though the World Bank pulled out of the project due to the country’s then prevailing political situation, and to also comply with the then federal government policy against fresh foreign loans under the Gen. Abacha regime.The Abia State government had a 10-point agreement with Diamond Bank that included project preparation, concept design, definition, financial appraisal, project implementation, cost recovery, project monitoring and project funding coordination. The Obuaku Industrial City and Abia Industrial and Innovation Park (AIIP) therefore share proximal characteristics, similar to the integrated Orashi FTZ.

Taken together, what the ongoing economic projects of both Imo and Abia States at Orashi FTZ, AIIP and Obuaku Industrial City demonstrate are a combination of oil and gas investments for light and heavy industry manufacturing, plus tourism, real estate and maritime access for domestic and international trade. This integrated economic strategy has similarities with the first republic economic framework of Dr. Michael Okpara as Premier of Eastern Nigeria, with the development of Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Emene Industrial Layout, Aba Industrial area, Port Harcourt port expansion, Michelin Factory, Hotel Presidential (Enugu and Port Harcourt) and other integrated economic projects that led to economic growth of over 9 percent per annum between 1958 and 1967, which made it one of the fastest growing economies globally according to Harvard Reviews.  

This economic history plus contemporary convergence of oil, gas, refineries, electricity, tourism, logistics, real estate and maritime projects within Orashi FTZ, AIIP and Obuaku Industrial City, alongside existing Afreximbank project presence in the Imo-Abia economic corridor, provide a strategic opportunity for expansion of an emerging economic corridor, maritime investment and meeting domestic and international energy demands.

The prospect of Elumelu harnessing this strategic Africapitalist opportunity looks good, as managing political risks ranks among the highest critical success factor for such project. Abia State has Dr. Alex Otti, a fellow economist and banking sector stakeholder as Elumelu, as state governor. His efforts and input in resolving the legal and financial issues that allowed Geometric Power’s Aba IPP to commence operations after over a decade of delay, ongoing resuscitation of Star Paper Mill and other industrial concerns, visits by the Ambassadors of the USA, Israel and other leading economies for economic partnerships, are indicators of similar worldview to Elumelus’. In Imo, Sen. Hope Uzodimma as governor has been keen on energy-based investments through increased domestication of international oil companies (IOCs) in the state, phased electricity expansion through Orashi Electricity Company, Nekede Refinery development procurement, Orashi Energy FTZ, plus human capital development programs such as Skill-UP Imo. These are indicators of economic worldview similarity with Elumelu. Furthermore, Elumelu’s experience working successfully with political leaders across the continent, demonstrates his political management skills set.

From a financial and economic strategy perspective, the fact that Afreximbank, which was involved in Elumelu’s strategic operating energy accquisitions of OML 17 from Shell, ENI and TotalEnergies for $1.1 billion in 2021 and recent shares accquisition in Seplat Energy that operates ANOH in Imo, is also involved in Orashi FTZ, and the Aba IPP that recievs gas from Heirs Energy’s OML 17 within same proximity, provides a strategic framework for scaled co-locationing of assests. This can be complemented by maritime access development for industrial evacuation, global trade and LNG exports that enables Elumelu also make strategic refining and maritime investments. 

With contemporary global geopolitics and geoeconomics centering around energy resources to power data centers for AI and cloud infrastructure, the large gas reserves in Imo and options in Abia, which also have huge water sources, provide suitable means and location for Heirs Technologies to build data centers in the area that can serve many parts of Africa, without latency concerns. Leo Stan Ekeh of Zinox Technologies recently announced ongoing development of data centers in Imo, which confirms the viability of the proposition. It also provides a complementing pathway to global examples such as ‘Project Stargate’ in the USA, similar to how Elumelu complemented ‘Power Africa’ by then U.S. President Obama. it will also be in proximity with his energy assets at Transcorp Power and Transafam Power in Rivers, Delta states, which may provide certain co-locationing advantages and some level of economies of scale.

Harnessing such economic prospects requires a talent pool of engineers, techies, economists, talent managers, among others. The Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State University, University of Innovation, Science & Technology, Omuma, Greogory University (with Skill G program), Abia State University, and the Skill-UP/Imo Digital City that partners with USMAC, can produce a sustainable human resource talent pool required to maximize economic prospects.   

Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings Group has within its portfolio, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Heirs Technologies, Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotel Calabar, plus Transcorp Power, Transafam Power and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) which cumulatively makes the holding firm responsible for 15 percent of Nigeria’s grid electricity. The firm’s OML 17, which currently produces 53,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) up from 20,000 bopd in 2021 and 100 million cubic feet of gas per day (120 mmcfd), from a reserves base of over 1.5 billion barrels of oil (MMBo) and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas (Tcf), is expected to increase production to 100,000 bopd with new $750 million financing in December 2025 from Afreximbank. Seplat Energy currently produces about 137,000 bopd from its 2P reserves of 1.043 billion barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe) and its ANOH in Imo produces 300 million mcfd. From a broad perspective, it positions the company to the enter the maritime sector in a location with huge gas reserves, that also allows it become a major LNG operator.   

As an economist, banker, philanthropist and entrepreneur, Tony Elumelu has demonstrated praxis to his Africapitalism economic philosophy. While his recent activities in the energy sector align with his ‘mission to drive energy security, industrialization, and shared prosperity’, they also provide strategic opportunities for expansions into the maritime sector and LNG market, through the growing economic corridors in Imo and Abia states. With Imo’s Orashi FTZ having one of Africa’s largest gas reserves at 200 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves plus potential 600 trillion cubic feet in unproven reserves, and Afreximbank already a partner in the economic corridor, there exist opportunities for Africa-led energy security in an AI, tech, energy hungry world. And who better to lead such effort in expanding such emerging economic corridor than Elumelu?

Dr. Uwanaka writes from African University of Science and Technology, Abuja. chukweks@yahoo.com