Oando to Raise $750m for Oil Drilling, Boost Output by 300%

Oando Plc plans to raise up to $750 million this year for a drilling campaign that could boost output by 300%, tapping improved investor appetite for West African producers amid turmoil linked to the Iran war, its Chief Executive Officer, Wale ‌Tinubu told Reuters.

The oil and gas company is among a handful of local companies that have snapped up assets from oil majors in the past decade as they exit Nigerian onshore.

This year, surging energy prices should open more funding sources for producers in the region, Tinubu said

“We are pushing very, very hard towards getting the financing that we need to do an extensive drilling campaign,” Tinubu said.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, with crude and condensate output of around 1.6 million barrels a day.

Oando, whose production averaged just over 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in ⁠fiscal 2025, aims to drill as many as 100 wells to boost output, particularly from assets purchased from Western majors ConocoPhillips and Eni (ENI.MI), opens new tab.

While in the past the company had struggled with securing cash for drilling due to investor worries that Africa was an “unsafe environment”, the Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have shifted that view, Tinubu said.

“Africa is very, very peaceful compared to these regions,” he said.

Already, Tinubu said there was a shift in demand for Nigeria’s crude, with more cargoes sailing to Asia to replace Gulf oil trapped due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oando has raised $3 billion-$4 billion in the past decade, much of it from European banks, the CEO said, the bulk of which went toward acquisitions.

European banks had now almost completely withdrawn from African hydrocarbons due to climate concerns, he said, pushing Oando to funders including the African Export-Import Bank and the African Finance Corporation, and to oil trading houses ‌including Vitol, ⁠Trafigura, Glencore and Mercuria.

However, Africa needed more “substantial long-term funding”, he added.

More Gulf banks were interested in hydrocarbon projects in Africa and more parties were joining their syndications, while private equity funds and hedge funds were also more active in funding African energy, he said.

Oando recently expanded into Angola, and Tinubu said they are exploring opportunities in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Africa should pool capital available at home, via pension funds and other sources, to fundlarge-scale capital projects, he added.

Geopolitical turmoil will have “long-reaching strategic implications for global ⁠energy security”, he said, and keep focus on West Africa’s reserves.

“Even if the ceasefire lasts, which, hopefully it will, it wouldn’t change the fact that consistently, you’re going to find disruptions,” he said.

Nigeria, Tinubu said, was well placed to draw funding after a landmark 2021 overhaul of its hydrocarbon law and reforms by current President ⁠Bola Tinubu, his uncle, to currency and costly petrol subsidies.

The new 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote oil refinery on the outskirts of Lagos, Tinubu said, highlighted the value of Nigeria’s resources.

Tinubu, whose company was once among the nation’s largest fuel importers, said imports were now only needed to test for pricing or during refinery maintenance.

Longer term, ⁠Tinubu hopes to exploit some of Oando’s own gas production for petrochemicals and fertilizers to further boost the value added to Nigerian resources.

The company was working to “streamline” financials to avoid further delays in filing audited statements with the Nigerian Exchange after deadline extensions, opens new tab in recent years.

In August, Oando’s board signed off on a proposal to launch a multi-instrument issuance programme of up to $1.5 billion.

NIGCOMSAT Gets FG’s Approval to Acquire, Launch Two Communication Satellites

Emma Okonji

In a bid to replace Nigeria’s communication satellite in orbital space, known as NigComSat 1R, which was launched in 2011, the federal government has approved the acquisition and launch of two communication satellites for Nigeria.

NigComSat 1R satellite, which has over 15 years lifespan, is expected to expire in 2028, hence the need for urgent replacement of the only communication satellite belonging to Nigeria in orbital space.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NIGCOMSAT Ltd, Mrs. Jane Egerton-Idehen, disclosed this in Lagos, yesterday, during a media chat with journalists, to announce the 20-year anniversary of NIGCOMSAT and its two- year anniversary in venturing into space technology.

She explained that the two satellites would be acquired before 2028, but would be launched into space in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

According to her, “NIGCOMSAT has received approval from the federal government to begin the process of acquiring and launching two new communication satellites for Nigeria, to replace the existing NigComSat 1R that will soon expire. We are grateful to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the approval and for his interest in investing in national infrastructure such as communication satellites for Nigeria. We are currently in the process of acquiring the two satellites and get them ready for launch in 2018 and 2019.”

She spoke about the achievements of NIGCOMSAT in the last 20 years and its commitment to launch another communication satellite into orbit.  

“In the next phase of acquiring communication satellites, our focus will not just be on Nigeria alone. It will cut across sub-Saharan Africa because we want to offer services to countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and this will help us to advance our market coverage to have tier two and tier three markets. So tier one is Nigeria. Tier two markets are West Africa, and tier three will be landlocked countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We want to support them because most of them don’t have satellite in orbit and they depend on Nigeria for communication satellite services. It is a commercial business that will generate more money for Nigeria,” Egerton-Idehen said.

Speaking about the importance of communication satellites to Nigeria, Egerton-Idehen said: “There are very few countries in the world that have orbital slots to provide satellite services because space is a limited resource. So there are few slots in the sky and every country cannot have a slot. Nigeria has three orbital slots, which demand maintenance. It is not a project for the faint-hearted. It is a complicated global project with global dynamics.”

According to her, NIGCOMSAT has commenced the process of acquiring the satellite.  

“These are infrastructure projects, and they are capital-intensive, and we have commenced the process of acquiring the satellites. Although the result is not going to be immediate, because it takes about 13 months to build a new satellite, the gains are massive. We are happy we made the request for quotation some years back, and that part has been finalised.
“We had a financial workshop recently, where we discussed funding of the two new satellites. The idea is to fund them and procure them at the same time. So the process to acquire them is at the same time,” Egerton-Idehen further said.

NBC DG Congratulates Tony Akiotu on Emergence as BON Chairman

Sunday Ehigiator

The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Dr. Charles Ebuebu, has congratulated Senior High Chief Tony Akiotu on his election as the new Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).

Akiotu was elected during the organisation’s biennial proceedings recently held in Abuja.

Congratulating the new chairman, Ebuebu said: “I commend BON and its member stations for conducting a seamless and peaceful election during the 81st Annual General Meeting. I specifically note the absence of hitches or rancor, and I praise all contestants for the high level of sportsmanship displayed throughout the process.”

Looking ahead, he expressed optimism about future collaboration, stating: “The Commission is eager to collaborate with the newly elected executive team and the broader BON membership, especially as we continue the process of digitizing our broadcast ecosystem.”

He added that the partnership would focus on key areas, including: “Enhancing industry standards to elevate the quality of local broadcasting; ensuring global competitiveness so the Nigerian broadcast ecosystem secures its rightful place in the international market; and fostering regulatory synergy to promote a productive relationship between the regulator and broadcasters. I extend my best wishes to the new leadership for a successful and impactful tenure.”

OAU to Host Maiden National Conference on Climate Change, Infectious Diseases

The Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State will host the Maiden National Conference on Climate Change Resilience and Infectious Disease Mitigation.

The conference, scheduled to take place from April 13^th to 17th, 2026, will mark a landmark moment in Nigeria’s scientific and public health landscape.

The centrepiece of the event will be a Professorial Inaugural Lecture titled “Journey Through the Invisible: Decoding the Nexus Between Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases in a Warming World”, to be delivered by Professor Joseph Omololu-Aso, Director-General of the CPM International Research Institute for Climate Health and Professor of Infectious Disease & Climate Change Intervention at OAU.

Speaking on why the conference mattered, a statement quoted Omololu-Aso, to have noted that climate change was reshaping the global burden of infectious diseases.

“Rising temperatures, environmental disruption, and air pollution are accelerating pathogen transmission, antimicrobial resistance, and the emergence of new health threats.

“Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is particularly vulnerable to climate-sensitive diseases, making this conference a critical platform for scientific dialogue and policy engagement” he noted.

The conference would unveil plans for a National Centre of Excellence on Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases, Pathogenomics, Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health Innovation.

This consortium would link Nigerian institutions with global scientific networks to advance research in: Climate-sensitive infectious diseases, pathogen genomics and surveillance, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), environmental health monitoring and International and National Engagement.

The initiative has already attracted global partnerships with organizations such as the Belmont Forum, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, Philipps University Marburg, and the Wellcome Trust.

International experts including Nicole Arbour, Anna Stewart-Ibarra, and Harald Renz have contributed to the scientific dialogue.

The event will also introduce the proposed National Centre of Excellence for Climate Sensitive Infectious Diseases, Pathogenomics, Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health Innovation, coordinated through the CPM International Research Institute for Climate Health.