TheCable

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum, says oil and gas investors will get a 10-year tax vacation at the full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

A tax vacation or holiday is a period of time during which a company does not have to pay tax on all or part of its profit.

Sylva said this on Thursday at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum in New York.

Speaking on the theme “Scaling Up International Economic Partnerships for Nigeria in a Post-Covid World”, he described the PIA as a watershed moment for the country.

“The PIA 2021 has established a legal, governance, regulatory, and fiscal framework for the petroleum industry, host community development, and associated matters,” the minister said. 

“It provides fiscal certainty, improves regulations and incentives for investment, including up to 10-year tax vacations, while guaranteeing better take for both government and private investors, thereby balancing rewards with risk.” 

According to the minister, the oil and gas industry had faced serious policy, fiscal and operational challenges, making reformation of the sector a priority of successive administrations.

These challenges, he said, led to deferment of core investments, divestments, operational ambiguities, poor infrastructure, and inadequate funding, among others. 

He said the absence of the right framework led to the lack of funding for project decommissioning and abandonment. 

Surmounting these challenges, Sylva noted, required strong determination to reform the industry. 

He added the reformation would build a robust economic backbone for domestic growth in the era of the global energy transition.