Ending a decade of stalled deals that choked growth and spooked majors, Nigeria's oil sector is drawing fresh billions under President Bola Tinubu's reforms, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Heineken Lokpobiri declared Thursday at a U.S.-Nigeria forum on the United Nations General Assembly's sidelines.

Lokpobiri, speaking to investors amid New York's diplomatic whirl, pinned the old freeze on murky policies that idled blocks and frayed trust, but hailed the Petroleum Industry Act's rollout for injecting clarity and bite into operations. "The time to invest is not just now—it is ripe," he said, flagging upstream grabs and U.S. ties as low-hanging fruit, with production already climbing on subsidy scraps, downstream shakes, and gas pushes.

Those tweaks, Lokpobiri noted, have flipped the script since Tinubu's May 2023 start—no new cash flowed in for the prior ten years, leaving assets dormant and Nigeria's output lagging OPEC quotas. Now, with fiscal perks that stack up globally, the government eyes $30 billion inflows by 2027 and double that by 2030, aiming to crown the nation West Africa's energy anchor.

Balancing the pump with green pledges, Lokpobiri underscored Paris Accord nods and cleaner digs, insisting fossils fund the shift without sidelining them. "We are fully aligned... committed to cleaner, more sustainable exploration," he added, as stakeholders watch if the buzz translates to rigs turning and jobs blooming.