From Francis Sadhere, Delta

Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori on Tuesday signed the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N1.729 trillion, tagged “Budget of Accelerating the MORE Agenda,” alongside three other key bills passed by the Delta State House of Assembly into law.

The assent paves the way for accelerated development, improved security and strengthened social welfare across the state.

The three additional laws are the Delta State Social Investment Programme Law, the Delta State Colleges of Education Law, 2025, and the Delta State Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Cultism (Amendment) Law, 2025.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Governor Oborevwori described the 2026 budget as “not just a budget of figures, but a budget of vision, action and expected deliverables for the next twelve months,” assuring that the state would hit the ground running in 2026 to fast-track development across critical sectors.

The N1,729,881,208,779 budget represents an increase of over 70 per cent compared to the 2025 budget. The Governor said the estimate, though ambitious, was achievable, noting that 70 per cent of the budget is allocated to capital expenditure, while 30 per cent is for recurrent spending. According to him, the spending plan reflects his administration’s commitment to infrastructure-led growth and sustainable development.

Oborevwori said that in 2025, the state intensified investments in infrastructure, security, fiscal discipline and revenue generation, resulting in improved internally generated revenue without placing additional burdens on citizens. He noted that these gains underscore the success of the administration’s reforms and its resolve to further strengthen the state’s economy.

Explaining the significance of the accompanying laws, the Governor said the Social Investment Programme Law provides a legal framework for equitable, grassroots-focused access to resources and services, especially for vulnerable and underserved populations, without discrimination.

He added that the Colleges of Education Law, 2025, standardised the operations of state-owned colleges of education, enabled them to award Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) and education degrees concurrently, and expanded their capacity to train more qualified teachers.

On security, Oborevwori said the Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Cultism (Amendment) Law strengthens the legal framework to tackle terrorism, cultism and related crimes, bringing state laws in line with contemporary security realities.

The Governor commended the Speaker, leadership and members of the Delta State House of Assembly, as well as the Clerk and staff of the House, for the timely passage of the budget and other bills, noting the strong synergy between the executive and legislature. He also thanked stakeholders, cabinet members, civil servants and citizens for their contributions, while wishing Deltans a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Earlier, Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, said the passage of the four bills followed rigorous legislative engagement, wide consultations and thorough scrutiny in line with the Assembly’s constitutional responsibilities.

Guwor explained that the Social Investment Programme Law institutionalized social intervention initiatives aimed at protecting vulnerable citizens and promoting inclusive growth and social justice. He said the Colleges of Education Law, 2025, establishes a uniform framework to enhance the quality and efficiency of teacher education and reduce disparities among state-owned colleges.

He added that the Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Cultism (Amendment) Law addresses emerging security challenges and corrects gaps in the principal legislation, including the absence of a clear definition of cultism.

On the 2026 Appropriation Law, the Speaker said the House scrutinised the budget sector-by-sector in line with the MORE Agenda before passing the N1.729 trillion estimate.

According to him, the assent to the bills further highlights the cordial and productive relationship between the legislature and the executive, driven by a shared vision for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Delta State, and will significantly advance good governance and socio-economic development in the state.

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board said its Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, established to boost local manufacturing through shared infrastructure and embedded power solutions, would be inaugurated in 2026.

Abdulmalik Halilu, spokesman for NCDMB, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while presenting an overview of the Board’s mandate and achievements at a capacity-building workshop for the media.

NCDMB established the NOGAPS with the primary aim of domiciling and domesticating oil and gas activities in-country by facilitating local manufacturing.

The scheme is a key part of the NCDMB’s 10-year Strategic Roadmap to increase Nigerian content in the industry to 70 per cent by 2027.

Halilu said eight oil and gas industrial parks, covering Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Delta, Ondo, Abia, and Edo, were being established.

“NOGAPS in Bayelsa and Cross River states are at 90 per cent completion and due for commissioning in 2026,’’ he said

Mr Halilu said the parks would provide infrastructure and services plots for manufacturing outfits, adding that its local content policy had evolved into a powerful tool for industrialisation, job creation and sustainable economic growth in the sector.

He said local content was designed to stop capital flight and reposition the oil and gas industry as a catalyst for national development.

According to him, exporting oil and gas services outside Nigeria amounted to exporting jobs, capital and industrialisation opportunities, a situation the Federal Government deliberately moved to reverse through local content policies.

He said the success of early local content initiatives led to the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, which institutionalised the policy and insulated it from political changes.

“The philosophy of local content is simple: what can be competitively produced in Nigeria should be produced in Nigeria, without compromising standards, pricing or project timelines,” Halilu said.

He explained that the NOGICD Act assigns NCDMB two core responsibilities, namely building indigenous capacity and enforcing compliance with the Act, which contains schedules and nearly 300 performance targets.

Highlighting achievements, he cited the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project as a major success story, with over 93 per cent Nigerian workforce participation, engagement of 1,400 vendors, and significant domiciliation of fabrication, engineering and manufacturing activities.

He said capacities developed for oil and gas projects now serve other sectors such as power and construction, reinforcing the sector’s multiplier effect on the economy.

On financing, he said NCDMB had deployed funds from the Nigerian Content Development Fund through intervention programmes, including single-digit interest loans for indigenous companies, asset-acquisition financing, and working capital support introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Halilu also said that NCDMB had fully automated its processes, eliminating physical visits for certifications and approvals, and placing the Board among Nigeria’s top-performing agencies in ease-of-doing-business rankings.

Nigeria is expanding its crude refining footprint in the face of apparent asset acquisition and development by other countries in West Africa.

West Africa is developing into a regional refining and trading hub, backed by state authorities which aims to achieve greater refined product self-sufficiency and export capacity.

The extent of further change in 2026 will be defined by the fortunes of existing and fledgling refining projects, including Nigeria’s 650,000 barrels a at (b/d)Dangote and a clutch of smaller plants.

The Dangote refinery continues to upend regional and global refined product markets, reducing west Africa’s reliance on imports. Since Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also called petrol production began at the refinery in September 2024, Nigeria the region’s largest petrol importer has seen net petrol imports steadily fall to a historic low of 40,000 b/d in September this year, from 332,000 b/d just a year earlier, Kpler data show.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s net middle distillate exports hit a record 145,000 b/d in July, up from 82,000 b/d on the year, and the country has broadly been a net exporter of these products since May 2024, according to Argus media.

As a result, Nigeria and West Africa as a whole are pulling on considerably less gasoline and middle distillates such as petrol and jet fuel.

Year-to-date, the region spanning Mauritania to Angola has seen petrol imports drop by a quarter on the year to 337,000 b/d, while jet imports have collapsed to 4,000 b/d, both the lowest since at least 2016 when Kpler records began. West African petrol imports have fallen to a five-year low of 162,000 b/d.

Dangote has inarguably transformed regional oil product market dynamics, having proven robust through multiple bouts of maintenance works, and there is room for it to capture more of the domestic petrol market in the year ahead.

The same cannot be said for Nigerian state-owned NNPC’s refining assets.

The company restarted a 60,000 b/d section of the 210,000 b/d Port Harcourt refinery late in 2024 only to shut it again in May this year, while the 125,000 b/d Warri plant restarted in December 2024 before going offline the following month.

This underscores the challenges of modernizing or rehabilitating long-mothballed facilities along the West African coast.

Refiners in other West African countries are expanding their offerings to regional consumers, further eroding market share previously claimed by European traders.

Angola’s 30,000 b/d Cabinda refinery is up and running producing mainly petrol and jet fuel for the domestic market from its first phase.

This is likely to curb Angolan middle distillate import demand, with the refinery a 90:10 joint venture between UK-based Gemcorp and state-owned Sonangol — meeting 10 per cent of domestic demand.

Cabinda’s second phase will add gasoline production, but not until around 2028.

Angola imported 20,000 b/d of petrol in January-August, according to Kpler, around 40,000 b/d of diesel and gasoil, and negligible amounts of jet fuel.

In Ghana, the 45,000 b/d Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) continues works to restore nameplate capacity.

The privately-owned 120,000 b/d Sentuo Oil Refinery and the country’s smaller Platon and Akwaaba modular refineries operate sporadically. TOR’s return may be a surprise for 2026, with the operator reporting in October that turnaround activities were taking place “aimed at preparing the refinery for a safe and efficient restart”.

The refinery’s prospects look stronger than those of Ghana’s Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PDHC), which appears to have postponed construction of the first three planned 300,000 b/d refineries since John Mahama returned to power in January for a non-consecutive second term.

The PDHC delays highlight the long lead times typical for large-scale refining projects. Dangote itself took nearly a decade to move from its first loan agreement to eventual start-up.

Other projects announced this year are unlikely to advance in 2026, making operating or near-complete refineries in Nigeria, Angola and Ghana critical for the region’s push towards a bigger role in the downstream market.