The Director-General of the National Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Baluwa Koroma, has called for accelerated regional integration and the harmonization of petroleum policies to ensure efficiency and accessibility across Africa’s oil and gas sector. Speaking as a Guest Speaker at the 19th Africa Downstream Energy Week 2025 in Lagos, Koroma emphasized the need for regional regulatory integration in the oil and gas markets to address ongoing challenges such as price volatility, supply chain inefficiencies, and quality disparities.
The event, themed “Africa Oil & Gas Market and Regional Regulatory Integration”, brought together key stakeholders from the oil and gas industry, including traders, producers, experts, and regulators across Africa.
In his address, Director-General Koroma highlighted the absurdity of Africa still importing over 70% of refined petroleum products, despite the continent’s immense hydrocarbon resources. He pointed out that fuel costs account for more than 40% of national import bills in some ECOWAS countries, placing a heavy burden on both governments and citizens. Koroma stressed that the region must shift from viewing regional regulatory integration as a distant aspiration to recognizing it as a shared goal that requires urgent attention and action.
“Where price volatility, supply chain inefficiencies, and quality disparities persist, regional regulatory integration must no longer be a dream but a common destination with a fundamentally new development approach,” Koroma stated.
Koroma further explained that the fragmentation of laws, standards, licensing systems, and tax regimes across Africa weakens the continent’s collective bargaining power, stifles investment, and causes cross-border inconsistencies in fuel quality, pricing, tariff structures, and competition. He highlighted that *regulatory arbitrage* often undermines market stability and fairness, creating unfair competition in the sector.
Koroma also appealed to other regulators, emphasizing that regional integration is not about relinquishing national control but about strengthening collective control over Africa’s markets and ensuring that the interests of all African citizens are served while preserving the continent’s core values.
“Regional regulatory integration is not about surrendering national control; it is about increasing our collective control over our markets, our common destiny, and over how we serve our citizens,” Koroma said. “It is about preserving our African values.”
The Director-General stressed that Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, is undergoing the largest and fastest demographic shift in the world, which calls for a robust regulatory strategy to address the continent’s rapidly changing needs. He urged African regulators to make decisions with conviction and speed in response to these demographic and economic shifts.
Koroma pointed out that Africa is now the world’s largest trade area, comprising 55 countries within the African Union (AU) and eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs). He highlighted the potential for creating a single continental market, which would encompass 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately USD 3.4 trillion. As regulators, he emphasized the need for unity in both thought and strategy.
“As regulators, we must remain united in thought and strategy to make Africa’s oil and gas market more efficient, transparent, and accessible to all,” Koroma affirmed.
The Director-General emphasized that regional regulatory integration will not only strengthen Africa’s collective bargaining power but also promote price transparency, market stability, and economies of scale, all of which will ultimately lower costs for consumers and industries across the continent. However, he noted that this initiative will require policy harmonization, joint infrastructure development, regulatory alignment, and above all, political will.
Koroma concluded by acknowledging that the downstream oil and gas environment is constantly evolving. He stressed that any regional approach must be flexible enough to adapt to changes and challenges in individual jurisdictions, while maintaining a cohesive overall strategy for the entire continent.