Harvard Alumni Rally Oil, Gas, Power Stakeholders to Drive National Industrialization
*Lokpobiri, Tegbe, Eyesan, Ojulari to speak at maiden HBSAN energy conference
Peter Uzoho
The Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria (HBSAN) is gathering stakeholders across oil, gas and power sectors to discuss how to integrate Nigeria’s energy resources and systems as a pathway to industrial growth and national economic transformation.
The Association has announced that its maiden Energy Conference will take place in Lagos on October 9, 2026, with the theme “One Energy System: Integrating Oil, Gas, and Power for National Transformation.”
Vice President of HBSAN, Mr. Niyi Omojola, who presented the highlights of the forthcoming event at a press conference in Lagos, said the high-level gathering was designed to move Nigeria from fragmented sector operations toward a unified, interconnected energy economy that delivers maximum value from its vast resources.
Nigeria holds about 2.15 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and is among the world’s top 10 gas producers, yet struggles with chronic power shortages, high energy costs for industries, and over N6 trillion in debts owed to power sector operators.
While government has rolled out reforms including the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, the Gas Regulations 2023 and the Decade of Gas initiative, stakeholders say policies remain in silos.
Experts say gas producers prefer crude because of poor returns on gas supplied to power plants, while power generation remains hamstrung by gas supply constraints and liquidity issues.
This fragmentation, the Association said, is the core problem the conference seeks to fix.
Omojola said the conference was founded on the proposition that oil, gas and power must operate as a coherent ecosystem.
Through deliberate dialogue on governance, policy convergence, bankable infrastructure and operational efficiency, he added that the event will produce an actionable white paper to assist government implementation.
According to him, HBSAN President, Mr. Collins Onuegbu, will open the event, followed by a keynote address by the Managing Director of NLNG, Mr Adeleye Falade, titled “From Resource to Prosperity: Unlocking National Growth through Integrated Energy Systems – Oil, Gas and Power. The African Perspective.”
Other high-level dignitaries and speakers lined up for the conference include Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri; Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Bayo Ojulari; and the Commission Chief of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan among others.
Speaking on the rationale, Chairman of the HBSAN Energy Conference, Dr. Mayowa Afe, said Nigeria must fix its energy sector itself, noting that international oil companies (IOCs) operated for over 60 years without building refineries to add value, while Nigeria has gas but no power.
For his part, Chairman of the Programme Committee, Dr. Blessing Ayemhere, stressed that Nigeria has come of age after more than 60 years of oil exploration production and must now advance value addition.
He noted that industrial growth depends on cheaper power, and Nigeria is more a gas nation than an oil nation.
Both agreed that fragmented policies must give way to an integrated policy aimed at industrial development, with incentives for gas development and power generation working together. They said the conference will force convergence among key actors to close implementation gaps and chart a sustainable energy future for the next decade