J.P. Morgan's West Africa managing director, Dapo Olagunju, arrived at the summit with a clear message: his bank is moving deeper into Nigeria, and it is the reforms of the past three to four years that made the decision easy. He called the Central Bank of Nigeria "very well professionally run," and the CBN backed that confidence on October 23 with an approval-in-principle for JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited. A final licence is still required before the bank can open for business, but Olagunju was direct about what the move signals: "putting our money where our mouth is."
Chevron is reading the same room. Jim Swartz, chairman and managing director of Chevron Nigeria and Mid-Africa, pointed to the Petroleum Industry Act and presidential directives as turning points for the investment climate. The company is currently drilling in shallow-water assets and preparing additional wells at its Agbami deepwater field. Swartz also credited improved security in the Niger Delta for cutting losses from oil theft, a shift that matters enormously to project economics.
Still, Swartz raised a concern that investors across the sector share: today's policies need to become lasting laws. Oil and gas projects run for decades, he noted, and "knowing that you will have long-term support in the laws is very important." Chevron has spent roughly $1 billion a year with local contractors over the past five years, and Swartz was clear that those firms will need to stay globally competitive to keep that relationship strong.
The summit's organisers framed all of this within a bigger ambition: turning economic stability into quality jobs for Nigeria's young population and into shared prosperity. Foreign capital is arriving. The question Nigerians are asking is when they will feel it.
Originally published by African Business.