Photo caption: Alero Balogun receiving award from NAEC Chairman Ugochukwu Amadi
Nigeria must urgently deepen domestic financing and build indigenous capacity as international capital continues to retreat from African energy projects, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Oando Plc, Mrs. Alero Balogun, has warned.
Balogun made the call while speaking at the high-level strategic panel session of the 2026 NAEC Energy Conference organised by the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria [NAEC] in Lagos.
The conference, with the theme “Access to Assets: Empowering Players and Driving Growth,” assembled top industry leaders, and regulators to interrogate barriers to growth in the country’s energy sector.
Speaking on financing gaps, Balogun said the global lending environment has become increasingly hostile to oil and gas projects in Africa, creating a fundamental mismatch between what the sector needs and what foreign lenders are willing to provide.
“There is a mismatch between the kind of capital that Nigeria or Africa’s energy sector requires and what the international lending system is currently prepared to provide,” she said.
According to her, the solution lies in developing a robust, home-grown financial ecosystem capable of funding long-cycle, high-risk energy investments.
“Nigerians have to start to build our own financial ecosystem so that we are doing the financing ourselves,” she stressed.
Balogun noted that oil and gas projects require patient, long-term capital due to extended development timelines and inherent operational risks, a profile that foreign financiers are now reluctant to support.
She attributed the apathy of international lenders to a combination of operating risks, policy inconsistency and regulatory uncertainty in African markets, warning that until Nigeria de-risks its operating environment and mobilises local capital, asset access for indigenous players will remain constrained.
Her intervention reinforces a central theme of the NAEC 2026 Conference — that unlocking access to finance is critical to empowering indigenous operators and driving sustainable growth across Nigeria’s energy value chain.
Other panelist include Mr. Austin Avuru, Executive Chairman & Founder, AA Holdings Ltd, Mrs. Cecilia Olajumoke Ajayi, President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Mr Wole Ogunsanya, Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and Chike Nwosu, Group Chief Executive officer, HSI Energies Ltd who moderated the session
