BY DESTINY AIHIELU

The Presidency on Monday announced that President Bola Tinubu had secured the return of Petrobras to Nigeria, five years after Brazil’s state-owned oil company halted its joint venture operations.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga, said Tinubu welcomed the development.

At a joint press conference in Brasília during his State Visit to Brazil, President Tinubu said Petrobras’ return would reignite economic cooperation in the energy sector between the two countries.

“We have the largest gas repository. So I don’t see why Petrobras doesn’t join as a partner in Nigeria as soon as possible. I appreciate President Lula’s promise that this will be done as soon as possible,” he said.

In May, news made the rounds that Petrobras was seeking to re-enter Nigeria’s oil sector, with a specific interest in frontier deep water acreage. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, said that the company, which had previously wound down its operations at Nigeria’s Agbami field, was actively engaging with Nigerian authorities as part of broader efforts to revitalize bilateral cooperation ahead of the 2025 Nigeria-Brazil Strategic Dialogue Mechanism.

According to Onanuga’s statement, during the state visit, Nigeria and Brazil signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to strengthen trade, diplomacy, science, aviation, and finance cooperation.

President Tinubu praised President Lula’s commitment to revitalizing the partnership between the two countries, noting that Nigeria’s economic space remains a virgin land, full of opportunities for Brazilian companies.

He acknowledged Embraer’s efforts in addressing the critical challenges of local airline operations in Nigeria, primarily through establishing a Service Centre to serve as a hub for the subregion in essential repairs and maintenance of its ever-increasing fleet in Nigeria.

President Tinubu recalled his previous engagements in Brazil and emphasized the urgency of moving beyond symbolic ties to concrete economic cooperation.

“Honorable Ministers of both countries, members of the Brazil Business Group, I have listened carefully to my friend, President Lula. We had a lengthy discussion. We talked about history and about African and Brazilian heritage.

“We tried to see why we are not at the level we wanted. We have allowed some problems and activities in the past to deter us from making progress and fulfilling our promises. But today we say that is the end of that.

“This is my third visit to the country. First, the visit to attend the G20. Second, on climate change, BRICS. And today, an official and state visit was very emotional.”

Highlighting the areas of cooperation, the President underscored Nigeria’s readiness to partner with Brazil on technology transfer, food security, manufacturing, and renewable energy.

“Today, we are fighting and working hard to bring our sovereignty to the level of expectation that we as a nation, the most populous, the most dynamic country, Nigeria, share with Brazil. We need to share—technology transfer, energy, economy—so that Brazil can continue to widen the opportunities for us to embrace Africa. Africa is the new frontier.

”There is no other way to do it than to embrace it with technology, fast development, research, food sovereignty, and manufacturing.”