Executive Order 9: Restoring what belongs to Nigerians
Last week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu demonstrated once again why his Presidency continues to defy conventional political calculations. Of all the activities that crowded his schedule, Wednesday stood out, not
Last week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu demonstrated once again why his Presidency continues to defy conventional political calculations. Of all the activities that crowded his schedule, Wednesday stood out, not merely for symbolism, but for substance. On that day, he signed Executive Order 9 of 2026, formally titled the Presidential Executive Order to Safeguard Federation Oil and Gas Revenues and Provide Regulatory Clarity. In the same breath, he assented to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026. But it was the Executive Order that carried the deeper structural consequence.
When introducing the order, the President chose words that were simple yet profound: “I signed an Executive Order to restore what belongs to the Nigerian people.” Those who understand the constitutional architecture of Nigeria grasped immediately the weight of that declaration.
Under Section 162(1) of the Constitution, all revenues accruing to the Federation, not merely to the Federal Government, must be remitted into the Federation Account. The distinction is not academic. The Federation comprises the three tiers of government: federal, state, and local. However, structural provisions within the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021 created channels through which significant oil and gas revenues were deducted before reaching the Federation Account.
The deductions were not marginal. NNPC Limited retained 30 per cent as a management fee on Profit Oil and Profit Gas under various contracts. It kept another 30 per cent as Frontier Exploration Fund. It held 20 per cent of profits for working capital and investments. Add other layered deductions and funds, and more than two-thirds of potential remittances could be diverted before the three tiers of government saw their constitutional share. Executive Order 9 dismantles that architecture.
From February 13, 2026, operators must remit Royalty Oil, Tax Oil, Profit Oil, Profit Gas and related revenues directly into the Federation Account. NNPC Limited is no longer entitled to collect the 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund or the additional 30 per cent management fee. Gas flare penalties are redirected to the Federation Account. Overlapping structures are being harmonised. The intent is clear: eliminate unjustified multiple deductions, enhance transparency, and restore constitutional order.
Energy expert Nick Agule, speaking on national television, described the move as “absolutely the right step.” He clarified what many Nigerians often conflate: the Federation is not the Federal Government. By correcting the PIA's deviations from constitutional supremacy, the President has repositioned revenue flows within lawful oversight.
This was not an easy choice. For decades, opaque structures have enabled discretion, and discretion has often enabled abuse. Any reform that blocks leakages inevitably triggers resistance. Already, murmurs of pushback have surfaced. Yet Tinubu's decision suggests that expediency is not his compass. He could have allowed the system to persist. He could have exploited its opacity for political convenience. Instead, he chose institutional correction.
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At its core, Executive Order 9 is about federalism. It is about empowering states and local governments with their rightful entitlements. It is about debt sustainability, budgeting clarity, and equitable resource distribution. In a country where fiscal centralisation has often undermined subnational capacity, this reform rebalances the scale.
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And so Wednesday became consequential, not for theatrics, but for structural recalibration.
Protecting Democracy from Confusion
That same day, President Tinubu signed the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2026 into law. The debate preceding it had been intense, particularly around Clause 60(3), which permits manual collation and transmission as backup where electronic transmission fails.
Opposition voices pressed for mandatory real-time electronic transmission without fallback. Civil society groups staged protests. Yet the President's remarks at the signing ceremony were measured and grounded in infrastructure realities.
Nigeria's voting process, he reminded the nation, remains essentially manual. Citizens appear physically at polling units. Ballots are issued manually. Votes are sorted and counted by hand. Final results are announced by human officials. “No matter how good a system is, it's managed by the people”, he said.
His concern was not resistance to technology. It was resistance to confusion. Broadband limitations, network glitches, and cyber vulnerabilities cannot be wished away. To remove a manual safeguard in a country with uneven connectivity could risk disenfranchisement. And disenfranchisement is antithetical to democracy.
In essence, the President opted for prudence over populism. He insisted on technological progress without abandoning operational realism. The goal, he emphasised, is elections devoid of confusion. For a leader frequently accused by critics of boldness bordering on audacity, the signing reflected another quality; restraint anchored in foresight.
A Testimony from Adamawa
Before Wednesday's weighty signings, Monday offered a different but equally telling moment. In Yola, Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, a member of an opposition party, hosted President Tinubu to commission projects and engage stakeholders. But the reception went beyond protocol.
“Mr President,” Governor Fintiri declared, “we invited you to Adamawa State to do more than project commission. It is to appreciate you for what you are doing for Nigeria.”
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He praised the President's grasp of federalism and credited devolved fiscal courage for enabling subnational performance. In a striking metaphor, he described Tinubu as “Nigeria's best tailor,” courageous enough to cut and shape difficult garments to fit the body politic.
The symbolism was powerful: an opposition governor publicly commending a ruling-party President, not out of compulsion, but out of perceived policy benefit. Fintiri even announced the groundbreaking of a N7.5 billion NYSC permanent orientation camp named after the President, an institutional gesture of gratitude.
Beyond politics, the message was clear: macroeconomic reforms, though painful, are empowering states to undertake projects once considered exclusive federal preserves. Adamawa's renovation of military facilities following federal approval underscored cooperative federalism in action. In a polity often fractured by partisan suspicion, such moments matter.
Yet, as consequential as Wednesday proved to be, the week itself had begun on a note that underscored the President's responsiveness to immediate realities. On Sunday, alarmed by a second inferno in less than two weeks at Kano's Singer Market, President Tinubu directed a comprehensive probe into the recurring fire outbreaks. The blaze, which raged from Saturday evening into Sunday morning, left traders counting heavy losses. For a leader often preoccupied with macroeconomic recalibration, the swift directive was a reminder that governance also demands attention to the everyday anxieties of citizens whose livelihoods hang in the balance. Repeated tragedies, he noted, must not be normalised; their immediate and remote causes must be established and addressed.
Monday carried both economic and moral undertones. Beyond the Adamawa reception, the President hailed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding between BUA Group and UAE-based AD Ports and MAIR Group as a tangible dividend of renewed Nigeria–UAE engagement. Sugar refining, agro-industrial development and integrated logistics infrastructure are not abstract concepts; they are the building blocks of industrial self-sufficiency. That same commitment to national cohesion found expression in his reception of Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio, where he reaffirmed Nigeria's plural identity as a strength, not a fault line.
Tuesday widened the canvas further. He unveiled the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025, insisting that policies fail not in conception but in execution. He urged young National Health Fellows, drawn from all 774 local government areas, to serve with honour, humility and courage. He condoled Senator Ibrahim Shekarau over his brother's passing, mourning also Reverend Jesse Jackson as “a great friend of Nigeria and Africa.” In party affairs, he appointed Governor Uba Sani as Renewed Hope Ambassador, reinforcing mobilisation architecture ahead of future contests.
By Wednesday, as Lent and Ramadan converged, he called for unity and moral renewal, spoke with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on security and power collaboration, and met Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba. Thursday and Friday blended statesmanship with symbolism, celebrating elder statesmen, approving the Anti-Doping Agency board to secure Nigeria's global sporting credibility, congratulating the NIPR on a world honour, mourning Rear Admiral Musa Katagum, and urging orderliness ahead of FCT, Kano and Rivers polls.
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Taken together, last week's events revealed a governing philosophy built on three pillars: constitutional fidelity, institutional reform, and pragmatic realism.
Executive Order 9 reasserted constitutional supremacy over statutory distortions. The Electoral Act amendment safeguarded electoral stability against infrastructural fragility. The Adamawa reception highlighted bipartisan acknowledgment of reform impact.
Leadership, as Governor Fintiri observed, demands courage. Courage to take macroeconomic risks. Courage to confront entrenched interests. Courage to resist populist shortcuts. Courage to decentralise power rather than hoard it.
President Tinubu's critics may contest his methods. They may question timelines. But the pattern is consistent: he prefers structural correction over superficial appeasement.
By restoring Federation revenues to their rightful constitutional channel, he signalled that fiscal justice is not optional. By protecting manual safeguards in elections, he signalled that democracy must not be sacrificed to technological enthusiasm. By embracing bipartisan engagement, he signalled that governance transcends party lines.
In the end, Wednesday was not merely another busy day in the Villa. It was a marker, a moment when federalism was recalibrated, democracy steadied, and intergovernmental partnership strengthened. And if last week is any indication, the tempo of consequential governance shows no sign of slowing.
It was, in sum, a week of breadth and depth, where structural reform met human empathy, and where the Presidency functioned not as a distant citadel, but as an active nerve centre of a nation in motion.
