PIA 2.0 Or PIA In Peril? Regulators Face The Trust Test

Institutional Capture, Ethics, and the Mindset Question

Regulatory Capture: The Invisible Threat

PROF. Wumi Iledare, a globally respected petroleum economist, shifted the debate from individuals to institutions. He warned that Nigeria’s petroleum regulators must avoid regulatory capture, where powerful operators shape enforcement, timelines, pricing policy, or approvals to favour select interests.

The QUAD-E Framework as an Accountability Lens

Iledare introduced the QUAD-E model — Efficiency, Effectiveness, Equity, Ethics — as a measurable governance test for regulators.

“Nigeria does not need transactional regulators. It needs transformational regulators.”

Discretion Is the Enemy of Timelines

He argued that discretionary approval cultures slow investment and raise transaction costs, recommending:

• Time-bound approvals

• Reduced regulatory friction

• Predictable, rule-based enforcement

• Competitive neutrality among state, private, domestic, and foreign operators

Welfare, Sovereignty & Public Trust

IPAC had invoked constitutional welfare primacy in tax law debates. In the petroleum sector, the experts now invoke institutional primacy: regulation must deliver infrastructure confidence, not administrative announcements.

Mercy Is Not Policy — But Protection Is

Iledare also cautioned that without ethics, efficiency becomes exclusionary and effectiveness becomes influence-driven.

Measuring Success Beyond Announcements

He concluded that the true test for the new leadership is not enthusiasm or early pronouncements, but whether:

• Institutions become predictable

• Enforcement becomes impartial

• Outcomes reflect national capacity growth

• Policy decisions are transparent and law-anchored

This version ends by asserting that the PIA’s survival is tied to institutional loyalty, not personality loyalty, and that Nigeria’s energy transition depends on regulators who treat the PIA as a national mandate — not a negotiable instrument.