Ogun State is poised to officially join the ranks of Nigeria’s oil-producing states following a landmark approval by President Bola Tinubu for commercial oil drilling to begin. Governor Dapo Abiodun announced the executive order on Thursday, January 22, 2026, confirming that the federal government has sanctioned immediate operations at the Eba community in the Ogun Waterside Local Government Area.
This move marks the culmination of decades of geological prospecting and formally entitles Ogun State to the 13 percent derivation fund, a constitutional revenue share reserved for petroleum-producing states.
The presidential approval extends beyond extraction, as it also revives the long-delayed Olokola Deep Seaport project, now rebranded as the Blue Marine Economic Zone. President Tinubu has reportedly directed that construction at the site must be “far advanced” by the end of 2027.
The project is designed to integrate with the new coastal highway corridor, serving as a strategic maritime hub to decongest the Lagos ports. Governor Abiodun described the twin approvals as a “breakthrough,” noting that the Eba site was prioritized for immediate drilling due to its strategic alignment with the state’s industrial and logistics master plan.
While the governor’s initial announcement briefly mentioned Tongeji Island, the state government clarified on Friday that Eba is the primary site for the current federal commencement order. Tongeji Island, located in the Ipokia Local Government Area near the border with the Republic of Benin, remains a high-potential zone and is being secured by a newly upgraded Forward Operations Base (FOB) of the Nigerian Navy.
Rear Admiral Abubakar Mustapha emphasized that the naval presence at Tongeji is vital to protecting the state’s emerging energy assets and preventing cross-border infiltration, even as commercial activities lead off at Eba.
The local community in Makun Omi, which encompasses the Eba drilling site, has already expressed its support, with traditional rulers pledging a peaceful environment for exploration. For the broader Nigerian economy, Ogun’s entry into the “Oil League” signals a significant expansion of the Dahomey Basin’s commercial viability.
By combining oil production with the Blue Marine Economic Zone, the state aims to transform its 10-mile coastline into a multi-billion dollar industrial engine that provides a necessary counterbalance to the logistics bottlenecks currently facing the South-West.
