Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has reversed a government decision to revoke four oil permits from a unit of China’s Sinopec.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Department of Petroleum Resources DPR to reinstate four oil mining licenses held by Addax Petroleum, that the department had revoked three weeks ago.

President Buhari “approved the restoration” of the licenses to Addax Petroleum Corp. as part of his commitment to “the rule of law and sanctity of contracts,” spokesman Garba Shehu said in an emailed statement Friday. The West African nation’s oil industry regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources, announced the termination of the leases on April 6.

The DPR said it withdrew the permits known as Oil Mining Leases 123, 124, 126 and 137 because of Addax’s failure to develop the assets sufficiently. It had planned to transfer the licenses to two local companies, Kaztec Engineering Ltd and Salvic Petroleum Resources Ltd. A DPR spokesman didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.

Addax pumped an average of about 30,000 barrels per day in 2019, equivalent to about 1.5% of the country’s output, according to data published by the NNPC. Other than the OMLs, the China-owned producer also holds a small stake in a marginal field in Nigeria.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has raised concerns about the worsening security situation in the country, stating that if unchecked, the multidimensional effect remains profound, especially as regards higher inflation and poverty.

According to the chamber, the crisis has crippled many private and public investments across the nation, while several businesses and investors in affected areas are currently counting their losses.

With further inflationary pressure on food prices that has exacerbated the poverty conditions in the country, the chamber added that many households have lost their means of livelihoods, while some have been displaced.

Nigeria’s food inflation, a closely watched index, spiked to 22.95% in March from 21.79% recorded in the previous month, as food prices and cost of transportation got out of the reach of the average Nigerian whose incomes have stagnated.

LCCI President, Mrs Toki Mabogunje in her comments on the state of insecurity yesterday, stated that the alarming state of insecurity in the country has hampered the movement of goods, services, and persons across the country, with implications for agriculture, agro-allied services, trade and commerce especially in affected areas.

She added that the crisis projects the Nigerian economy as an unsafe investment destination, and if unaddressed, would thwart government’s efforts in encouraging private investment inflows into the economy at a time the economy is in dire need of massive investments to bolster growth recovery, create jobs and alleviate poverty.

The worsening security situation also impacts the fiscal position of government by making policymakers incur unplanned security-related expenditure at the detriment of infrastructural development expenditure. This could worsen 2021 actual fiscal deficit levels amid fragility in revenue growth from oil and non-oil sources”, she added.

She therefore urged the executive arm of government to liaise with the legislative arm to take security out of the exclusive list of the Nigerian constitution and include it in the concurrent list.

Muda Yusuf, the Director-Deneral of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “To curtail inflationary pressure, the key drivers must be identified.

Problems that need tackling include high transportation costs, rising cost of energy and logistics, the naira exchange rate depreciation, foreign exchange liquidity shortages and worsening insecurity on farming communities.