Adebowale Olujimi's Emadeb Energy commits to host communities trust as Ibom Field moves toward expanded production

Adebowale Olujimi, the founder and chief executive of Emadeb Energy Group, travelled to Akwa Ibom State's capital on Monday to formally engage the board of trustees of the Emadeb-Eastern Obolo-Ibeno Host Communities Development Trust, pledging full compliance with Nigeria's Petroleum Industry Act obligations at a moment when the company's Ibom Field is moving from first oil toward a second phase designed to triple its production capacity before the end of 2026.

The meeting, held in Uyo and attended by Olujimi alongside Emadeb E&P Managing Director Dr. Segun Ogunsanya, was the first formal engagement between the company and the seven-member Board of Trustees since the trust was inaugurated in April 2026 under the provisions of the PIA. The board is chaired by Dominic Ekpe. Its establishment represents one of the most consequential institutional requirements the 2021 PIA introduced into Nigeria's upstream oil sector, mandating producing companies to set aside a minimum of three percent of annual operating expenditure to fund community development trusts administered by the communities themselves rather than the operating company.

The PIA's host communities framework was designed specifically to address the decades of conflict between oil companies and the communities hosting their operations in the Niger Delta, where the economic gains from oil production had historically flowed outward while the environmental costs and social disruption remained local. Emadeb's Ibom Field, PPL 236, sits about 30 kilometres offshore Akwa Ibom State in a water depth of roughly 20 metres, in the territory of Eastern Obolo and Ibeno Local Government Areas whose traditional institutions and residents have a direct stake in how the field's revenues are managed and distributed under the new legal framework.

Olujimi told the board that Emadeb E&P would conduct its operations responsibly and in the best interests of the host communities and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. "We know that what we have come to do in Eastern Obolo and Ibeno communities is for the betterment of these communities, Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria as a whole. I want you to be rest assured that Emadeb E&P will do the needful. Deep offshore exploration is a highly technical and capital-intensive endeavour, and by God's grace we have successfully completed that phase. It is now time to work together in line with the plans we had already emplaced. We are all fully on board," he said.

The board chairman Ekpe welcomed the engagement and requested the company's support for the trust's operational take-off, specifically the provision of administrative infrastructure and the requisite initial funding that the PIA requires Emadeb to deposit as the trust moves from establishment to active operations. His request underscored the practical gap between regulatory compliance on paper and the functional machinery of a community development trust that can actually receive, disburse and account for funds at scale.

The Emadeb delegation extended the engagement beyond the formal board meeting, paying courtesy visits to two paramount rulers in the host communities. They visited Chief Harry John Etetor, the Paramount Ruler of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area, and Prof. Effiong Bassey Archianga, the Akwaha Owong Ibeno and Paramount Ruler of Ibeno Local Government Area. Both monarchs received the delegation warmly and offered prayers for the safety and success of Emadeb's operations in their territory. Their participation signals a deliberate effort by Olujimi to build relationships with traditional authority structures that sit alongside but distinct from the formal PIA trust framework, and whose cooperation is practically essential for a company operating in communities where traditional governance retains significant legitimacy alongside statutory institutions.

The timing of the community engagement reflects where Ibom Field currently sits in its development lifecycle. Emadeb E&P hit first oil at the field in November 2025, a milestone that Billionaires.Africa reported at the time. Since winning PPL 236 in the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round, the company has invested over $100 million in a phased development plan approved by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission in November 2024. Production from the first phase is now established and the second phase, which involves drilling two additional wells, is designed to triple output by the fourth quarter of 2026.

Olujimi built Emadeb Energy from its origins as a downstream petroleum products company, making it one of the first indigenous firms to import Premium Motor Spirit following the deregulation of Nigeria's downstream sector. He subsequently led the company's pivot into upstream operations, a transition that culminated in winning the Ibom Field licence in 2020 and reaching commercial production five years later. The company's downstream, storage and midstream operations continue alongside the upstream business, giving Emadeb an integrated presence across Nigeria's oil and gas value chain that few independently owned indigenous companies have achieved.