On paper, moving legacy oil contracts from NNPC to the regulator (NUPRC) could improve transparency because the umpire would sit over the terms and performance instead of a market participant. But we must be careful about mandate creep. A regulator that writes rules, allocates blocks, and also controls contracts can drift into conflict of interest if strong guardrails are missing. Globally, best practice keeps operators, commercial entities, and referees separate. If Nigeria wants to restructure, we should publish a clear transition framework: contract inventory, status of obligations, audit trails, and a timeline for novation. Stakeholder consultations with IOCs, marginal field operators, host communities, and labour unions are essential. Also, ring-fence data — all production, metering, and payment data should live in an independent repository accessible to FIRS, NEITI, and the AGF. Done well, this reform can plug leakages; done hurriedly, it will only change the signboard while bottlenecks remain.