Ordinarily, President Bola Tinubu’s reconstitution of the governing board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited should inspire hope for positive changes in the country’s beleaguered petroleum sector, but for critics and many Nigerians, it is a wait-and-see response.
An official government statement on 2nd April 2025, said the move was crucial for “enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.”
The new 11-member board has Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO). He replaces Mele Kolo Kyari, who held the position from 2019. Kyari had earlier served as the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC and Nigeria’s Representative at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 2018.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the new non-executive Chairman of the NNPCL board, takes over from Chief Pius Akinyelure. All other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023 were also removed.
Six board members, non-executive directors, represent Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, represents the ministry on the new board, and Aminu Said Ahmed, represents the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
President Tinubu, who, like his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari (2016-2023), doubles as Petroleum Minister, charged the new board to conduct a strategic review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximization objectives.
As part of the Tinubu administration’s oil sector reforms to attract investment, the NNPCL last year reported US$17 billion in new investments within the sector.
According to industry sources and government officials, Tinubu’s government plans to increase the investment to US$30 billion by 2027 and US$60 billion by 2030.
While non-oil sector is considered a pathway to Nigeria’s sustainable economic growth, diversification remains an unending quest.
Oil accounts for 80 percent of Nigeria’s revenue and foreign exchange earnings, and data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), showed that the country’s crude oil revenue surged to ₦50.88 trillion in 2024, with total crude oil production of 408,680,457 barrels throughout the year. (about N1,500=1US$).
However, until recently and for decades, Nigeria imported refined petroleum products, including the Premium Motor Spirit or petrol, and endured embarrassing national shortages blamed on mismanagement and lack of transparency in the industry.
Four of the country’s state-run oil refineries were dormant for several years, while millions of Naira was spent as running costs on them, including staff emoluments. Two of the four refineries only reportedly resumed production recently.
Consequently, Nigeria has continued to produce crude oil below the quota allocated to it by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and even the coming on stream of a few private refineries, particularly the Dangote Refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote has ended the country’s oil industry misery.
Since its inauguration in May 2023, the Tinubu administration has raised the pump price of petrol several times, adding to the hardship associated with the economic policies, which the government considers critical to stimulating economic growth and national prosperity.
A six-month sale of crude oil by the NNPCL to private refineries in local currency, Naira, another government stop-gap measure to shore up fuel supply has ended with consumers expressing anxiety about another potential bout of price rises.
Like most government institutions and agencies, the NNPCL faces a trust deficit because of the opaqueness and phantom dealings in the petroleum industry, with critics claiming that the true position of the country’s oil production and general transactions is a mystery.
To compound matters, the NNPCL admitted in its audited financial statement last August that it was struggling to pay off a US$6 billion debt.
The new NNPCL Chairman, Kida, and GCEO Ojulari, bring to their new roles impressive career track records and vast experiences in the petroleum industry.
But it remains to be seen if these are enough to bring the desired changes, including burnishing the profile of the Corporation and transforming Nigeria’s struggling petroleum industry.
Some conspiracy theorists are even reading a curious coincidence into the new NNPCL leadership, pointing out that both men have separately worked with French companies TOTAL and Elf Aquitaine, and a day after their appointment, Nigeria’s President Tinubu jetted out to France on a working visit.
Apart from his oil industry career, Kida was a basketballer and former President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation, while Ojulari also served in a senior position at Shell, a British affiliated oil giant.
As a critical stakeholder in Nigeria’s major revenue-spinning industry, the NNPCL also provides the oil that powers the country’s political engine, including elections, and will continue to draw public attention.
The Kida-led new board has its job cut out for it, either to do business differently and inspire public confidence, or join the list of previous executives that failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians who feel short-changed by the country’s failure to optimize the benefits of its God-given oil resources because of corruption and mismanagement.
*Paul Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communication
