A combined picture of Bayo Ojulari and NNPCL logo
By Tony Folarin Obajemu
The new management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has sacked the managing directors of the three refineries under the purview of NNPCL.
The refineries include the Port Harcourt Refining Company, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
Some other senior officials of the national oil firm were also given the boots, among them is Bala Wunti, a former chief of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a subsidiary of NNPCL.
The new management also asked many officials with one year to their various retirement dates to leave.
Olufemi Soneye, the spokesperson for the oil giant did not respond to enquiries on the matter when contacted, knowledgeable sources at the firm familiar with development confirmed the shakeup by the new management team.
Already, Nigerians have started reacting to the development.
Joseph Prekemeh Boroh, a retired civil servant said ” the shake – up though welcomed is not enough, what we Nigerians want is a comprehensive probe of the oil giant that will cover since 1999.”
Bala Abubakar, a currency trader told this medium that ” The shake -up is a good start for the new group managing director, and we should encourage him to do the right thing. There’s a need for more transparency and openness in NNPCL. ”
On her own, Dr. Alice Anjorin, a clinical psychologist said ” Let us just adopt a wait – and- see attitude. It’s too early in the day to jubilate. What we want is an overhaul of the organization marked by comprehensive investigations into its book in the past two decades.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu, in a sudden move on April 2, 2025, relieved the former NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and other board members of the national oil company off their jobs , as part of a broader overhaul to boost Nigeria’s crude and gas output. Kyari had been at the helm of the national oil company since 2019.
Knowledgeable sources familiar with the matter told this medium that the sack of Kyari and those affected at the time emanated from rising concern over performance and a failure to meet key production targets.
They said the shake-up was a performance-based reshuffle, arguing that those previously in charge “were going in circles” and some of them had “become part of the problem, rather than the solution.”
