In a sweeping leadership shake-up, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has removed the managing directors of its three key refineries Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna alongside several other senior executives, including Bala Wunti, the former head of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).
The move is part of a broader strategy to overhaul the company's management and improve performance across the oil and gas sector.Multiple reliable sources confirmed the changes, although NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, declined to issue an official statement. The restructuring follows the earlier dismissal of former Group CEO Mele Kyari and the NNPCL board by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on April 2, 2025, citing chronic underperformance and missed production targets.
Presidency insiders indicated that the reshuffle is designed to inject "new energy, efficiency, and accountability" into NNPCL. The president has reportedly set aggressive performance benchmarks, including ramping up oil production to 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and 3 million by 2030, and increasing gas output to 10 billion cubic meters annually by the end of the decade.
The newly appointed leadership team is headed by Bayo Ojulari, now Group CEO, and Musa Ahmadu-Kida as the non-executive chairman. Ojulari, a seasoned energy executive from Kwara State, previously served as Executive VP and COO at Renaissance Africa Energy, where he led the landmark $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell’s onshore assets in Nigeria.
Other key appointments include Maryam Idrisu as Managing Director of NNPC Trading, which oversees the company’s crude oil marketing and sales. Idrisu’s role will be pivotal as the company seeks to boost transparency and global competitiveness in its export operations.
The dismissal of the refinery MDs is tied to what insiders describe as “persistent and systemic underperformance.” The Warri refinery, for instance, was shut down in January 2025 following a major safety failure, just months after claims by the former management that it had resumed operations. The closure came despite a controversial $897 million rehabilitation effort.
Similarly, the Port Harcourt refinery, which officially restarted in November 2024, has been running at under 40% of its installed capacity, raising doubts about the efficiency of NNPCL’s multi-billion-dollar refinery rehabilitation program.
These developments have alarmed industry stakeholders and watchdog groups, who have long called for transparency and improved governance in the state-owned oil giant. With global energy dynamics shifting and Nigeria’s economic reliance on oil still dominant, the performance of NNPCL remains critical to the country’s fiscal stability and energy security.
The company’s new leadership is expected to immediately begin reviewing operational strategies, refinery modernization plans, and project delivery timelines in line with Tinubu’s broader energy reforms.
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