NNPCL shake-up: MDs of Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna refineries sacked

The new administration of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has removed the managing directors of NNPCL's three refineries.

The refineries are: Port Harcourt Refining Company, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.

Other senior officials from the national oil business, including Bala Wunti, former chief of National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a subsidiary of NNPCL, have also been forced to quit.

The new management also requested numerous officials who had one year until their respective retirement dates to leave.

Although the company's spokeswoman, Olufemi Soneye, did not reply to inquiries about the topic when reached, many reliable individuals acquainted with the situation verified the shakeup by the new management team.

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter officially, told our correspondent, “The President did this because of their performance, because we needed to do things differently. The former people were taking us in circles, and then some of them became part of the problem.

There needs to be a new direction. You need new people to bring new energy into the system. Look at them. Every one of them is capable. They are core industry professionals, real industry experts who know the industry inside and out. They are not politicians. This is the first time we have an entire cast of technocrats.”

Another official said, “It is not about (Kyari’s) age. The NNPCL is a limited liability company and is not governed by civil service rules. So, it’s not about his age. There is always a need to get new brains that can deliver in new directions. The President has his mandate, which is clearly stated in the statement. He gave them his performance metrics, such as the amount of crude we produce. He asked them to review all blocks because we want to know which ones are producing and which are not.

We have to optimise those that are not producing. He wants them to review all our assets within a certain period and give us good production. By 2030, they must be producing 3,000,000 barrels per day, and between now and 2027, we must stabilise at 2,000,000 per day.  Then, gas, we must produce 10 billion cubic meters between now and 2030. These are performance metrics, and that is how it should be done.

But the former system was not giving us that. They have been around the same spot for years. Our OPEC quota has not improved much since 1973. We have not been able to meet them. That is why reforms are important.”

In the statement issued at midnight by the presidency, Tinubu also appointed the new 11-man board with Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Musa Ahmadu-Kida as non-executive chairman.

Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, worth $2.4bn.

Speaking on the latest shakeup that swept the managers of the three refineries under NNPCL management, a source at the company, who spoke to one of our correspondents in confidence due to a lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, said, “The three MDs have been asked to leave.

They include the MDs of Port Harcourt Refining Company, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company. Some other senior managers were asked to leave as well.”

Another official at the company confirmed this, stating that “Bala Wunti was also affected. Several of them who have a year to retirement were asked to go. Maryam Idrisu was appointed Managing Director of NNPC Trading.” NNPC Trading is the subsidiary responsible for all crude oil transactions.

Soneye still didn’t respond to inquiries or give official confirmation on the issue, as questions sent to his WhatsApp line were not answered. However, it was gathered that the continued poor performance of the refineries contributed to the exit of the managing directors.

On Tuesday, The PUNCH exclusively reported that the NNPCL came under fire as the $897m Warri refinery revamp flopped. The report also stated that the Port Harcourt refinery had been struggling at under 40 per cent. production capacity

Industry operators and experts questioned the operational integrity of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, particularly regarding transparency, efficiency, and overall management of Nigeria’s refineries under its purview.

This was after the revelation that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company has remained shut since January 25, 2025, due to safety issues in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.

According to an April 2025 document on the Midstream and Downstream sector obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the refinery, which cost $897.6 million in maintenance costs, failed to produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and was shut down less than a month after former NNPCL boss Kyari declared it operational.

This was characterized as depressing by industry operators and specialists, and additional investigation revealed that the Port Harcourt Refining Company, which resumed operations in November 2024, was working at less than 40% capacity.