The new management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has dismissed the managing directors of the three major refineries under its control, as part of an extensive shake-up initiated by the company’s newly appointed leadership.
The affected refineries are the Port Harcourt Refining Company, the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company. The action was part of a broader reform that also saw the exit of other senior officials, including Bala Wunti, former head of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a key subsidiary of NNPCL.
Multiple sources within the company confirmed that many of those affected by the restructuring were within a year of retirement. These officials were directed to proceed on early exit in line with the new direction of the company’s leadership. Although official confirmation from the company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, was not available at the time of reporting, several top insiders at NNPCL verified the development.
A senior source at NNPCL, who asked not to be named due to lack of authorisation to speak publicly, confirmed: “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 added: “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 handles all crude oil transactions for the national oil firm.
This latest purge comes less than a month after President Bola Tinubu abruptly removed the former Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and the company’s entire board, in a sweeping overhaul aimed at reinvigorating Nigeria’s oil and gas output. Kyari, who had led NNPCL since 2019, was replaced as part of what insiders described as a performance-driven restructuring.
Presidency sources at the time told The PUNCH that the decision to sack Kyari and his board members was triggered by consistent underperformance and failure to meet critical production benchmarks. One top official stated, “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.”
The source explained that the President’s reform initiative required fresh thinking and capable technocrats to deliver results, not career politicians or ineffective managers. “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,” the official said.
Another senior government official noted that the changes were not linked to age or civil service rules. “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.”
On April 2, 2025, the President announced a new 11-member board of the NNPCL. Bayo Ojulari was named Group Chief Executive Officer, while Musa Ahmadu-Kida was appointed as non-executive chairman. Ojulari, an energy expert from Kwara State, was until his appointment the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which led the $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s equity in Nigeria.
The removal of the refinery bosses followed mounting criticism over poor performance in Nigeria’s refining sector. On Tuesday, The PUNCH exclusively reported that the $897.6 million Warri refinery rehabilitation had failed, with the plant remaining inactive since January 25, 2025, due to safety concerns involving its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.
Further investigation revealed that the Port Harcourt Refining Company, which had resumed operations in November 2024, was operating at below 40 per cent of its installed capacity. Industry stakeholders expressed frustration at the lack of transparency and results from NNPCL’s refinery operations, with many calling the situation “disheartening.”
An April 2025 document obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority showed that the Warri refinery failed to produce Premium Motor Spirit despite extensive rehabilitation. The shutdown occurred just weeks after Mele Kyari declared the facility operational.
