The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has removed the managing directors of its three major refineries Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kadunaas part of a sweeping overhaul initiated by its new management. Several other senior officials, including those with less than a year to retirement, have also been dismissed.
This comes in the wake of the earlier removal of former NNPCL Group CEO Mele Kyari on April 2, 2025, by President Bola Tinubu. The presidency cited underperformance and failure to meet production benchmarks as the key reasons for the leadership shake-up. A source said the changes aim to inject new energy and direction into the oil sector, stressing that the new appointees are technocrats rather than political figures.
Among the dismissed is Bala Wunti, ex-chief of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services. Meanwhile, Maryam Idrisu has been appointed Managing Director of NNPC Trading, the subsidiary responsible for crude transactions.
Sources also linked the shake-up to the persistent poor performance of the refineries. A recent Punch report highlighted that the $897.6 million Warri refinery revamp had failed, and the Port Harcourt refinery was functioning at under 40% capacity. The Warri facility reportedly shut down in January 2025 due to safety issues, just weeks after being declared operational.
The new NNPCL board, headed by non-executive chairman Musa Ahmadu-Kida and Group CEO Bayo Ojulari, has been tasked with ambitious targets: stabilizing crude production at 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and reaching 3 million bpd by 2030, alongside producing 10 billion cubic meters of gas.
