By William Emmanuel Ukpoju
The recent reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Board by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. With the appointment of Ahmadu Musa Kida as Chairman and Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari as Group Chief Executive Officer, alongside a slate of experienced technocrats, the move signals a potential turning point in the decades-long struggle to reform the state-owned oil giant. This article critically examines the implications of these leadership changes—exploring their alignment with Tinubu’s ambitious targets for renewed hope in the nation’s energy sector—and assesses whether the new team can truly build on past gains, implement long-overdue structural reforms, and finally steer NNPC Ltd toward global standards of efficiency, transparency, and competitiveness. Is Nigeria’s flagship energy company on the cusp of transformation, or is this another round of recycled hope?
On April 2, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reconstituted the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), appointing a new Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, in a leadership change described as part of a broader strategy to rejuvenate the state-owned oil company and align it with global best practices.
The new 11-man board has Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman and Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO. Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West; Yusuf Usman, North East, and Babs Omotowa, North Central. Austin Avuru is a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige is from the South West, and Henry Obih is a non-executive director from the South East.
Following the appointment of the Group CEO and Board of Directors, NNPC Limited, two days later, announced the appointment of a new eight-man Senior Management Team tasked with overseeing the affairs of the company’s operations and strategic direction.
The team, headed by the GCEO, has Rowland Ewubare as Group Chief Operating Officer, Adedapo Segun as Group Chief Financial Officer, and Olalekan Ogunleye as Executive Vice President of Gas and Power & New Energy. Udy Ntia is to oversee Upstream business as Executive Vice President, and Mumuni Dangazau as Executive Vice President of Downstream. Sophia Mbakwe was appointed as Executive Vice President, Business Services, and Adesua Dozie as Company Secretary & Chief Legal Officer.
Strongest leadership team ever
The new NNPC GCEO is a seasoned petroleum engineer who is set to bring over two decades of industry experience to his new role. His previous tenure includes serving as the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) from 2015 to 2021, and more recently, as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance African Energy Company, where he led the indigenous consortium in a $2.4 billion acquisition deal with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.
Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. He was chairman and a member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
Ojulari’s appointment is complemented by the reconstitution of the NNPC Ltd Board, with Ahmadu Musa Kida as Chairman. Kida is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) in Paris. He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985.
Kida became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
So far, all board appointments made have won plaudits from industry stakeholders who have hailed the move as a decisive step toward reforming the nation’s energy sector. Strong confidence has also been expressed by industry stakeholders on the new leadership of the NNPC, which has been described as arguably the strongest leadership team NNPC Ltd has ever assembled. But beneath the fanfare of new faces lies a deeper question Nigerians are asking: Is this the beginning of bold reforms, or is it just business as usual?
Tinubu’s expectation
As expected, President Tinubu handed out an immediate action plan to the new Board; key of them is to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.
Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. The administration is also targeting to raise oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million barrels daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030. Additionally, the President expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.
A giant in transition
Once a government-run entity known for opacity and inefficiency, the transformation of the NNPC into a limited liability company in July 2022 under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was heralded as a turning point. The goal was clear: turn the monolithic state oil company into a commercially viable, profit-driven enterprise. But despite the rebranding, critics argue that the core culture and systemic inefficiencies remain.
President Tinubu’s latest appointments suggest an intent to reset the clock. The new GCEO, Ojulari, brings decades of experience, including leadership roles at Shell Nigeria and Renaissance Africa Energy. Industry insiders see his appointment as strategic, signalling a possible shift toward professionalism, efficiency, and private sector-style management.
“The task before the new management is enormous,” said an energy analyst based in Abuja. “But if anyone can navigate the murky waters of NNPC, it’s someone who understands both the global oil terrain and Nigeria’s peculiar politics.”
X-Ray of the Previous Leadership
Under the leadership of Mele Kyari, NNPC Limited broke a 43-year cycle of financial opacity by publishing its first consolidated audited financial statements in June 2019, covering the 2018 fiscal year—thereby signalling a new commitment to transparency. This effort continued with the release of subsequent audited accounts for 2019 and 2020, earning NNPC the “Government Agency of the Year 2020 (Transparency)” award from the New Telegraph. Building on this milestone, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 legally transformed NNPC into a fully commercial limited-liability company, embedding independent audits, corporate-governance codes, and market-based pricing into its charter to align Nigeria’s national oil company with global best practices.
Simultaneously, Kyari’s board prioritised gas commercialisation by rehabilitating critical segments of the Trans-Forcados pipeline—unlocking supply to domestic power plants and leveraging Nigeria’s estimated 209 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. Downstream, the management awarded Phase I turnaround contracts for the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, marking the first substantive steps in years to revive domestic refining capacity and reduce fuel import dependence. Crucially, the removal of fuel subsidies and the adoption of stringent fiscal controls enabled NNPC to clear $4.68 billion in joint-venture cash-call arrears owed to international oil companies, restoring confidence in upstream funding and safeguarding ongoing production activities.
Speaking to Valuechain, Professor Adewale Dosunmu, a professor of petroleum engineering at the Federal University Otuoke and a Petroleum Engineering Consultant of many years’ experience, believes that Kyari did his best and should be applauded, “Well, Kyari, I believe, did his best in the circumstance because he had to transform NNPC from the old NNPC, a government organisation, to a private commercial outfit.
”You know, in the older system, he was there just as a government official working and all that, but he was now going into the business environment. You know, there’s a big difference trying to operate like an IOC, which is like what major oil companies in the world are doing. We want NNPC to be like the Petrobras, to be like the Norwegian Statoil of Norway, amongst others.
”That was the role that Kyari had to play, and I think he operated in a very difficult time during the transition period, actually. And of course, you also remember that he was also operating during the period of transition from one government to another. So, of course, being a foundation builder, he had a lot of problems, initial problems, but I think as far as he could, he acquitted himself in the circumstances”.
On whether Kyari did wrong by kicking out most of the current NNPC chiefs during his tenure, Prof. Dosunmu thinks that “In the process of transition from one business direction to another, you are bound to have differences of opinion, and of course you have to work with people in fact, who want to work with you. You know, as a team leader, you have to know people who share your ideas. They may not really necessarily be bad for the system, but once they don’t share your ideas, it then means that you have to bring people in who can understand the way you are thinking.
“So I believe that, I’m sure it was not intentional, it must have been done in the spirit of trying to drive the business. I don’t think it was personal as far as I’m concerned; it was in view of trying to achieve the commercial objective. Remember, the government gave him a kind of target: “We want this amount of production, we want this done, we want that done.
“So he needed to put a team together that he felt could deliver what he wanted to do. I believe it was not personal, he could have made mistakes, obviously, as all of us do make mistakes, but it’s quite possible also that he did it with the best of intention for the organisation”, he said.
While looking forward in terms of setting the agenda for the newly constituted NNPC Team, Prof. Dosunmu stated that, “Well, I think luckily for Nigeria, this is the first time we are having a team of core technocrats who have been in the business for several years. Many of them have worked for the IOCs, where they were making profits. The GCEO was in SNEPCo, was in Shell, and for several years.
“The current chairman was at Total as Deputy Managing Director. So they have been used to running an outfit in terms of commerciality and trying to know the best, what they intend to do and attracting investments. So I believe that in trying to achieve the objective of the government, they should be able to do that in terms of charting the direction so that we can attract investment and make the Nigerian oil business a centre, an attraction point for international investments.
“And then also in terms of going ahead and giving us new allocations. Our stranded blocks should be opened up; the open beach should be there, which will attract investors to the offshore area, so that we can increase production. Our drums and wells should be reactivated to get them operating.
“We have several wells that are not operating. So once you don’t have an investment, you cannot drive the business. So I believe that, you know, the business environment, the financial environment, wants to invest in areas where they believe that people who are driving it have the interest of the business and that they will be the people to drive profitability for them. So I believe that they will engender interest, they will engender confidence, and I’m sure that going forward, that should be the direction they should go”.
Reacting to calls for Kyari’s probe, Professor Adewale Dosunmu said, “I believe that trying to look for skeletons will not be the solution. For me, the best thing is to look at the future, focus on the future, and see what you can build for the future. If we start looking backwards, it’s like a man running a relay race. If you are looking at the back, how do you make progress? For me, I think we should look forward, set our own targets, and move in that direction. Leave the issue of probing and all that to the past, and move ahead, so that you don’t spend the next five, ten years probing.
Professor Dosunmu urged the new management team to hit the ground running because time waits for no one. He therefore concluded by saying, “Meanwhile, we are afraid that we have challenges. Remember that the whole world is not waiting for us. We have fresh frontiers, and they should set their own frontiers with the view to achieving results for the country, because the expectations are very high, you know, globally.
“You can see what’s happening to the economies of the world. You can see what Trump is doing to the economy. So, we need to focus on where Nigeria wants to be by 2030, in terms of oil and gas business. We used to be the leader in Africa. Now, we are no longer the leader. We need to get to that particular point in terms of driving the business. And that, I think, should be the direction we should be looking at”, he prayed.
Despite the strides made by Kyari, significant failings persisted. By mid-2024, Nigeria’s crude production had slid from approximately 2.3 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2021 to 1.41 mbpd in August, as pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and chronic underinvestment in Brownfield assets undermined output. The three state-owned refineries continued to operate at under 10 per cent capacity through 2023, forcing Nigeria to import nearly 90 per cent of its fuel needs, at a cost exceeding $20 billion annually in foreign exchange.
Transparency gains were reversed when NNPC failed to publish a full audited report for 2022, issuing instead a one-page profit summary, which reignited stakeholder concerns over selective disclosure. Political interference also remained entrenched, as leaks and investigations between 2022 and 2024 exposed patronage-driven contract awards and rapid turnover at the GCEO level, undermining meritocratic governance. Finally, several key PIA provisions—including the incorporation of joint ventures into independent entities, open licensing rounds for marginal fields, and the full unbundling of midstream operations—remain only partially implemented, diluting the Act’s intended commercial and competitive impact.
Strategic Agenda: Build On & Reform
Building on the transparency and structural gains achieved under Kyari, the incoming board must institutionalise genuine openness by publishing all quarterly and annual audited statements—from subsidiaries to joint-venture entities—in real time via a public API portal, with independent assurance from NEITI to meet EITI standards. Deepening gas commercialisation is equally critical: fast-tracking rehabilitation of the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System, accelerating domestic gas-to-power projects under the National Gas Expansion Programme, and finalising the Dangote–NNPC gas supply accord will cement Nigeria’s role as West Africa’s premier gas hub.
To reduce fuel imports, the board must ensure refinery turnaround deliverables by enforcing performance-based milestones and claw-back clauses on Phase I contracts for Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, targeting at least 80 per cent capacity utilisation by Q4 2026. On the fiscal front, completing JV incorporation and debt restructuring will require converting legacy joint ventures into Incorporated Joint Ventures (IJVs) with professional boards, refinancing NNPC’s $6 billion debt through multilateral agencies into longer tenors, and diversifying non-operational revenue streams through active trading, shipping, and retail operations. Finally, to advance PIA-mandated reforms, the board must conclude licensing rounds for marginal fields, unbundle midstream assets, renegotiate production sharing contracts to reflect modern fiscal regimes, and introduce service contract alternatives for operational agility.
However, strategic pillars alone are insufficient without a structural overhaul. NNPC must adopt world-class corporate governance by modelling itself on the UK Corporate Governance Code, constituting an empowered independent Audit & Risk Committee, and launching a zero-tolerance anti-corruption hotline managed by NEITI. Security and asset integrity must be reinforced through integrated drone and satellite surveillance, IoT sensor networks, and AI-driven anomaly detection, complemented by incentivised community monitoring to curb the estimated 400,000 bpd lost to oil theft, equivalent to $6 billion annually.
In line with global energy transition imperatives, NNPC should accelerate carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilots at existing refineries, initiate green-hydrogen feasibility studies, and co-invest in solar and wind projects via a dedicated Energy Transition Ventures arm. Downstream, modular mid-capacity refineries built through public-private partnerships, backed by strict penalty clauses for contractors, can alleviate mega-project delays and localise fuel production. To build institutional resilience, the corporation must invest in human capital via an accredited Petroleum Industry Training Institute, implement merit-based performance management with clear KPIs tied to compensation, and expand secondments to IOCs for best-practice exchange. Finally, the PIA’s Host Community Development Trust Funds must be fully operationalised with community representation, third-party audits, and transparent real-time dashboards to ensure corporate social responsibility delivers visible local benefits.
Additional Strategic Reforms & Imperatives
Beyond these core agenda items, the new board must restore real transparency, not lip service, by mandating machine-readable disclosures of contracts, revenues, and project statuses in an open-data portal with continuous NEITI oversight. To relieve NNPC from elite capture, board and executive appointments should be insulated from presidential and legislative influences through an independent Nomination Committee of industry and civil-society experts guided by pre-published merit criteria.
Looking ahead, NNPC must pioneer futuristic cluster industrial hubs—integrated zones co-locating oil, gas, petrochemicals, renewables, manufacturing, logistics, and R&D—to maximise downstream value, catalyse local content, and attract Foreign Direct Investment. Fiscal prudence demands that the corporation slash wasteful miscellaneous expenditures through an ERP-based pre-approval workflow for expenses above N1 billion, addressing the N514 billion in unauthorised deductions flagged in 2021 audit reports. Embracing technology to weed out corruption, NNPC should deploy blockchain-based smart contracts for procurement and sensor-to-ledger reconciliation for crude lifting, complemented by community-accessible dashboards to deter manual fraud.
Finally, to capitalise on global financing windows, the board should prepare shovel-ready deep-water upstream projects for rapid funding from U.S. EXIM Bank, DFC, and OPIC under a potential “Drill, Baby, Drill” policy shift while instituting robust ESG frameworks to honour Nigeria’s climate commitments. In parallel, NNPC Retail must expand its service station network by fast-tracking the ANEX acquisition to reach 1,500 outlets across Nigeria and Togo, co-locating PMS, CNG, LPG, and AGO dispensers, and partnering with IPMAN and the AfDB to finance CNG conversion kits and LNG trucking terminals.
By merging these foundational, structural, and forward-looking reforms, the new NNPC board can transform Nigeria’s national oil company into a truly transparent, efficient, and future-ready energy champion that delivers value for its shareholders and prosperity for its people.
Bold reforms or business as usual?
The answer may lie in how the new team handles the next 12 months. Success will not just be measured in figures or balance sheets, but in structural changes, stakeholder confidence, and policy consistency.
The new NNPC management must demonstrate boldness, integrity, and competence in implementing key priorities. Nigeria’s economic stability and energy future heavily depend on how effectively NNPC Ltd can evolve from a state-run monolith to a commercially viable, accountable, and future-ready energy giant.
If Ojulari can insulate the company from undue political interference, push through a performance-based culture, and lead with transparency, he may well become the reformer NNPC never had.
But if old habits resurface—favouritism, opacity, and inertia—then the change of guard will merely be a cosmetic shuffle. Nigerians have seen that movie before.
The road ahead is steep, but the opportunity is real. For once, the pieces—legal backing, capable leadership, and public support—appear to be in place. What remains is the political will and managerial courage to choose transformation over tradition.
Time will tell whether this is truly a new era for NNPC—or just another chapter in a long, cyclical script.
