There is a troubling campaign of insinuation surrounding the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, which increasingly bears the unmistakable hallmarks of a calculated attempt to discredit the institution and undermine its leadership. Beneath the surface of these allegations lies a more consequential struggle: a contest for influence, access and control in an industry where billions of dollars are at stake, and where the emergence of a more competitive and commercially driven NNPC threatens entrenched interests.
The latest accusations by the self-styled Oil and Gas Professional Forum, alleging that Ojulari played a role in his associates’ securing an Oil Mining Lease (OML), alongside its broader claim that NNPC under his leadership has performed poorly, deserve to be interrogated against the law and the actual institutional architecture of Nigeria’s petroleum industry; not against insinuation, political rhetoric or the convenience of those advancing the narrative.
At the heart of the matter is a fundamental point that should not be obscured by the noise: the statutory responsibility for the administration and award of petroleum licenses is not vested in NNPCL. Under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the regulatory framework places the responsibility for the administration of petroleum prospecting licenses and petroleum mining leases within the statutory mandate of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), subject to the provisions of the Act. This is well stated in section 71 of the Act. NNPCL, as the national oil company, is a commercial entity with a distinct statutory mandate.
Conflating the regulatory functions of NUPRC with the commercial functions of NNPCL is therefore not merely an analytical error; it risks misleading the public about how petroleum licensing operates in contemporary Nigeria.
To say the least, the self-styled Forum is either displaying ignorance of, or deliberately refusing to acknowledge, the provisions of sections 73 of the Petroleum Industry Act, which explicitly provide that a petroleum prospecting licence or petroleum mining lease shall only be granted on the basis of a fair, transparent and competitive bidding process and in compliance with the provisions of the Act, regulations made under it and licensing-round guidelines issued by the Commission for each licensing round.
Where an accusation rests on an incorrect attribution of statutory authority, its credibility is immediately placed under serious question. Public accountability is essential, and no public officer should be beyond scrutiny. But scrutiny must be founded on facts, law and verifiable evidence and not on insinuations carefully packaged to create an impression of wrongdoing where the institutional framework itself tells a different story.
Another allegation from the self-styled Forum that deserves to be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism is its claim that NNPC, under the leadership of Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, has been unproductive. That allegation is not merely hollow; it is contradicted by the production figures and measurable developments in the sector. At best, it betrays a profound misunderstanding of the realities of Nigeria’s petroleum industry; at worst, it looks like a calculated attempt to malign the leadership of NNPC, distract public attention from its ongoing reforms and discredit a management that is delivering tangible results.
Indeed, if productivity is to be judged by the most fundamental indicator of an upstream oil company production; then the Forum’s argument collapses under the weight of the facts.
Under Ojulari’s leadership, crude oil production has recorded a notable upward trajectory. As of April 2025, average crude oil production stood at approximately 1.60 million barrels per day (mbpd), including condensates. By April 2026, production had risen to approximately 1.67 mbpd, including condensates. That represents an increase of about 70,000 barrels per day, or roughly four to five per cent, depending on the precise production base used for comparison.
In an industry where Nigeria has spent years battling declining output, production disruptions, insecurity, ageing assets, under-investment and operational bottlenecks, such an increase cannot honestly be dismissed as “non-productivity”. It is precisely the sort of movement in the right direction that serious industry observers should recognise rather than deliberately obscure.
The improvement is not confined to crude oil. Nigeria’s gas production has also recorded growth. Average gas production stood at about 7,354 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) in April 2025. By April 2026, that figure had climbed to approximately 7,729 mmscfd, representing growth of about five per cent.
These are not political slogans. They are production numbers. And numbers, unlike allegations, do not require dramatic rhetoric to make their case.
It is therefore difficult to reconcile the Forum’s sweeping declaration of “non-productivity” with an operating environment in which both crude oil and gas output have moved upwards. If the Forum possesses contrary data, the responsible thing would be to publish it, subject the figures to independent scrutiny and demonstrate precisely where NNPC has failed. What is not acceptable is to substitute evidence with innuendo and then present the innuendo as an established fact.
The more disturbing dimension of the allegation is the apparent attempt to redefine productivity according to a narrative rather than measurable performance. NNPC is operating in an industry undergoing structural transformation, with the Petroleum Industry Act changing the institutional framework, investors reassessing portfolios, and the country simultaneously attempting to increase domestic supply while protecting its export earnings. To characterise every challenge within such a complex environment as evidence of managerial failure is not serious petroleum-sector analysis.
Indeed, the Professional Forum should be reminded that Nigeria’s oil industry is not a private fiefdom to be captured by the loudest industrial interests or the most influential lobbyists. NNPC exists within a national petroleum ecosystem whose ultimate purpose is to maximise value for the Nigerian people. Any attempt to discredit its leadership through selective statistics, exaggerated accusations or manufactured narratives should therefore be viewed with the caution it deserves.
If productivity means increasing crude output from approximately 1.60 mbpd to 1.67 mbpd, raising gas production from 7,354 mmscfd to 7,729 mmscfd, and simultaneously pursuing reforms aimed at strengthening the commercial viability of the national oil company, then the charge of “non-productivity” is not simply difficult to sustain; it is fundamentally at odds with the evidence.
On the allegation of accountability, the facts also refuse to fit the narrative. The allegation on accountability is perhaps the most audacious of its claims, and one the Nigerian public should treat with the contempt it deserves. It is a hollow accusation, unsupported by the emerging record of transparency under the leadership of Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari. More troublingly, it appears less like a genuine demand for accountability and more like an attempt to manufacture suspicion around an institution that is increasingly putting its operations and financial performance in the public domain.
For years, public discourse around Nigeria’s national oil company was conducted in an atmosphere of limited information, leaving ample room for speculation and distrust. That culture has changed. Under Ojulari, NNPC publishes regular monthly reports of its financial and operational activities, providing Nigerians, investors and other stakeholders with concrete figures that can be examined and scrutinised. That is accountability.
Accountability is not the frequency with which an organisation is attacked at press conferences. It is not the volume of allegations thrown into the public space. It is disclosure, measurable performance and the willingness to subject the figures to scrutiny.
The figures presently available speak for themselves. In June 2026, NNPC recorded a profit after tax of ₦535 billion, compared with ₦462 billion in May, representing an increase of 15.8 per cent. Total revenue for June stood at ₦4.389 trillion, while cumulative statutory payments to the Federation between January and June 2026 reached ₦6.286 trillion.
The self-styled Forum should therefore answer a straightforward question: if it alleges a lack of accountability, what precisely has NNPC failed to disclose? If it disputes the published figures, where is its contrary evidence? If it alleges financial impropriety, where is the proof?
Nigeria certainly needs rigorous oversight of its national oil company, but genuine scrutiny must be evidence-based. One cannot demand transparency while deliberately ignoring the evidence that transparency produces.
The attempt to portray a company publishing its figures, recording substantial profits and making trillions of naira in statutory payments as inherently unaccountable is therefore difficult to sustain. The books are increasingly open; the allegations must now compete with the facts.
More troubling is the timing and tenor of the campaign. The Nigerian oil and gas industry is undergoing a profound restructuring, with longstanding commercial arrangements, institutional interests and investment expectations being recalibrated. In such an environment, attacks on the leadership of NNPC cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader contest over who controls the direction, opportunities and commercial space within the sector. The danger is that legitimate oversight could be weaponised as a vehicle for protecting private interests and frustrating competition.
The question, therefore, is not whether Ojulari or NNPC should be subjected to scrutiny; they should. The real question is whether that scrutiny is being conducted in good faith, within the confines of the law and on the basis of demonstrable facts. Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is too important to be reduced to a theatre of manufactured allegations, personality contests and competing commercial interests.
If the ultimate objective of the campaign is to weaken NNPC, discredit its leadership and create room for a handful of powerful industrial interests to dominate an industry that belongs to the Nigerian people, then the country must be vigilant.
Nigeria cannot replace one form of concentration with another under the guise of accountability. What the petroleum sector needs is transparency, competition, strong regulation and institutional discipline; not a carefully orchestrated narrative designed to frighten away competition and consolidate private monopolistic interests.
– Onogwu Muhammed, B.Tech (Chemical/Petroleum Tech.), LLB, BL, LLM (Energy and Oil & Gas Law) In View, MIAD, ANIPR
