The new management and board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, led by its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, and Musa Ahmadu-Kida, as Non- executive chairman, have reportedly sacked the managing directors of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries operated by the state-owned firm.
Also, some senior officials of NNPCL have been shown the exit door.
Among them is Bala Wunti, a former chief of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a subsidiary of NNPCL.
This comes as the new management also asked many officials with one year to their various retirement dates to leave.Reliable sources at the NNPCL who preferred anonymity confirmed the shake-up on Tuesday night.
The source said, “These people are MDs of Port Harcourt Refining Company, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.
“So, you know more on the issue, some other senior managers were asked to leave as well”, the source added.”
Another official of the company confirmed this, saying that “Bala Wunti was also told to leave. Several of them who have a year to retirement were asked to go. Maryam Idrisu was appointed Managing Director of NNPC Trading.”
However, the Spokesperson of NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, was yet to respond to enquiry on the shake-up as of the time of filing this report.
Recall that in April 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sacked Mele Kyari and Chief Pius Akinyelure as GCEO and Chairman of the Board and replaced them with Ojulari and Ahmadu-Kinda.The sack came amid reports of abysmal performance of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries after their rehabilitation last year.
Despite the announcement of production of petroleum products at the Port Harcourt refinery, the plant has operated below 50 percent.
More changes followed 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.
Recall that an April 2025 document from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority revealed that the refinery, which gulped $897.6 million in maintenance costs, failed to produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and was shut down barely a month after former NNPCL boss, Kyari, declared it operational.
