The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has carried out a major shake-up in its leadership structure, removing the managing directors of its three government-owned refineries and ordering the immediate exit of management staff nearing retirement. The move is part of ongoing reforms aimed at repositioning the company for improved performance and accountability under new leadership.
The affected refinery chiefs are Ibrahim Onoja of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Dr. Mustafa Sugungun of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), and Efifia Chu of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC). Their removal was confirmed by multiple sources within NNPCL, though the company has not yet officially named their successors.
This development follows the recent appointment of Engr. Bayo Ojulari as Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL. Ojulari, a former Shell executive, was appointed on April 2, 2025, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as part of a broader reconstitution of the national oil company’s board and executive leadership. The President also dissolved the previous board and removed Mele Kyari, who had led NNPCL since 2019.
In a separate move, the company directed all management staff with less than a year left before retirement to leave the company. This policy, originally introduced in 2023, is now being enforced more widely as part of the organization’s restructuring efforts.
Meanwhile, the exit of Bala Wunti, former Chief Upstream Investment Officer at the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS)—a subsidiary of NNPCL—has also been confirmed. Wunti was recently reassigned to the company’s Health, Safety, and Communities (HSC) office in Abuja before his final disengagement.
Additionally, the company has begun promoting staff internally to fill some of the vacant roles. One of the notable new appointments is Maryam Idrisu, who has been named Managing Director of NNPC Trading, the subsidiary that handles crude oil transactions.
The leadership overhaul is widely viewed as a continuation of President Tinubu’s broader agenda to reform Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which has long struggled with underperforming refineries, operational inefficiencies, and transparency concerns. By reorganizing NNPCL’s top management, the administration hopes to restore efficiency and strengthen performance across the sector.
