EKOCITY CEO OF THE WEEK
BASHIR BAYO OJULARI: THE NNPC CEO TRYING TO TURN NIGERIA’S OIL GIANT INTO A PERFORMANCE MACHINE
Exclusive to Ekocity | Energy & Business Desk
Nigeria’s oil industry has never suffered from a shortage of ambition.
It has suffered from execution.
That is why the first year of Bashir Bayo Ojulari at the helm of NNPC Limited deserves attention.
Since taking over as Group Chief Executive Officer, Ojulari has attempted to place a different emphasis on the national oil company’s story: production, infrastructure, commercial discipline and measurable performance.
The numbers are beginning to provide the argument.
NNPC reported ₦19.04 trillion in revenue and ₦2.28 trillion in profit after tax during the first half of 2026, alongside roughly 297 million barrels of crude oil and condensate production and about 1.38 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas. LEADERSHIP Newspapers
But perhaps the more consequential achievement is less visible.
Between April 2025 and May 2026, NNPC reported an average 98 per cent recovery across its five crude-export terminals — a remarkable turnaround from the severe operational disruptions that had previously crippled some of the country’s export infrastructure. NNPC
Then there is gas.
At NOG Energy Week, NNPC announced agreements that could inject up to 800 million standard cubic feet of gas per day into the domestic transportation network, supporting power plants, gas-based industries and industrial clusters. NNPC
Another agreement commits the NNPC-Seplat joint venture to supplying 200 MMscf/d of gas to UTM FLNG for 15 years, providing the feedgas certainty needed to move the project toward a final investment decision. NNPC
These developments matter because Nigeria’s energy crisis is no longer simply an oil problem.
It is a gas, electricity, infrastructure and investment problem.
Ojulari’s challenge is therefore bigger than keeping NNPC profitable.
He must help transform Nigeria from a country that exports crude while importing refined products into an energy economy capable of producing, processing and monetising more of its resources domestically.
The next test will be whether the numbers can translate into something Nigerians can feel: more reliable energy, stronger production, new investment and industrial growth.
That is why, for Ekocity’s CEO of the Week, Bashir Bayo Ojulari stands out in 2026.
Not because he runs Nigeria’s biggest energy company — but because 2026 is becoming the year in which NNPC is increasingly being judged by what it delivers rather than what it promises.
Fawumi Kayode Abiodun
Political Analyst | CEO, Ekocity Media | Publisher, Ekocity Magazine and The Capitol Post
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