The Nigeria Citizens’ Watch for Good Governance (NCWGG) has dismissed calls for the resignation of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bashir Bayo Ojulari, over the company’s reported N7.13 trillion expenditure on energy security and pipeline protection.
The group described the demand as baseless and a calculated attempt to undermine ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector, urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to disregard what it called an ill-informed campaign against the NNPCL boss.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the group’s National Chairman, Collins Idowu Eshiofeh, said the publication demanding Ojulari’s resignation was built on false assumptions, economic misconceptions and a deliberate distortion of facts.
He argued that the allegations failed to appreciate the scale of crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal refining, stressing that the expenditure covered a comprehensive national security operation rather than a single contract or unexplained payment.
According to him, the programme includes aerial and maritime surveillance, deployment of advanced leak detection and fibre-optic sensing technologies, community-based intelligence gathering, logistics support for security agencies and the rehabilitation of thousands of kilometres of pipelines damaged by years of vandalism and illegal connections.
Rejecting claims that the N7.13 trillion expenditure was a blanket item used to conceal spending, Eshiofeh described the allegation as “false and deliberately misleading.”
He said the investment had produced measurable results, recalling that Nigeria’s crude oil production had fallen to about 900,000 barrels per day in 2022 before the current security architecture was fully implemented.
According to him, sustained investment in securing oil assets restored daily production to an average of 1.5 million barrels per day in 2024, with recent output consistently exceeding 1.6 million barrels per day, including condensates.
He said the additional 600,000 barrels per day translates to about $48 million in daily revenue at an average oil price of $80 per barrel, amounting to more than $17 billion annually.
“When you compare that revenue uplift to the security expenditure being criticised, the return on investment is several multiples in a single year alone,” he said.
Eshiofeh added that the operations had led to the deactivation of more than 6,000 illegal refineries, recovery of hundreds of millions of litres of stolen crude oil and refined products, and the dismantling of thousands of illegal pipeline connections nationwide.
He said these achievements were documented in NNPCL’s monthly operational reports, adding that allegations of non-disclosure ignored publicly available records and repeated briefings to the National Assembly during oversight engagements.
The NCWGG also rejected claims that Ojulari’s leadership lacked transparency, insisting that the current management had transformed NNPCL into one of Nigeria’s most transparent public institutions.
According to Eshiofeh, the company has continued to publish audited financial statements and monthly operational reports in compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
He said the 2024 audited financial statements released in 2025 showed a profit after tax of N3.297 trillion, while the company’s financial records reflected profits exceeding N2.5 trillion despite challenging global energy market conditions.
He noted that the audited reports were publicly available, signed by internationally recognised external auditors and subjected to independent scrutiny.
Beyond audited accounts, he said NNPCL had established a transparency portal containing procurement records, contract awards and beneficiary details, while security contracts followed the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and the company’s procurement manual. 2027: Groups move to consolidate support base for Tinubu in A’Ibom Power sector reforms will end estimated billing, says Tegbe Understanding PBAT’s economic choices
“The identity of the contractors engaged for pipeline protection is a matter of public record. What greater openness can a state-owned enterprise offer than to submit itself voluntarily to legislative scrutiny and independent audit,” he said.
The group also faulted claims that the expenditure amounted to a backdoor fuel subsidy, describing the argument as a misunderstanding of basic economic concepts.
Eshiofeh explained that while subsidies involve government payments to keep petrol prices artificially low, the security expenditure was an investment in protecting critical oil infrastructure.
He maintained that the fuel subsidy removal announced by President Tinubu in May 2023 remained in force and that Ojulari had consistently implemented the policy without introducing any hidden subsidy mechanism.
“The suggestion that the expenditure represents a ‘backdoor subsidy’ is a fundamental misunderstanding of what a subsidy is. A subsidy is a price differential that government pays to keep pump prices artificially low. The N7.13 trillion in security spending has nothing to do with the price of petrol at the pump. It is investment in asset protection and national security,” he said.
Defending Ojulari’s credentials, Eshiofeh described him as a seasoned industry professional with more than three decades of experience, recalling that he previously served as Managing Director of Shell Exploration and Production Limited (SNEPCO) and later Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa.
He added that Ojulari remained committed to implementing President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, including fuel subsidy removal and downstream petroleum market liberalisation, arguing that it was inconceivable he would reverse reforms he had been appointed to implement.
The group alleged that those calling for his removal were beneficiaries of decades of opacity in the oil industry who were uncomfortable with ongoing reforms.
“We therefore call on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to disregard completely the ill-informed and mischievous demand for the resignation of the GCEO that has appeared in this publication,” Eshiofeh said.
He added that the campaign “did not emanate from a place of patriotic concern” but from “aggrieved rent-seekers who profited from the decades of opacity that Engr. Ojulari is dismantling.”
The organisation urged President Tinubu to continue supporting the NNPCL Board led by Engr. Ahmadu Musa Kida and the management headed by Ojulari, saying continuity was essential for sustaining reforms, ensuring stability in the energy sector and boosting investor confidence.
It also pledged its “full, unwavering, and unqualified support” to the NNPCL leadership, commending what it described as the transformation of the company from a chronic loss-making organisation into a commercially driven, dividend-paying national oil company.
The NCWGG further urged the National Assembly to expedite its ongoing investigation into the expenditure, expressing confidence that lawmakers would confirm the contracts were properly awarded and delivering value.
“We are confident that when the final report is made public, it will confirm what we already know, that these expenditures are properly incurred, competitively awarded, and yielding measurable value for the Nigerian people,” Eshiofeh said.
He expressed confidence that history would judge the current Board and management favourably, insisting that Ojulari remained the right person to lead the transformation of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
“He is the right man, at the right time, doing the right things for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, and he has our full and unshakeable support,” he added.
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