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A storm is brewing in Nigeria’s oil sector as the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and over 75 civil society organisations (CSOs) under the umbrella of the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNCSOs) jointly issued a scathing press statement on Sunday, commending the current Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, for his bold revelations about the entrenched rot within the country’s refinery system.

The groups are now demanding a full judicial probe into the operations of NNPCL between 2017 and 2023, citing years of financial hemorrhage, sabotage, and systemic corruption.

Ojulari’s disclosures, made during a meeting with the leadership of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on August 29, have sent shockwaves through the energy and business communities. He revealed that NNPCL has been losing between ₦300 million and ₦500 million monthly across its refineries, with the Port Harcourt Refinery standing out as a major source of waste.

Despite injecting approximately 950,000 barrels into the facility, less than 40 percent of the input was being processed, resulting in substandard petroleum products due to only partial functionality of the plant.

The GCEO further clarified that the refinery’s design had long been misunderstood and deliberately misrepresented. Contrary to the prevailing belief that the Port Harcourt facility comprises separate “old” and “new” refineries, Ojulari explained that the systems were originally designed to operate as a single, integrated unit. Years of willful neglect and strategic misinformation, he said, have made rehabilitation efforts extremely difficult and costly.

In their joint statement, signed by Comrade James Ezema, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of CNPP, and Alhaji Ali Abacha, National Secretary of CNCSOs, the coalition described Ojulari’s revelations as a courageous confirmation of what they had consistently warned Nigerians about during the tenure of former NNPCL GCEO, Engr. Mele Kyari.

They accused Kyari’s administration of deliberately sabotaging refinery operations to sustain fraudulent petroleum importation rackets, manipulating financial figures, and suppressing dissenting voices in the media.

According to the CNPP and the coalition, their efforts to expose these schemes were met with blackmail, intimidation, and media suppression, while ordinary Nigerians suffered under fuel scarcity, rising subsidy bills, and worsening economic hardship.

The CNPP and CNCSOs also revisited their earlier criticism of the profits declared by the Kyari-led NNPCL, which they had described as absurd and unacceptable. These declarations, they argued, stood in stark contradiction to the massive subsidy claims submitted to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). The coalition insisted that these were not mere accounting discrepancies but deliberate acts of deception, now exposed by the forthrightness of the current GCEO.

Defending their persistent scrutiny of NNPCL, the coalition emphasized that Nigeria’s economic suffocation is directly tied to entrenched corruption within the company.

They argued that the suffering endured by Nigerians is not coincidental but the inevitable consequence of years of unchecked malfeasance. Until the rot within NNPCL is thoroughly eradicated, they warned, the nation will remain shackled by hardship and unable to achieve genuine economic relief or meaningful diversification of its revenue sources.

The CNPP and the coalition asserted that the scale of corruption under Kyari’s leadership far exceeds the capacity of conventional anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate. Consequently, they renewed their call for a comprehensive forensic investigation and an independent judicial inquiry into NNPCL’s operations between 2017 and 2023. They stressed that such a probe must be public, transparent, and focused on recovering every kobo of Nigeria’s stolen wealth.

In a direct appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the CNPP and CNCSOs urged immediate action to salvage the economy and alleviate the suffering of the masses. They demanded that the President order a judicial probe into NNPCL’s activities during the specified period, with the aim of exposing the manipulation, deceit, and economic sabotage that have crippled Nigeria’s oil sector.

They further insisted that Engr. Mele Kyari be arrested and compelled to account for his stewardship, citing unresolved allegations including fraudulent subsidy claims, questionable crude oil swap deals, unaccounted proceeds from crude sales, and the deliberate incapacitation of Nigeria’s refineries. The coalition warned that failure to take such action would amount to an endorsement of impunity and a betrayal of the Nigerian people.

In conclusion, the CNPP and CNCSOs lauded Mr. Bayo Ojulari for his integrity and bravery in confronting the truth. They described his disclosures as a beacon of hope for accountability in Nigeria and called on President Tinubu to match this courage with decisive government action. They expressed hope that NNPCL could be transformed from a bastion of corruption into a genuine national asset that serves the interests of all Nigerians.

As the nation grapples with the implications of these revelations, the business community and civil society alike await the government’s next move. The call for justice has never been louder, and the stakes have never been higher.