An energy policy group has withdrawn its call for the dismissal of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Bayo Ojulari, saying its original position was based on incomplete and inaccurate information.
Association reverses call for removal
In a statement issued on Saturday, Ibrahim Danjuma, president of the Association of Energy Policy Development, said the organisation had reassessed its earlier criticism after obtaining additional evidence and consulting industry participants.
The association had initially demanded Ojulari’s resignation, citing what it described as insufficient transparency and limited accountability in the management of the state-owned oil company and the country’s petroleum resources.
Following its further review, however, the group said that assessment was unjustified. Danjuma said the association was formally abandoning its previous position because the information available to it at the time had created an inaccurate impression of the company’s operations under Ojulari.
What prompted the initial criticism
The organisation said its first demand was driven by concerns that NNPCL was being run with an “alarming” degree of secrecy and weak oversight. It now says those conclusions were reached before it had examined all the relevant documents or engaged the necessary industry stakeholders.
- The earlier complaint focused on alleged opacity in NNPCL’s activities.
- The group also questioned accountability in the administration of Nigeria’s petroleum assets.
- After reviewing more material and conducting additional inquiries, it concluded that its criticism had been unfair.
Licensing controversy surrounding Ojulari
The reversal follows several weeks of scrutiny of Ojulari over allegations connected to the allocation of oil blocks to associates and friends during the most recent licensing exercise conducted by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
NNPCL rejected or defended Ojulari against those allegations. The dispute had placed the company’s leadership and the transparency of the licensing process under renewed public attention before the association withdrew its demand for his removal.
