News
NNPCL Debacle and the Proverbial “Ojú la rí, ënìkan ò r’ínú”, By Sufuyan Ojeifo
- /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Ojulari.png&description=NNPCL Debacle and the Proverbial “Ojú la rí, ënìkan ò r’ínú”, By Sufuyan Ojeifo', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 72
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Ojulari.png&description=NNPCL Debacle and the Proverbial “Ojú la rí, ënìkan ò r’ínú”, By Sufuyan Ojeifo', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
The confusion that has engulfed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited [NNPCL] in recent days has become so enervating that one wonders how long the debacle will persist. Surely, there must be an end to the chaos that now defines the administration of Nigeria’s oil crown jewel.
To say that the vast majority of Nigerians are scandalised by the goings‑on in the NNPCL is an understatement. The developments are not only depressing but also diminishing. There is, therefore, the fierce urgency of now to restore public sanity and decency before further damage is done.
● A GCEO under siege
Leadership, at its core, is about stepping into the storm, not hiding from it. Yet Bayo Bashir Ojulari, the embattled helmsman of NNPCL, has remained cloaked in silence while his legitimacy is consumed by swirling crises. Fuelled by the muddle of resignation sagas, Ojulari has the obligatory duty to speak clearly and loudly about his own fate.
It is not enough to release a press statement or deploy third parties. At a moment like this, when the corporation still lacks a formal spokesperson after the resignation of Olufemi Soneye, the onus lies squarely on Ojulari to fill the vacuum. Only an audio‑visual address, direct and unambiguous, can begin to cure the mischiefs that have escaped into the public space.
Regardless of what efforts he now makes to staunch the bleeding, one conclusion seems inescapable. His administrative legerdemain has been called to question, and his leadership brand gravely wounded. A career of over three decades, beginning at ELF and culminating in his tenure as managing director of SNEPCo, is now overshadowed by questions of discretion, judgement, and probity.
It is instructive to note that Ojulari was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which purchased a Shell asset in Nigeria, in January 2024, a position he held until his appointment as NNPCL GCEO. President Bola Tinubu must have tapped Ojulari for the job for some reasons, one of which must have been his perceived capability to deliver.
Ojulari’s Shell background must have, in addition, recommended him very highly for presidential consideration and approbation. On the face of the appointment, Tinubu was believed by industry watchers and analysts to have attracted a thoroughbred technocrat to run the NNPCL. This was validated by the
of other members of the résumés management team and board of the national oil company.
Performance, it was thought, was not going to be a problem. Energy sector analysts like Mr Dan D. Kunle consistently applauded the President’s choice, hailing Ojulari and his team of technocrats as the men and women who could finally bridge the gap between public expectations and operational realities. Hopes were high. The pressure was on.
● From promise to profligacy
Yet the optimism soon began to fray. The audit processes had yet to conclude when Ojulari’s first indiscretion assaulted public sensibilities: the profligate Kigali retreat for top management team members of the NNPCL. Five private jets were reportedly chartered at a cost of over ₦1 billion to convey members to the rendezvous. That figure was for flights alone. By the time the costs of other logistics, freebies, and “conference materials” were added, the magnitude of indulgence became staggering.
The exposure of this excess in a SaharaReporters’ report stripped away the perception of a prudent technocrat. Nigerians who expected a careful steward instead saw reckless extravagance, a betrayal of trust at a time when citizens grapple with rising costs and economic strain.
While the dust on this had yet to settle, a number of other shocking developments assailed public attention. A coalition of civil society groups led a protest to the Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja, calling for Ojulari’s arrest in connection with a $21 million scandal linked to the ongoing detention of Abdullahi Bashir Haske. Haske reportedly confessed to the EFCC that the $21 million, equivalent to ₦34.65 billion, found in his account, belonged to Ojulari.
Instead of issuing a robust rejoinder and providing a counter‑narrative, Ojulari’s media minders allegedly made overtures to online publishers to pull down the reports. That was a poor crisis communication strategy, an evasion rather than a confrontation. It deepened suspicion and eroded confidence further.
There were other negative issues doing the rounds in the media, which should never have been allowed to fester unchecked. Even where damaging reports escaped, one would have expected robust communication interventions to cure the mischiefs. Instead, the NNPCL’s communication architecture under Ojulari has been timid, shambolic, and ineffective.
● The face we see
Appearances often deceive, and Ojulari’s case has become a painful lesson in that truth. Many had believed that his Shell background and comfortable financial standing would inoculate him against the temptations of reckless indulgence. They assumed that with his rounded cheeks and well‑fed frame, evidence of past success, he would not succumb to scandalous behaviour. Alas, they were wrong.
The Yoruba proverb comes to mind: “Ojú la rí, ënìkan ò r’ínú.” We see the face, but not the inside. A variant goes further: “Ojú la rí, òré ò dénú.” We see the face, but friendship does not reach the heart. Both versions point to a timeless reality. Resumes can dazzle and faces can charm, but character is revealed only when the demands of leadership test the soul.
What Nigerians now see is that the real problem lay not in the face, but in the inside — the decisions, instincts, and appetites that no résumé could have predicted. Principles once assumed to be Ojulari’s armour appear to have been compromised, leaving the nation’s most critical corporation diminished and drifting.
● A nation at the crossroads
The NNPCL, the goose that lays Nigeria’s golden eggs, cannot continue along this perilous path. For the sake of public trust and economic stability, clarity and accountability must be restored.
This is no longer about one man’s reputation. It is about the integrity of the nation’s most vital institution. If Ojulari cannot restore confidence swiftly and convincingly, then the Presidency must act with decisiveness. Delay will only prolong the pain.
Nigeria has no luxury of time. The longer the drift, the higher the cost for a people already weighed down by economic strain. In moments like this, leadership is not a matter of convenience but of duty. And the duty is urgent.
● Sufuyan Ojeifo, member of Nigerian Guild of Editors, is publisher/editor-in-chief of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have nabbed Mustapha Abdullahi, the director-general of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, over alleged money laundering offences involving more than N500 billion.
TheCable understands that Abdullahi was arrested in Abuja on Wednesday and is currently being held in the custody of the anti-graft agency for further investigation.
Cable
. We’ll continue to work with local and international partners until illicit drug supply chain is fully broken in Nigeria, Marwa assures
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis, weighing 4,173.5 kilograms with a street value of Ten Billion Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N10, 433, 750,000.00) only at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
The successful interdiction of the illicit drug consignment followed painstaking intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance, and trailing of the container, which was transloaded a number of times since it left Toronto, Canada on 28th March, conveyed through rails to Montreal, where it was loaded on board a vessel, Jakarta express voyage, which arrived Tanger Med Port in Morocco on 15th April, discharged and reloaded on another vessel, Osaka voyage, which eventually arrived the Lagos Port on Saturday 9th May 2026.
The over two months of monitoring the shipment by the Marine Intelligence Unit of NDLEA and the Tincan Island Strategic Command of the Agency, working in close collaboration with international partners particularly the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, culminated in the eventual seizure of the consignment on Tuesday 12th May during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA operatives, men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
The development comes barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki mansion used as stash house where 4,000 parcels of same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms worth over Five Billion Eight Hundred and Fifteen Million Naira (N5,815,000,000.00) were recovered.
The illicit drug consignments from Canada were professionally packed and concealed inside two vehicles: a used Ford Bus and a Mercedes Benz C300 car, stashed within the shipping container. Speaking during the handover of the exhibits by the NCS at the Port in Lagos on Wednesday 13th May, the NDLEA’s Director of Seaports Operations, ACG Ibinabo ArchieAbia said the “achievement once again demonstrates the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation, international collaboration, and intelligence-driven operations in combating transnational organized crime and illicit drug trafficking.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers of the Tincan Command and the MIU of the Agency for their vigilance and professional conduct, noting that the volume of recent Loud seizures highlights a coordinated attempt by international drug syndicates to flood the Nigerian market with synthetic strains of cannabis.
“This second massive seizure in less than a week is a clear message to the international syndicates who think they can use our ports as entry points for their soul-destroying trade, that the synergy between NDLEA and Customs Service as well as other security agencies and our international partners like the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, the UK-HOIO and the US DEA is yielding fantastic results. We will not rest until every link in this supply chain is broken and those behind these shipments are brought to justice”, Marwa stated.
A prominent public affairs analyst, Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, has called for the immediate suspension and possible termination of all processes related to the proposed sale of a 40 per cent stake in the Amukpe–Escravos Pipeline, warning that proceeding under the current terms would amount to a “giveaway” of a strategic national asset.
Ikechukwu, Executive Director of the Development Specs Academy, made the remarks during an interview on Tuesday on Arise News, where he questioned the pricing, procedure, and transparency surrounding the transaction.
According to him, Nigeria is not in such financial distress as to justify disposing of a critical infrastructure asset at what he described as a “giveaway price.”
“If that is allowed to happen, it means there is no governance,” he said. “It means that people can exercise arbitrary discretion. It means that processes can be routinely violated.”
His intervention comes amid mounting controversy over the valuation of the pipeline asset. Independent assessments conducted in 2025 reportedly valued the 40 per cent stake at between $544 million and $641 million, more than double the $243 million offer associated with a transaction that collapsed in October 2024.
Ikechukwu argued that any attempt to revive or proceed with the sale on the basis of disputed or outdated valuation benchmarks would undermine due process and public confidence.
“We are not under any desperate need to sell it at a giveaway price, and that’s what appears to be happening here,” he said. “If that is allowed to happen, then it means there is no governance.”
Describing the pipeline as a “performing national asset,” the analyst noted that the facility reportedly maintains operational uptime levels of as high as 95 per cent.
“If you must sell a performing national asset, it must be sold at the right value,” he stated.
To illustrate his concerns, Ikechukwu compared the situation to a failed private land transaction later revived at an outdated price, arguing that such a practice would be unacceptable in any credible commercial environment.
He further warned that proceeding without an updated valuation process could damage investor confidence and weaken perceptions of regulatory integrity.
“But beyond all of that, where will investor confidence be?” he asked. “If you are a lender, how do you feel in this kind of environment? It might even be interpreted as sabotage.”
Beyond the question of pricing, Ikechukwu said the larger issue at stake was institutional credibility and adherence to due process.
“If that is allowed to happen, it means there is no governance,” he reiterated. “It means that people can exercise arbitrary discretion. It means that processes can be routinely violated.”
The development expert consequently called for an immediate halt to all ongoing steps connected to the proposed transaction.
“All processes leading up to the presumed attempt to sell it now should be stopped,” he said. “Quite frankly, terminated. An independent evaluation should take place so that we know the current value of what is on the table and ensure that the country does not lose money in the process.”
Alexx Ekubo: Family Finally speaks, issues statement
Just in: EFCC Nabs Tinubu’s Aide Over Alleged N500Bn Fraud
NDLEA intercepts N10.4 billion Canadian Loud at Lagos Port(Photos)
-
Entertainment19 hours agoSad: Real cause of death of popular movie star, Ekubo finally revealed
-
Entertainment13 hours ago
Nollywood poster boy Alexx Ekubo had a prepared will before his demise
-
Entertainment18 hours ago
Emeka Rollas, Kate Henshaw, Others Mourn as Details Emerge on How Alexx Ekubo Died at 40
-
News18 hours agoFG orders varsities to suspend drug offenders
-
Metro18 hours agoPastor Fails To Resurrect From Death After Instructing Church Members To Bury Him Alive
-
Health18 hours agoMore Hantavirus cases may emerge in coming weeks — WHO
-
News11 hours agoWATCH: This is Karu, Abuja express road now(Video)
-
News14 hours agoUUTH sealed as EFCC tries to arrest only Prof of cardiothoracic surgery, three staff members
Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/themes/zox-news/comments.php on line 49
You must be logged in to post a comment Login