Fatima Muhammad 
For over forty years, NNPC operated as a government agency. Budgetary allocations. Civil service rules. Ministerial supervision. The model was familiar. It was also broken. The refineries didn’t work. The books weren’t published. The revenue didn’t always reach the federation account. And every attempt at reform seemed to get stuck in the same political gridlock. … Read more
If you want to understand NNPC, you need to understand the moments that shaped it. Not the gradual drift, but the specific points where things changed. A decree signed here. A discovery made there. A bill stuck in parliament for 14 years, then finally passed. Each milestone tells you something about why NNPC is the … Read more
If you look at NNPC in 2019 and NNPC Limited in 2025, you might think they’re completely different organizations. In many ways, they are. Same initials. Same building in Abuja. Same strategic importance to Nigeria’s economy. But the legal structure, the governance model, the funding mechanism, the profit motive — all transformed. The Petroleum Industry … Read more
The story of NNPC is the story of Nigeria’s oil. You can’t separate them. Before 1977, Nigeria had oil but no single institution to manage it. The government tried different approaches. A national oil company here. A ministry there. Nothing quite worked. Then came 1977. Decree No. 33. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was born. … Read more
If you ask ten Nigerians this question, you might get ten different answers. Some will say “government agency” because that’s what it’s always been. Others will say “company” because they’ve heard about the Petroleum Industry Act. Both answers have been correct at different times. Before 2021, NNPC was a government agency. A statutory corporation funded … Read more
If you’ve ever wondered what NNPC is actually supposed to do, you’re not alone. For decades, the answer kept shifting depending on who you asked and what the government needed that week. But the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 changed that. It gave NNPC Limited a clear, written list of objectives. Not vague aspirations. Specific, legal … Read more
If you ask most Nigerians who owns NNPC, they’ll give you the short answer: “The government.” And they’re not wrong. But the real answer is more complicated — and more interesting — than that. Since 2021, the ownership question has shifted from a simple statement of fact to a legal structure with actual shares, shareholders, … Read more
If you’ve been trying to follow Nigerian oil and gas conversations, you’ve probably seen both names thrown around. NNPC. NNPC Limited. Same initials. Same building in Abuja. But not the same thing. The difference matters more than you’d think. It’s the difference between a government department and a company. Between civil service rules and commercial … Read more
If you’ve been following Nigerian news, you’ve probably heard about NNPC Limited. But here’s the thing — most people still don’t really understand what changed. For over forty years, NNPC was a government department. Civil service rules, budgetary allocations from the National Assembly, ministers giving direct orders. That was the old NNPC. Then 2021 happened. … Read more
If you’ve ever pulled into a filling station in Nigeria and asked for fuel, you’ve dealt with NNPC. You just didn’t know it. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company is the entity behind most of the petrol in that pump. It’s also behind the natural gas that powers industries, the crude oil the government sells to … Read more
