Ahmed Bature
For years, crude oil theft represented one of the crucial corrosive threats to Nigeria’s economic system—draining income, discouraging funding and undermining the credibility of the nation’s power sector. By the point Bayo Ojulari assumed workplace as Group Chief Govt Officer of the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm (NNPC) Restricted in April 2025, the worst of the disaster had begun to ease, due to the industry-wide interventions and coverage shifts already in movement. But the problem earlier than him was no much less daunting: the way to consolidate fragile positive aspects and be sure that progress in opposition to oil theft didn’t unravel underneath new management.
Eight months on, the proof means that Ojulari has approached this process with the identical stabilising philosophy that has outlined his early tenure. Moderately than dismantling current safety frameworks, his administration has bolstered them—tightening coordination, enhancing accountability and embedding crude safety into NNPC’s broader business technique.
The end result has been one of the crucial hanging developments of 2025: the restoration of near-100 per cent availability throughout Nigeria’s main crude oil pipelines, a milestone that will have appeared unbelievable only a few years in the past.
From Disaster to Management
On the top of crude theft in mid-2022, a few of Nigeria’s most crucial pipelines had been barely operational. Terminal restoration components plunged near zero, exports had been disrupted and buyers grew cautious of onshore and shallow-water belongings. Billions of {dollars} had been misplaced yearly, not solely via theft itself however via deferred manufacturing and reputational injury.
By the point Ojulari took workplace, a mixture of safety interventions, group engagement and private-sector collaboration had begun to reverse the pattern. What was required subsequent was consistency—guaranteeing that the progress was institutionalised moderately than depending on advert hoc measures or personalities.
Ojulari’s management has been marked by that consistency. Beneath his watch, NNPC Ltd introduced full availability of key export pipelines, together with the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP), Trans Escravos Pipeline (TEP) and Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP). These arteries join Nigeria’s oil fields to worldwide markets, making their reliability central to nationwide income.
Trade analysts describe the achievement not as a sudden breakthrough, however as the result of sustained coordination—one which Ojulari has rigorously preserved.
Safety as a Business
Crucial
Some of the vital shifts underneath Ojulari has been the framing of crude safety as a business concern moderately than a purely law-enforcement problem. In inside briefings and public statements, NNPC has more and more linked pipeline availability on to profitability, investor confidence and power safety.
This attitude aligns with the corporate’s transformation underneath the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA), which mandates NNPC Ltd to function as a business entity. Beneath this framework, each barrel misplaced to theft represents not only a nationwide loss, however a direct hit to company efficiency.
By embedding safety outcomes into operational metrics, Ojulari has bolstered accountability throughout subsidiaries and accomplice operators. Pipeline safety is now not handled as an exterior obligation, however as a core enterprise perform tied to income safety.
Collaboration over
Confrontation
Ojulari’s oft-stated perception in partnership has been notably evident within the anti-theft area. Moderately than relying solely on drive, NNPC’s technique has continued to stress collaboration with safety businesses, personal safety contractors and host communities.
This multi-layered method has confirmed efficient in addressing the foundation causes of vandalism and unlawful tapping. Group surveillance initiatives, mixed with technology-enabled monitoring and speedy response mechanisms, have helped deter large-scale theft whereas enhancing early detection.
Crucially, Ojulari has maintained alignment with authorities establishments, guaranteeing that NNPC’s efforts complement nationwide safety targets. This coordination has diminished duplication, improved intelligence sharing and bolstered the legitimacy of interventions.
Observers be aware that this continuity has been important. Frequent management adjustments prior to now typically disrupted relationships and stalled progress. Beneath Ojulari, these relationships have been preserved and strengthened.
Upstream Confidence Returns
The influence of improved pipeline safety has prolonged past theft discount to broader upstream efficiency. With export routes stabilised, producers have been capable of plan extra confidently, unlock shut-in volumes and commit capital to asset optimisation.
NNPC Exploration and Manufacturing Restricted (NEPL), the corporate’s flagship upstream subsidiary, recorded manufacturing ranges as excessive as 355,000 barrels per day throughout the final yr—a mirrored image of improved asset integrity and diminished evacuation threat. Joint Enterprise (JV) and Manufacturing Sharing Contract (PSC) companions have additionally responded positively, renewing commitments and accelerating funding selections.
For Ojulari, this renewed confidence is a essential dividend of safety consolidation. By guaranteeing that barrels produced can reliably attain the market, NNPC has strengthened Nigeria’s case as a viable funding vacation spot in an more and more aggressive world power panorama.
Income Safety and
Nationwide Affect
Past company metrics, the discount in crude theft carries profound nationwide implications. Oil stays a significant supply of international trade and monetary income for Nigeria, and improved pipeline availability straight interprets into stronger inflows to the federation.
NNPC Ltd’s improved remittances to authorities in early 2025—amounting to trillions of naira—replicate not simply excessive oil costs or accounting reforms, however the bodily actuality of extra barrels being delivered and offered. On this sense, Ojulari’s consolidation of anti-theft measures has contributed to macroeconomic stability at a time of fiscal strain.
Power safety, too, has benefited. Dependable crude provide helps home refining, export obligations and strategic planning, decreasing Nigeria’s vulnerability to provide shocks.
Expertise and the Subsequent Part
Whereas a lot progress has been made, Ojulari has been cautious to not declare victory. NNPC officers proceed to explain crude theft as an evolving risk that requires fixed adaptation.
Beneath Ojulari’s management, there was rising emphasis on know-how—real-time monitoring, information analytics and automatic detection techniques—to enrich human surveillance. These instruments are designed to enhance response instances, cut back blind spots and decrease long-term safety prices.
By integrating know-how into pipeline safety, NNPC goals to maneuver from reactive enforcement to proactive prevention, additional institutionalising positive aspects.
Constructing on Inherited
Foundations
It is very important be aware that lots of the frameworks underpinning right this moment’s success had been established earlier than Ojulari’s appointment. His contribution has been to protect momentum, shut coordination gaps and align anti-theft efforts with NNPC’s business transformation.
In doing so, he has averted the temptation to rebrand inherited initiatives, selecting as an alternative to let outcomes communicate for themselves. This method has earned quiet respect throughout the {industry}, the place continuity is usually extra valued than reinvention.
A Fragile however Promising
Equilibrium
As Nigeria’s oil sector continues to recuperate from years of disruption, the progress in opposition to crude theft stays each encouraging and fragile. Sustaining it should require vigilance, funding and continued collaboration.
Eight months into his tenure, Bayo Ojulari has demonstrated an understanding of this actuality. By treating pipeline safety as a cornerstone of diversification and profitability—not a standalone marketing campaign—he has helped anchor NNPC Ltd’s progress trajectory.
In an {industry} the place setbacks might be swift and expensive, the power to carry the road might show simply as necessary as the power to advance it.
•Bature writes from Abuja
