By Kunle Sanni –
The Presidency is considering a major restructuring of asset ownership in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) following concerns about the firm’s low contribution to the country’s crude oil output.
According to a report by The Punch newspaper, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed this on Monday at the ongoing Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) Conference in Lagos.
Verheijen outlined President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to revitalise Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, warning that the country’s goal of achieving three million barrels per day of crude oil production will remain elusive without a shift toward performance-driven management and accountability.
According to her, NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) currently produces only 220,000 barrels per day—less than 10 per cent of Nigeria’s total daily output—raising doubts about its ability to drive growth without structural reform.
“Can NNPC fund and execute the drilling campaigns needed to increase production?” she asked. “Unlike during the era of international oil companies operating onshore, today’s joint venture partners can no longer carry NNPC. We must ask the hard question: Can NNPC deliver the incremental growth we need on its own balance sheet? If not, we must have the courage to restructure asset ownership and invite credible operators with technical capacity, financial depth, and governance discipline.”
She stated that the administration is committed to ensuring performance-based stewardship rather than sentimental management of oil assets.
Verheijen noted that private operators such as Renaissance, Oando, Seplat, and Aiteo must move beyond small-scale workovers and infill drilling to embark on bold greenfield developments similar to the large projects once driven by Shell and ExxonMobil.
The presidential aide added that the government’s new energy policy framework will be guided by what she described as the “four Rs” — reserves, revenues, reliability, and responsibility.