₦airaland Forum

aywagze:
These guys are just something else ! ..so, all those commissioning they did were meant to deceive gullible Nigerians! These guys need to keep these up because there is a reward in heaven for these amazing way they are running things! ..🤔

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were operating at a “monumental loss” to the country, prompting his leadership team to halt operations to prevent further value erosion.

Ojulari disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a fireside chat titled “Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026, where he offered rare insight into the commercial and operational realities confronting NNPC’s refining assets.

According to him, public anger over the refineries was justified, given the scale of public funds invested over the years and the high expectations placed on the facilities.

“On the refineries, Nigerians were angry. A lot of money has been spent, and expectations were very high. So we were under extreme pressure, extreme pressure,” Ojulari said.

He admitted that upon assuming office, refining was not his core area of expertise, having spent most of his career in the upstream sector, but said accountability demanded rapid learning.

“My background is upstream, so I was on a vertical learning curve. You are accountable, so you must learn very quickly. Otherwise, there is no escape,” he said.

Ojulari explained that once his management team began a detailed review of refinery operations, the financial reality became immediately clear.

“The first thing that became clear, and I want to say this very clearly, is that we were running at a monumental loss to Nigeria. We were just wasting money. I can say that confidently now,” he said.

He revealed that NNPC was consistently pumping crude cargoes into the refineries each month, yet utilisation levels hovered around 50-55 per cent, resulting in significant value leakage.

“We were spending a lot of money on operations, a lot of money on contractors. But when you look at the net, we were just leaking away value,” Ojulari said.

More troubling, he noted, was the absence of any credible plan to turn the losses around.

“Sometimes you make a loss during investment, but you have a line of sight to recovery. That line of sight was not clear here,” he added.

As a result, Ojulari said the first major decision of his administration was to halt refinery operations to prevent further losses and allow for a rapid reassessment.

“We decided to stop the refinery and do a quick check. We planned that if things were lined up, we would reopen and work on them,” he said.

He disclosed that part of the value destruction stemmed from the quality of products being produced, citing the Port Harcourt Refinery as an example.

“The crude we were taking into Port Harcourt was producing mid-grade products. When you aggregate their value compared to what you put in, it was a waste,” he said.

Ojulari acknowledged that the decision to halt operations was politically sensitive, noting that NNPC had historically been pressured to keep refineries running to ensure fuel supply continuity.

“There were political pressures to keep the refinery product, lots of pressure. But when you have been trained for over 35 years to focus on commerciality and profitability, you can’t sleep with that,” he said.

Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries, Port Harcourt (two plants), Warri, and Kaduna, have for decades operated far below capacity despite repeated turnaround maintenance exercises costing billions of dollars.

At various points, the plants have operated at single-digit capacity or been shut down entirely, forcing Africa’s largest oil producer to rely almost entirely on fuel imports.

Between 2015 and 2023 alone, successive administrations approved multiple rehabilitation contracts, yet domestic refining output remained negligible, intensifying public scrutiny of NNPC’s operational efficiency.

Ojulari’s comments mark one of the most candid acknowledgements by an NNPC chief executive that continued refinery operations, under prevailing conditions, were economically unjustifiable.

The remarks underscore a broader shift within NNPC, under the Petroleum Industry Act, toward commercial discipline, even in politically sensitive areas such as domestic refining.

princeade86:
People that write off nnpc trillions debt, they should write this one off as well, let people owing be free then let start afresh.

About 10 People were feared killed on Tuesday evening when bandits invaded Woro community in Kaiama Local government area of Kwara State.

The attack according to locals started around 6:00 pm. The gunmen said to be numbering about 200 stormed the village shooting sporadically.

According to one of the residents, Mr Ahmed Yinusa, “The bandits operated for over one hour before the military were mobilised to the place.

He however said “but the distance from the Kaiama to the village is over 50 kilometers and the road condition is very deplorable which made it difficult for the military to get there on time.

“The terrorists were about 200 and they killed several people in the process. But unconfirmed reports reaching us is that about 10 people have been killed with several houses set ablaze”, he told Daily Trust Tuesday night.

Another resident of Kaiama, Mallam Idris Mohammed said about 6 corpses were presently lying at the Palace of the Emir of the Woro, Alhaji Saliu Bio Umar.

He added that the bandits further set the palace ablaze.

“It was not clear before the filing of this report whether the Emir was around.”

The lawmaker representing Kaiama at the state House of Assembly, Hon Halidu Danbaba, confirmed the incident in a telephone chat with Daily Trust Tuesday night.

He appealed to the Kwara and federal governments to extend the recent military action in Kwara South and other parts of the north to Kaiama especially given the recent go ahead for the resumption of school in those areas.

In a statement late Tuesday, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the attack and mourned the victims.

The statement said the governor was saddened by the “cowardly attack on civilians in Woro and Nuku communities of Kaiama Local Government Area”.

According to him, “this is a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells following the ongoing counterterrorism campaigns in parts of the state and the successes so far recorded.

“The attack was apparently to distract the security forces who have successfully hunted down several terrorist and kidnapping gangs across many parts of the state”.

He expressed his “heartfelt condolences to the affected communities especially the families affected”, the state by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye added.

A former Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and son, Abdulaziz were on Tuesday arraigned in the Federal High Court, Abuja for allegedly abetting terrorism financing and unlawful possession of firearms.

When the matter was called, the prosecuting counsel, Mr Callistus Eze, told the court that the defendants were to be arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on abetting terrorism financing and illegal possession of firearms.

“My Lord before you is a five-count charge dated Feb. 2 and filed on Feb. 3.

”Subject to the overriding convenience of the court, I apply that the said charge be read to the defendants,” he said.

Following their not guilty pleas, Eze prayed for a date for the trial to begin, and he also asked the court to remand them in DSS custody pending further proceedings.

For his part, counsel to the defendants, Mr Shuiabu Arua, SAN, made an oral application for the bail of his clients.

“We seek to make an oral application for the bail of the defendants.

“We know that it is the discretion of the court to grant bail, and given that they have been in DSS custody for two weeks and came here directly from the hospital, we seek to apply orally for the bail of the defendants,” he said.

The trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a short ruling, asked the lawyer to file a formal application for bail.

“This is a court of record, so I order counsel to file and serve a formal bail application,” the judge said.

She adjourned the matter until Feb. 20 for the trial to begin.


Trump pushes for $1 billion in damages from Harvard
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the defendants are standing trial in a five-count charge filed by the Federal Government.

According to the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/63/2026, Malami is accused in count one of knowingly abetting terrorism financing while serving as attorney-general of the federation.

The prosecuting agency, the Department of State Services (DSD), alleged that sometime in November 2022, at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Malami refused to prosecute alleged terrorism financiers whose case files were brought to his office for prosecution.

The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 26(2) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In counts two to five, Malami and his son were jointly charged with engaging in conduct preparatory to committing acts of terrorism and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

The prosecution alleged that sometime in December 2025, at their residence in Gesse Phase II Area, Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area of Kebbi State, the defendants were found in possession of a Sturm Magnum firearm without licence.

They were also alleged to have been in possession of 16 live rounds and 27 expended rounds of Redstar cartridges without lawful authority.

The offences, the prosecution said were contrary to and punishable under Section 29 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as well as Sections 3 and 8(1) of the Firearms Act, 2004, punishable under Section 27(1) of the same Act.

The charge sheet stated that while Malami was the sole defendant in the terrorism financing count, both defendants are jointly charged in the remaining counts relating to possession of firearms and ammunition.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the counts when the charges were read to them.

The trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, adjourned the matter until Feb. 20 for the trial to start and ordered that the defendants be remanded in DSS custody pending the hearing and determination of their bail application. (NAN)

Caught Off Guard: Edo Senator Adams Oshiomhole Seen Giving Foot Massage to Lady on Private Jet in Viral Video Amid Backlash for Saying ‘Food Is Now Too Cheap in Nigeria’

Caught Off Guard: Edo Senator Adams Oshiomhole Seen Giving Foot Massage to Lady on Private Jet in Viral Video Amid Backlash for Saying ‘Food Is Now Too Cheap in Nigeria’ pic.twitter.com/grhRWGQoSM

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) February 2, 2026

High interest rates, FX shocks, end of COVID forbearance trigger spike in corporate loan failures

At the backdrop of economic pressures on households and businesses, banks are now struggling with a rising loan defaults by businesses, leading to a significant increase in bad loans portfolio of banks to N21.2 trillion.

Financial Vanguard’s tracking of data on loans to customers by the top 11 banks as disclosed in their unaudited financial statements for the nine months ended Q3’25, showed that nine of the banks recorded an increase in bad loans (Non Performing Loans, NPL).

Amongst the 11 banks three of the Tier-1 banks recording increases in their NPLs while all the six Tier-2 banks recorded growth in NPLs.

Collectively, the NPLs of the 11 banks rose by five per cent to N21.2 trillion at the end of Q3’25 from N20.2 trillion at the end of Q4’24.

A further breakdown of their loan portfolio showed that the Tier-1 banks took the largest share of the bad loans collectively recording a bad loan size of N17.63 trillion at the end of Q3’25 from N16.943 trillion at the end of Q4’24.

The Tier-2 banks collectively recorded a 10 per cent increase in NPLs to N3.54 trillion at end of Q3’25 from N3.21 trillion at end of Q4’24.

Confirming this trend, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in its Financial Stability Report for June 30th, 2025, said: “The non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio increased to 5.76 per cent, above the regulatory benchmark of 5.00 per cent and 4.87 per cent recorded at end-December 2024.

“In addition, the ratio of NPLs net of provisions to capital increased to 13.90 per cent from 4.91 per cent at end-December 2024. The ongoing recapitalisation exercise of banks and sustained GSI implementation were expected to bolster loss-absorption buffers and preserve banking system stability.”

COVID-19 forbearance

Financial Vanguard investigations revealed that the upward trend in NPLs is being driven by two major factors.

First is the decision of the CBN to withdraw regulatory forbearance on loans to households and businesses affected by the COVID 19 pandemic.

The forbearance measures included a one-year extension of moratoriums on loan repayments. Banks were also allowed to consider time-limited restructuring of loan terms for sectors severely affected by the pandemic, including oil and gas and agriculture. Furthermore, the CBN reduced interest rates on its intervention facilities to five percent, though this was subsequently returned to nine percent in July 2022.

In 2023, the CBN extended forbearance on certain prudential limits, including violations of the single obligor threshold and the net open position.

However, last year, the apex bank in a circular, announced measures to support banks to exit the forbearance regime. These include suspension of dividend payments, bonuses to directors and senior management and investments in foreign subsidiaries until capital levels and provisioning for NPLs are fully restored to the regulatory threshold.

“This temporary suspension is until such a time as the regulatory forbearance is fully exited and the banks’ capital adequacy and provisioning levels are independently verified to be fully compliant with prevailing standards. This supervisory measure is intended to ensure that internal resources are retained to meet existing and future obligations and to support the orderly restoration of sound prudential positions,” the CBN said.

Loan defaults

The second factor driving the increase in banks’ NPLs is the upward trend in loan defaults especially by businesses.

According to the Credit Condition Report of CBN, banks recorded higher loan defaults by corporates in the last three quarters of 2025.

In Q2’25, the CBN disclosed that, “Lenders reported higher default rates for Secured and Unsecured lending. For Corporate lending, all business types reportedly had higher default rates.”

Similarly, in Q3’25, the apex bank said: “Lenders reported lower default rates for Secured lending, while Unsecured and Corporate lending of all business types recorded higher default rates.”

Also in Q4’25, the CBN said: “Lenders reported higher default rates for Secured, Unsecured and all Corporate lending types in Q4 2025.”