Group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Bayo Ojulari has alleged that his life and that of members of the company’s management team are under threat.
Mr Ojulari raised the alarm on Thursday while receiving a delegation of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), led by its president Festus Osifo at the company’s headquarters in Abuja.
He said the threats were linked to reforms he is implementing in the oil and gas sector in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to revive Nigeria’s refineries.
According to him, some powerful interests are resisting the changes and plotting his removal.
Ojulari explained that the management was working on reviving the moribund refineries to operate at full capacity, noting that the company was considering adopting the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) model in its restructuring process.
Despite the challenges, Ojulari assured that he and his team remained focused on ensuring stability in NNPC and across the oil and gas industry.
“I’m not hiding to anybody. I’m not a politician. I will have to learn a bit more about politics, but it’s a development plan for me, right? And I’m ready to learn,” he said.
PENGASSAN, in its remarks, pledged support for the management of the NNPC and called for sustained efforts to stabilise the sector.
Bayo Ojulari assumed the GCEO role on April 2, after the dissolution of the board under his predecessor, Mele Kyari.
Since then, he has led plans to restore Nigeria’s moribund refineries to full capacity, including exploring the use of frameworks similar to those used by Nigeria LNG (NLNG).
