The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has alleged that there are threats to his life and to members of the company’s management team.
Ojulari claimed on Thursday that influential interests are plotting to unseat him because of the sweeping reforms he is pursuing in the oil and gas sector mandated by President Bola Tinubu to revive the country’s ailing refineries.
The NNPCL chief made these assertions while hosting a delegation from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), led by its president, Comrade Festus Osifo, at the company’s headquarters in Abuja.
Ojulari explained that work is underway to restore the moribund refineries to full capacity, with the management considering the NLNG operational model to achieve this goal.
Responding to Osifo’s remarks on the need for stability at NNPCL and within the wider oil sector, Ojulari insisted that no amount of intimidation would derail his plans to ensure efficient refinery operations.
He said: “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.”