The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has assured Nigerians that the current ongoing price competition in the downstream petroleum sector will ultimately benefit consumers.
He described current market tensions as a natural consequence of Nigeria’s transition from total import dependence to domestic refining.
“Where there is healthy competition, the buyers are the ultimate beneficiaries. And I think for us, we need to keep our minds that the market will stabilise.
“After a while, there’ll be some tension, because we’re going through a major transition,” Ojulari told journalists after briefing President Bola Tinubu in Lagos. The NNPCL chief executive made the remarks against the backdrop of an intense price competition that has seen petrol prices crash from over N1,200 per litre in November 2024 to as low as N739 per litre at some retail outlets in December 2025, this driven primarily by competition between Dangote Refinery, NNPCL and independent marketers.
“At the end of the day, I can tell you that Nigerians on the street are going to be the beneficiaries,” Ojulari declared.
While clarifying NNPCL’s role in the deregulated market, the NNPC boss emphasised that the company is no longer responsible for petroleum product pricing or regulation under the Petroleum Industry Act. According to him .”The first thing you have to know is that the PIA did something fundamental. Before the PIA in 2021, which rolled in 2022, everything was under NNPC, including some regulations. The PIA divided the roles of regulation from what I will call the business,” he explained.
He added, “The NMDPRA is responsible for all downstream regulation and midstream, as you know, and the NUPRC is responsible for all upstream regulations.
“So it’s very important that Nigerians understand that post-PIA, we as NNPC are not regulators.”
He stated that NNPC has been instituted by the PIA to become “a commercial company, which means a company that needs to compete profitably and be successful profitably.”
The NNPC chief executive further disclosed that NNPCL no longer receives federation allocations and must raise finance independently “like any other business.” He described NNPCL as “the supplier of last resort,” working closely with all key downstream players, including Dangote Refinery, in which we have an interest,” to ensure product availability. He reassured.
“For us as NNPC, our focus is to generate more production. As we generate more production, we believe there’ll be more production to feed the refineries as much as possible.
