Nigeria’s state oil company disclosed in an interview that it has not yet cleared the governance and financial reporting hurdles required for a public listing.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) completed a diagnostic review of its operations and found shortcomings in how it structures its corporate governance and reports its financial results to outside stakeholders.
The disclosure carries unusual weight because Dangote Petroleum Refinery is wrapping up the largest share sale in African history on the Nigerian Exchange, the same market where NNPC eventually plans to list its own shares.
NNPC’s advisers flagged governance and reporting gaps before listing
NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bayo Bashir Ojulari confirmed the company finished a review of its listing readiness and identified critical shortcomings, Bloomberg reported on October 14, 2026.
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The problems center on how NNPC reports its finances and organizes its internal corporate governance frameworks, the CEO explained in the interview.
He acknowledged that NNPC’s structure, spanning crude exploration to retail fuel distribution, makes its listing far more complex than Dangote’s single-refinery offering.
Ojulari went further, acknowledging that certain segments of NNPC’s portfolio may never qualify for a public listing in their current form.
The company would need to decide whether to consolidate those units, restructure their operations, or exit them entirely before approaching investors.
“There are some things that cannot even be IPOed.” — Bayo Bashir Ojulari, NNPC Group CEO, Bloomberg
NNPC is also weighing the sale of up to 30% of its stakes in oil joint ventures with domestic and international partners, the interview revealed.
Ojulari indicated that a decision on those potential disposals could arrive by early 2027, as proposals from existing and prospective investors are evaluated.
NNPC’s listing push stretches back years under Nigeria’s petroleum law
The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021 converted NNPC from a government agency into a commercial limited liability company and created the legal pathway for an eventual share sale on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), Nairametrics reported.
In March 2025, NNPC’s Chief Finance and Investor Relations Officer (CFIO) Olugbenga Oluwaniyi disclosed the company was in advanced stages of IPO preparations and had launched an advisory selection process, the outlet noted.
President Bola Tinubu reinforced the listing agenda in August 2026, signaling that his economic reforms would include selling NNPC shares on the NGX to allow Nigerian and international investors to acquire ownership stakes.
Vice President Kashim Shettima added momentum in early October, telling audiences that the eventual NNPC listing would generate massive trading activity on the exchange, dabafinance.com reported.
The Dangote Refinery’s oversubscribed $1.6 billion IPO, which extended its deadline to October 27 after attracting several times its fundraising target, proved Nigeria’s capital market can absorb a large-scale energy offering.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation also launched a student share grant initiative that doubled eligible undergraduates’ minimum investment in the refinery, broadening the retail investor base that NNPC would eventually need to tap for its own listing.
NNPC’s profit fell 35% in H1 2026 as IPO work accelerates
The IPO push arrives during a softer stretch for NNPC’s bottom line, which could shape how investors evaluate the company when it eventually seeks their capital on the open market.
NNPC posted a profit after tax of ₦2.28 trillion during the first six months of 2026, a 35.4% decline from the ₦3.53 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, Nairametrics reported.
Monthly results swung from ₦385 billion in January down to a low of ₦136 billion in February before recovering to ₦535 billion by June, NNPC’s strongest single month of the first half of the year, the data showed.
For the full year of 2025, NNPC delivered ₦7.2 trillion in profit after tax, representing a 33% increase over 2024, which Ojulari presented to President Tinubu at the presidential villa in October, New Telegraph reported.
Key figures in NNPC’s IPO timeline
- NNPC completed its diagnostic review and identified gaps in financial reporting and governance structures, Bloomberg reported.
- The company may sell up to 30% of its stakes in certain oil joint ventures, with a decision expected by early 2027, Bloomberg reported.
- NNPC earned ₦2.28 trillion in profit after tax in H1 2026, a 35.4% decline from H1 2025, Nairametrics reported.
- Full-year 2025 profit reached ₦7.2 trillion, a 33% increase over the previous year, New Telegraph reported.
- Dangote Refinery’s $1.6 billion IPO extended its subscription deadline to October 27 after surpassing its original fundraising target, Nairametrics reported.
