Insiders: NNPC CEO Kyari never awarded oil blocks, had no statutory role

Industry insiders have strongly refuted claims that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, was involved in awarding oil blocks or marginal fields. These allegations are described as "deliberately false, malicious and legally unsustainable," according to sources familiar with the matter.

The insiders emphasized that neither Kyari nor the NNPC possesses the legal authority to allocate oil blocks or issue petroleum licenses in Nigeria. Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), these functions are administered by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), with the Minister of Petroleum Resources holding the ultimate authority to grant licenses. Therefore, any suggestion of Kyari personally awarding blocks or influencing the process is fundamentally inconsistent with Nigerian law and unsupported by evidence.

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Ojulari did not conduct the bid process, evaluate applicants, select winners or award any oil block. He had absolutely no statutory role in the exercise. Those spreading this narrative know this, but they are deliberately misleading the public.

Sources suggest that powerful commercial interests, disrupted by NNPC's ongoing reform initiatives, including enhanced transparency, stricter financial controls, and cost-reduction measures, are behind a coordinated campaign to discredit Kyari. These groups allegedly support entities like the Oil and Gas Professionals Forum (OGPF), which recently made unsubstantiated claims about a company linked to Kyari's wife benefiting from a marginal field award. Insiders view these accusations as calculated fabrications aimed at damaging Kyari's reputation and undermining public confidence in his leadership.

The intensified attacks are seen as a response to the NNPC leadership's efforts to improve transparency, enforce financial discipline, and review potentially wasteful arrangements. Industry sources believe these efforts have disrupted the opaque transactional practices previously favored by some individuals and companies.

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This is not an innocent misunderstanding of the licensing process. It is a deliberate attempt to hold Ojulari responsible for an exercise over which he had no legal authority, no regulatory responsibility and no decision-making power.