– Staff strength rises by 14% to 6,280 despite inefficiencies
Michael Eboh
Dublin, Ireland — Despite rising inefficiencies in its operations, especially in the management of the country’s refineries, and increasing opacity in its activities, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (NNPCL) employed additional 785 staff members within a three-month period, between April and June 2025.
The NNPCL’s workforce data for the second quarter of 2025, showed that its employees increased by 14.3 per cent from 5,495 staff members recorded at the end of the first quarter of 2025, to 6,280 staff members at the end of the second quarter of 2025.
The report also showed that the NNPCL’s 6,280 staff strength recorded at the end of the second quarter of 2025 was 10.99 per cent (622 staff members) higher than the 5,658 staff members recorded in the second quarter of 2024.
Giving a breakdown of its workforce in terms of gender, at the end of the second quarter of 2025, the NNPCL disclosed that 5,077 employees, representing 80.8 per cent of its workforce were males, while 1,203 employees, representing 19.2 per cent of its total workforce were females.
Further breakdown revealed that Junior Staff 1 (JS1) cadre had 175 staff, dropping from 187 staff members recorded in the first quarter of 2025; Senior Staff Seven (SS7) cadre had 31 employees, compared with 33 in the previous quarter, while SS6 cadre recorded the highest increase, jumping up from 64 staff in the first quarter of 2025 to 1,017 staff members in the second quarter of 2025.
The SS5, SS4, SS3, SS2 and SS1 staff cadre recorded 1,075 staff, 160 staff, 403 staff, 474 staff and 1,838 staff, respectively, in the quarter under review, compared with 1,081 staff, 163 staff, 354 staff, 488 staff and 1,935 staff, respectively, recorded in the first quarter of 2025.
Management Six (M6) cadre had 698 staff in the second quarter of 2025, compared with 724 staff in the same category in the previous quarter, while M5, M4, M3, M2 and M1 cadres had 248 staff, 114 staff, 37 staff, seven staff and one staff respectively, compared with 301 staff, 120 staff, 38 staff, five staff and one staff in the corresponding cadres in the first quarter of 2025.
NNPCL’s rising staff strength is coming on the heels of widespread criticism over gross inefficiencies in its operations and its inability to revamp the country’s refineries despite spending over $18 billion, about N27.63 trillion (using current exchange realities) under the guise of various turnaround maintenances over the years.
More recently, the NNPCL had borrowed and staked $1.5 billion for the revamp of the Port Harcourt Refinery; another $897 million for the revamp of Warri refinery; and $741 million for the rehabilitation of the Kaduna refinery.
Irrespective of these investments, particularly for turnaround contracts, which many believed were either misappropriated or diverted for corrupt purposes, the refineries remained largely non-functional, severely under‑utilised and are yet to achieve meaningful production capacity.
The spendings underscores systemic inefficiencies and raises questions about governance within the NNPCL.
Confirming this, Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had few days ago declared that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, may never operate properly again despite about $18 billion invested in their rehabilitation, while opposition party, African Democratic Congress (ADC) called for an audit of the amount spent on the unending rehabilitation of the refineries, before any attempt is made to dispose of the assets.
To make things worse, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NNPCL, acknowledged that the corporation was facing growing complexities in its efforts to revamp the refineries.
Ojulari said NNPC was currently reassessing its refinery strategies and plans to conclude the review by the end of the year, adding that there is the possibility of outright sale of the refineries.
