NNPC / NNPC Ltd

NNPC is the single most consequential statutory creation of the military period. Constituted by Decree No. 33 of 1977, the corporation merged the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (created 1971 to formalise state participation in the IOC joint ventures) with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum, producing an integrated state oil company combining regulatory and commercial functions. The 1979 takeover of BP's interest in Shell-BP, and the subsequent assumption of operating-partner positions in the joint ventures with Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Eni, placed NNPC at the centre of every fiscal, political and security event of the modern Nigerian state.

The Petroleum Industry Act 2021 — assented to on 16 August 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari — restructured NNPC as a commercial limited-liability company (NNPCL) under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, with the Federal Government as sole shareholder pending future divestment. The transition took effect on 19 September 2022 and is the most far-reaching restructuring of the Nigerian petroleum sector since 1977.

The Tinubu administration's removal of the petrol subsidy on 29 May 2023 — coincident with the inauguration speech — and the subsequent restructuring of NNPCL's downstream commercial role following the Dangote Refinery's 2024 commencement of petrol production, together represent the most significant change to NNPC's operating environment since the 1988 SBU restructuring.