The Presidency is set to restructure asset ownership in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited over concerns about its low oil output.

Presidential Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed this on Monday at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists Conference in Lagos.

Verheijen unveiled a plan to revitalise Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, emphasising energy security and sustainable growth. She said meeting the government’s 3-million-barrel-per-day production target would require performance-driven management, while questioning NNPC’s ability to deliver sustained output growth.

According to her, NNPC Exploration and Production Limited currently produces about 220,000 barrels per day—less than 10 percent of Nigeria’s total output. Verheijen questioned the company’s ability to finance and execute the large-scale drilling campaigns required to boost production.

She noted that unlike the era when international oil companies operated onshore and supported the NNPC through joint ventures, current partners can no longer shoulder that burden. Verheijen questioned whether the state-owned firm could drive production growth relying solely on its own balance sheet.

If not, she said, Nigeria must be willing to restructure asset ownership and bring in credible operators with the technical expertise, financial strength, and governance discipline needed.

Revitalisation, she stressed, must be anchored on performance-based stewardship rather than sentiment.

Verheijen said, “Independence will also matter more than ever, but independent must not mean inert. Our journey to three million barrels depends on companies like Renaissance, Oando, Seplat, Aiteo, and others moving beyond workovers and infill drilling toward bold, large-scale greenfield developments.

“Campaigns of the magnitude of Shell’s Forcados or ExxonMobil’s satellite field and NGL projects that truly move the needle, but at the same time, NEPL (NNPC E&P Limited) is now a critical lever for growth, and they only produce 220,000 barrels a day; that is less than 10 per cent of our national production. But can it fund and execute the drilling campaigns needed to juggle that figure?

“And unlike the IOC era onshore, its JV partners can no longer carry NNPC, so we must ask the hard question: Can an NNPC deliver the incremental growth we need on its own balance sheet? If not, we must have the courage to restructure asset ownership and invite those who can deliver credible operators in the technical capacity, the financial depth, and the governance discipline. Revitalisation requires performance-based stewardship, not sentiment.”

Verheijen also introduced a broader framework she termed the “four R’s” — reserves, revenues, reliability, and responsibility — as the guiding benchmarks for Nigeria’s energy sector performance.

she said, “Rebuilding the opportunity set. Exploration is not a PowerPoint slide. It is a risky business. But risk has a price, and clarity is the discount. Since 2023, under President Tinubu’s leadership, Nigeria has worked to restore that clarity.”

She emphasised the urgency for Nigeria to attract new investments, warning that the global energy landscape is rapidly evolving and that no country will wait for another to catch up.

“For us in Nigeria, we must do more and move faster to attract exploration and production investment. And our investors have never been so spoiled for choice. The decisions they take will depend on clear, hard-headed assessments of where they can most easily deploy capital and achieve the best returns,” she stated.

She added that the Tinubu administration has made sector-wide reforms a priority to position Nigeria as a preferred destination for energy investments.

Verheijen further emphasised revenue generation and domestic value creation, noting that in just 18 months, the current government had secured over $8 billion in final investment decisions through projects like Ubeta, Bonga North, and HI.

“With a clear line of sight to another $20bn, these aren’t signatures, they’re shovels in the ground. We’re commercialising gas through long-dated GSAs, anchoring LNG apipeline, gas-to-power, industrial uptake, expanding midstream infrastructure that turns stranded molecules into bankable assets.

“But our revenue agenda goes beyond exports. It is about domestic value creation, gas-to-power to stabilise our grid, LPG and CNG to replace fossil fuels, petrochemicals and fertilisers to strengthen agriculture and build our industrial base, and a refining that ends import dependence and positions Nigeria as a reliable supplier not just to Nigeria but to West Africa,” she said.

Speaking at the event, NNPC Chairman Ahmadu Kida said the company’s motto is to collaborate widely and be Nigeria’s company of choice. He added that within the next five years, NNPC aims to become Africa’s leading energy company—one that all Nigerians can take pride in.

“At NNPC Limited, we wish in the very near future to be a company that all of you are going to be very proud of, one that all Nigerians should be proud of; and when they see the NNPC Limited logo, they should see a reflection of their shareholding. And again, when NNPC’s name is called, it should sound like a goal that the national football team scored against Brazil in a match.

“That’s the kind of sentiments we want to provoke in you when they call that NNPC Limited. And we’ll get there. In five years, our vision is to be the African uncontestable energy company,” Kida said.