The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has posted a dramatic fall in its profit after tax, tumbling from ₦905 billion in June to just ₦185 billion in July.
This amounts to a staggering 79.6 percent decline, raising further questions about Bola Tinubu’s economic management and his government’s repeated promises of stabilizing the oil sector.
In its latest financial update released on Thursday, the state oil firm said it generated ₦4.41 trillion in July, lower than the ₦4.57 trillion reported in June.
The slide continues a trend that began earlier this year. NNPC had declared a ₦1.05 trillion profit after tax in May and ₦926 billion in April, before slumping to ₦905 billion in June.
The latest crash came even as crude oil production inched up slightly, rising from 1.68 million barrels per day in June to 1.7 million in July. Natural gas output also saw a marginal increase from 7.58 billion cubic feet to 7.7 billion cubic feet within the same period.
Statutory payments made between January and June were put at ₦7.97 trillion.
READ MORE: Court Freezes Four Bank Accounts Linked To Ex-NNPCL Boss Mele Kyari Over Alleged Fraud
The report nonetheless highlighted progress on two key gas projects. The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline was said to have reached 96 percent completion, while the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) pipeline was at 83 percent.
According to the company, additional subcontractors have been deployed on the AKK line to speed up construction, while a “revised execution strategy” is being implemented on the OB3 River Niger crossing.
It further stated that the 113 km portion of the OB3 pipeline has already been commissioned, currently transporting about 300 million standard cubic feet per day of gas from AHL (250 mmscf/d) and Platform, Chorus, and Xenergi (50 mmscf/d).
Despite these infrastructure updates, analysts say the steep collapse in NNPC’s profit points to deeper structural problems, including corruption, leakages, and weak fiscal oversight. Critics argue that while Tinubu continues to issue assurances about fixing the economy, the reality is that the state-owned oil company—Nigeria’s main revenue earner—is hemorrhaging at a scale that cannot be hidden by selective project updates.
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