State oil firm NNPC Limited reported a net profit of 7.2 trillion naira on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, marking a 33 per cent jump above the 5.4 trillion naira recorded in the previous financial year. Company executives presented the audited ledger to shareholders during their annual general meeting in Abuja, crediting disciplined cost control and robust pipeline security for the windfall. Paper earnings surge while citizens face pump shock.
Total revenue tumbled 24 per cent to 34.5 trillion naira as softer crude prices and lower domestic fuel sales shrank commercial turnover across regional sales depots. The firm still remitted 22.3 trillion naira to federation accounts, giving cash-strapped state governors a vital fiscal cushion to meet monthly civil service wage bills. Nominal surpluses disguise severe operational headwinds.
The oil giant continues to sell feedstock to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery under a domestic naira-for-crude framework, ending an era of foreign currency friction for local refiners. Yet state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna remain silent monuments to bureaucratic failure, resuming commercial output only when managers prove future market profitability. Inactive state plants burn public cash.
Currency devaluation flattered these balance sheet figures, as export sales booked in US dollars converted into immense sums of cheap local paper money. Ordinary families see little cause for celebration while retail petrol rates exceed 1,000 naira per litre and trade unions plan national strikes to protest costly energy bills. Mammoth book profits cannot cook family meals.
The board must turn paper gains into lower retail fuel prices, uninterrupted pipeline flows, and genuine energy security across the federation. Parading trillions in accounting surplus offers thin comfort to factory owners who spend entire operating budgets on private diesel generators. Solvency demands real industrial results.