NNPC Limited, Africa’s largest state-owned oil firm, is facing an internal financial reckoning. According to its 2024 audited financial statements released on January 5, 2026, inter-company indebtedness has ballooned from N17.78tn in 2023 to N30.30tn.
The crisis is driven by underperforming refineries and trading arms that remain connected to the parent company for survival. This debt mountain complicates President Bola Tinubu’s push to commercialize the firm and prepare it for a future Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The company remains weighed down by legacy inefficiencies, despite the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021, which aimed to turn NNPC into a profit-driven entity. While the group reported a N5.4tn Profit After Tax in 2024, economic stakeholders warned that these figures are structural governance tests.
Only eight out of 32 subsidiaries being debt-free tells us this is not bad luck; it is weak commercial discipline – Prof. Wumi Iledare, Petroleum Economist
Most of the debt is essentially NNPC owing itself, a situation where subsidiaries fail to pay for services or crude, and losses are quietly rolled over.
The Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri refineries alone account for over N8.6tn of the debt, despite years of multi-billion dollar rehabilitation the refineries have yet to yield sustainable domestic production.
President Tinubu recently approved the cancellation of $1.42bn and N5.57tn in debts owed by NNPC to the Federation Account, but internal subsidiary debt continues to grow.
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