NNPC’s Ogoniland Promise: A Fresh Start or Just Another PR Move?
By: Abudu Olalekan
Let’s be real. Ogoniland has heard this song before.
The morning sun glittered over Ogoniland on December 22, 2025. A delegation from Abuja had arrived. Not just any delegation—this one carried promises. Heavy ones. Hopeful ones.
Bashir Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), stood before community leaders, stakeholders, and journalists. His suit looked crisp, but his tone? Warm. Almost personal.
“This visit,” he began, pausing for effect, “isn’t about paperwork. It’s about hope. Real, tangible hope.”
He didn’t dance around the past. Ogoniland’s history—with its oil spills, broken assurances, and years of mistrust—wasn’t ignored. Couldn’t be ignored.
“You can’t build tomorrow without acknowledging yesterday,” Ojulari said plainly. “We know the pain. We respect it.”
But today wasn’t about mourning. It was about moving forward.
Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, the Federal Government had renewed its engagement. And NNPC Ltd.? They were matching it, step for step.
“For us,” Ojulari continued, “this marks a new beginning. Grounded in partnership. Mutual respect. Shared responsibility.”
He tipped his hat to the Presidential Committee on Ogoni Re-entry—chaired by Professor Don Baridam—and to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Their steady hands, he noted, had turned tension into tentative trust.
“What we’re doing here,” he emphasised, leaning forward slightly, “goes beyond drilling wells. It’s about drilling hope. About putting people first. Livelihoods. The environment. All of it matters.”
Then came the announcement everyone waited for.
“I’m delighted—truly delighted—to share this,” Ojulari said, a rare smile breaking through. Thirty Ogoni indigenes. Full-time NNPC employees.
The process? Nearly complete. Offers already dispatched.
“They’ll start work in January 2026,” he announced. “Thirty young men and women. From here. Working for NNPC. That’s not just employment. That’s shared progress.”
Across the state, Rivers Governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara nodded along. He’d sat with President Tinubu months earlier. Promises were made. And now? They were keeping them.
“Roads are being rebuilt,” Fubara told the gathering. “We’re establishing a University of Environment. Hospitals. An industrial park. Opportunities—real opportunities—are unfolding.” He gestured toward Ojulari. “And as of today, thirty Ogoni sons and daughters have NNPC jobs. That’s commitment. That’s action.”
Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser—standing in for President Tinubu—spoke next. His voice carried weight.
“We didn’t get here alone,” Ribadu said. “Rivers State? One of Nigeria’s most peaceful today. And why? Because of a responsible Governor. Because of the good people of Ogoniland. We worked together.”
He thanked stakeholders. Community leaders. Even the sceptics who kept leaders honest.
“Nigeria thanks you,” he concluded. Simple. Direct.
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OML-11. That’s the oil block everyone talks about. Operated by NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL), NNPC Ltd.’s flagship upstream subsidiary. It’s Nigeria’s largest onshore field. And Ogoniland? Holds over 40% of its recoverable reserves.
Big numbers. But numbers don’t tell the whole story.
The real story? It’s written in the faces of those thirty new hires. In the quiet confidence of a community that’s finally seeing change. In the dust kicked up by road-construction crews.
Will challenges disappear overnight? No. Nobody claimed that.
But something has changed.
The government listens now. NNPC talks less about extraction, more about protection. Leaders show up—not just in press releases, but in person.
Ogoniland still bears scars. Yet today, something new grows beside them: trust. Fragile, perhaps. But growing.
And trust? That’s the bedrock of any future worth building.
As the delegation packed up and headed back to Abuja, one thing felt certain:
A page had turned.
