President Bola Tinubu says Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, will eventually be listed in its entirety on the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, reviving a plan first outlined in 2016.
Tinubu made the commitment during an engagement with the leadership of NGX Group on August 6.
“We will do NNPCL reforms to the extent that one day the totality of it, not just arms and legs, the totality of it, will be listed on NGX,” the President said.
The Federal Government had first proposed listing NNPC on the NGX after petroleum-sector reforms in a draft National Oil Policy submitted to the Federal Executive Council in November 2016. The Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 also ordered the company’s listing.
The prospect of an NNPC initial public offering has renewed market optimism at a time when the NGX has returned 57.8 per cent this year. Market capitalisation stood at N158.51 trillion in the trading week ended August 7, compared with N158.28 trillion a week earlier.
Temi Popoola, group managing director and chief executive of NGX Group Plc, described Tinubu’s affirmation as a significant step towards using the capital market to support broader economic development.
He said a listing could allow Nigerians to own a stake in one of the country’s most important commercial assets while subjecting the company to greater transparency, accountability and market discipline.
BusinessDay data put NNPC’s asset base at about $150 billion to $153 billion. Its calculations showed that a 10 per cent float at a conservative $40 billion valuation, or about N60 trillion, could exceed the market value of current major NGX-listed companies and significantly increase the energy sector’s weight on the index.
However, the planned listing would require NNPC to address concerns around its balance sheet, obligations and remittances to the Federal Government.
The World Bank said in May 2025 that NNPC had been passing on only about half of the savings generated by the removal of petrol subsidies.
Wood Mackenzie said NNPC’s production is largely dependent on assets operated by international oil companies and indigenous producers, adding that the company’s future would depend partly on the level of capital other players are willing to invest in Nigeria.
Tinubu cited Saudi Aramco as a model for the proposed IPO. Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing remains the largest initial public offering in history, according to the source.
NNPC is not the only major energy company expected to test investor appetite. Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals is targeting a $5 billion initial public offering by October, according to the report.
