By Ali Elias
NNPC Retail Limited has reported a staggering N395.5 billion loss for the 2024 financial year, its first full-year result since the controversial acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing Limited.
The loss stands in sharp contrast to the N20.18 billion profit the downstream subsidiary of NNPC Limited posted in 2022, before the deal that saw management of NNPC Retail effectively handed over to OVH.
According to the company’s audited financials, NNPC Retail’s net liability position grew to N278.8 billion in 2024, up from N79.5 billion in the previous year. Its net current liability rose to N423.6 billion, reversing from a positive position of N29.6 billion in 2023.
The report attributed the losses to non-recurring items, including a N117 billion impairment of receivables and reconciliation differences of N133.9 billion on intercompany accounts. Directors insisted the company remained viable, citing support from its parent company, NNPC Limited, and describing the losses as unlikely to persist in future periods.
Despite these assurances, the financial collapse has revived concerns about the OVH acquisition, which has been dogged by secrecy, questions over ownership structure, and allegations of poor due diligence. Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES had earlier revealed that OVH Energy may not have owned as many assets as claimed, even as its executives assumed control of NNPC Retail after the merger.
Critics argue that the takeover turned what was once a profitable subsidiary into a loss-making entity saddled with managerial turmoil. In July 2023, the House of Representatives ordered NNPC Limited to suspend the acquisition pending investigation. But the probe by an ad-hoc committee ended inconclusively, with lawmakers describing the report as ‘suspicious and shabby.’ The matter was later transferred to the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), which is still investigating.
Meanwhile, a court ruling in 2024 further muddied the waters by dissolving the old NNPC Retail and effectively transferring its identity to OVH Energy Marketing, now re-registered under the name NNPC Retail Limited.
The losses raise hard questions: why did a once-profitable arm of Nigeria’s national oil company slip so quickly into insolvency? Was the acquisition a genuine attempt to expand market share, or was it, as critics claim, a backdoor deal that handed public assets to private interests?
Beyond balance sheets, the case underscores the urgent need for transparency in NNPC’s operations, especially now that it operates as a limited liability company under the Petroleum Industry Act. For a country still reeling from fuel subsidy debts and oil revenue shortfalls, the sight of its flagship retail arm hemorrhaging nearly N400 billion in a single year is bound to provoke public anger.
Unless lawmakers, regulators, and the NNPC board confront the deeper structural and governance issues surrounding the OVH deal, NNPC Retail’s losses may prove to be less of a one-off and more of a symptom of a system where public accountability is still treated as optional.