Oando —owned by President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, Wale Tinubu — has netted a N60.3 billion profit after tax, according to the energy company’s audited financial statements.

This indicates a surge in revenue during Mr Tinubu’s first year in office, given that the company recorded a loss after tax of N81.2 billion in 2022.

The report showed that the company recorded a 43 per cent increase turnover, generating N2.9 trillion in the financial year ended 2023 compared to the N1.9 trillion generated within the same period in 2022 while Muhammadu Buhari was the president. This validates rumours that the company was enjoying special privileges to dominate the oil and gas sector.

“Operating profit for the period increased by 961 per cent,” a statement released by Oando’s company secretary Ayotola Jagun and its chief financial officer, Adeola Ogunsemi, said on Friday.

Oando has also reduced its upstream borrowings from $635.6 million in 2022 to $488.9 million in 2023, indicating a 23 per cent decrease, the audited statements showed.

Mr Tinubu bragged that his company surmounted operational challenges of vandalism to still achieve a significant profit in tens of billions of naira as opposed to the previous year when it suffered losses in billions.

While the nation endured a torrid economy exacerbated by currency instability, Mr Tinubu said Oando Plc thrived due to its trade alliances and “favourable” forex gains obtained from foreign assets.

“Despite the operational hurdles occasioned by security breaches and persistent pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta, we achieved a profit after tax of N60 billion, bolstered by the strength of our global trading alliances, a 12 per cent increase in total production, and favourable exchange gains from our foreign currency denominated assets,” said Mr Tinubu, MD and CEO of Oando Plc.

Mr Tinubu said Oando leveraged the exit of international oil companies and the acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to transform its finances.
“Our recently completed transformational acquisition of NAOC Ltd is a pivotal moment for the company due to the expansive reserves and reserves and vast infrastructure network,” he said.

The report showed that Oando Plc’s average production was 23,258 bpd in 2023, up from 20,703 bpd in 2022, and that daily production averaged 6,211 bbls/day, up from 4,939 bbls/day in 2022.

Peoples Gazette in September reported a similar valuation surge that catapulted Oando —an average-performing company as of 2022 before his uncle became president — to the top 10 most-capitalised companies on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Also, the oil group was eyeing Trinidad’s national refinery for acquisition and was in October shortlisted among three companies to land the deal.