Nigeria’s state oil company has made a profit for the first time in its 44-year history, the government has announced.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the senior petroleum minister, said this was in line with the "prudent management of resources".

The 2020 profit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was recorded as $700m (£509m).

In previous years it has made huge losses.

It’s not yet clear why the NNPC made a profit last year at a time when Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy was devastated because of a sharp crash in global oil prices caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

President Buhari’s announcement comes as his government is planning to disband the NNPC to pave the way for the establishment of an independent and commercially driven company to replace it.