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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fired off two key letters to the Senate, nominating 21 experts to steer the boards of Nigeria’s vital petroleum regulators: the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Leading the NUPRC board is Senator Magnus Abe, who served two terms representing Rivers South East. Abe is said to bring deep industry insight as a former NNPC board member and current chair of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
For the NMDPRA board, Tinubu tapped lawyer Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as chairman. Said to have over 30 years experience tackling energy and natural resources challenges, Adeniji previously advised the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters until 2018.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board, according to the press release signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Mr. Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which was abolished by the PIA in 2021. Both men will serve as non-executive commissioners.
President Tinubu also nominated executive commissioners to the board.
They are: Muhammed Sabo Lamido, executive commissioner for finance; Mr Edu Inyang, executive commissioner for Exploration and Acreage; Justin Ezeala, executive commissioner for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Henry Darlington Oki, executive commissioner for Development and Production.
Others are Indabawa Bashari Alka, executive commissioner for corporate services and administration; Mahmood Tijani, executive commissioner for health, safety and environment; and Ms Olayemi Adeboyejo, as secretary and legal adviser.
Former President Buhari appointed Lamido and Adeboyejo in 2022, while President Tinubu appointed Alka in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, the former managing director of Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited, Mahmood Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are new appointees of President Tinubu.
In his second letter to the Senate, President Tinubu nominated Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer, as chairman of the NMDPRA board.
Adeniji, according to the press statement, has over 30 years of experience in energy and natural resources issues. He was a special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas until 2018. He was a member of the Oil & Gas Policy team at the World Bank, which advised the Government of Nigeria on the reform and restructuring of the petroleum sector, including the development of the Strategic Gas Plan for Nigeria. He is currently the managing partner at ENR Advisory.
President Tinubu also nominated Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Kobani was a former minister of state for trade under President Jonathan and secretary to the government of Rivers State, under Nyesom Wike.
Also nominated for confirmation are Abiodun Adeniji, executive director of finance; Francis Ogaree, executive director of hydrocarbon; Oluwole Adama, executive director of midstream and Downstream gas infrastructure; and Dr. Mustapha Lamorde, executive director of Corporate Services and Administration.
President Tinubu appointed Adama in 2024, while late President Buhari appointed Lamorde and Adeniji in 2021 and Ogaree in 2022.
Other members of the NMDPRA board, as proposed by President Tinubu, are Mr Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa, executive director, distribution systems; Adeyemi Murtala Aminu, executive director, corporate services; Ms Modie Ogechukwu, executive director, economic regulation and strategic planning; and Barrister Olawale Dawodu, as board secretary and legal adviser.
Dawodu is an industry player and was, at a time, the Financial Reporting Manager at Exxon Nigerian subsidiaries.
The President urged the Senate to approve the nominees expeditiously.
The requests followed the recent appointment of chief executive officers for the two regulatory agencies. The Senate confirmed Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
Mr President has charged all the appointees and nominees to discharge their duties and responsibilities professionally as regulators of the oil and gas sectors.
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