President Bola Tinubu on Monday, announced the nomination of Magnus Abe as the Board Chairman for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
In two different letters addressed to the Nigerian Senate, the president also sought the confirmation of 20 other nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and NUPRC.
In a statement issued on Monday, Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to the president on information and strategy said Abe a former NNPC board member and current chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wallhas been nominated as the chairman of NUPRC.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board 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.
According to Onanuga, both men will serve as non-executive commissioners.
President Tinubu also nominated other executive commissioners to the board including Muhammed Sabo Lamido, executive commissioner for finance; 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 Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer, as chairman of the NMDPRA board.
“Adeniji 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,” Onanuga said.
Others are Abiodun Adeniji, nominated for the position of the 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 one time, the Financial Reporting Manager at Exxon Nigerian subsidiaries.
He added that President Tinubu has urged the Senate to approve the nominees expeditiously.
Onanuga said the president’s requests follow 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.
He noted that Tinubu has also charged all the appointees and nominees to discharge their duties and responsibilities professionally as regulators of the oil and gas sectors.
