The chief executives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engineers Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, have resigned.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
Following the development, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve the nominations of two new chief executives for the regulators—Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
According to Onanuga, the replacements followed the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC.
“To fill these positions, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
“The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry,” the statement partly reads.
Onanuga noted that the resignees were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the two regulatory agencies created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
According to Onanuga, Eyesan, a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years with the NNPC and its subsidiaries.
She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at NNPC from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He was also announced today as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
His prior roles include Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as Chair of the boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
He also served as Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and policy frameworks, including the Gas Master Plan, Gas Network Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Engineer Mohammed also played a pivotal role in delivering key projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train 7.
The development comes few days after Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, accused Farouk Ahmed of alleged corruption tied to his children’s overseas education.
An Anti-graft agency is in receipt of the allegations and promised to probe more.
On the part of the NMDPRA, it denied responding to the Dangote allegations.
On the part of the NMDPRA, it denied responding to the Dangote allegations.