President Tinubu has replaced the heads of NMDPRA and NUPRC amid Dangote corruption allegations.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has moved to replace the leadership of two key petroleum regulatory agencies following the resignation of their chief executives, including one recently embroiled in corruption allegations by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), were confirmed to have stepped down from office.
The statement noted that Ahmed had been facing corruption allegations from Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries Limited and owner of Africa’s largest refinery.
Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, announced that President Tinubu has nominated new chief executives for both agencies and has formally written to the Senate seeking their confirmation.
According to Onanuga, the president is requesting expedited approval for the appointment of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
He explained that the nominations followed the resignations of Ahmed and Komolafe, who were appointed in 2021 under former President Muhammadu Buhari to head the regulatory bodies created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Onanuga said both nominees bring decades of experience in the oil and gas sector.
Ms Eyesan, an Economics graduate of the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, between 2023 and 2024, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was recently appointed an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
His career spans senior roles including Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as chairmanship positions at the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries and NNPC Retail.
Mohammed also served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power Directorate, where he played key roles in major gas policy frameworks such as the Gas Master Plan, Gas Network Code and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act.
He was instrumental in delivering major energy infrastructure projects, including the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and several Nigeria LNG Train projects.