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 a few days after Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, accused Farouk Ahmed of alleged corruption in office.
Specifically, Dangote publicly accused the NMDPRA boss of corruption and economic sabotage, including claims that Ahmed spent about $5 million on the overseas secondary education of his four children—a figure Dangote said is inconsistent with the income of a public official.
He also alleged that the NMDPRA has been releasing figures that do not accurately reflect actual production at its Lekki-based refinery, insisting that the regulator’s reports present a distorted view of operations.
He also alleged that the NMDPRA has been releasing figures that do not accurately reflect actual production at its Lekki-based refinery, insisting that the regulator’s reports present a distorted view of operations.
Naijaonpoint reports that Dangote has been engaged in nearly a year-long public criticism of oil regulatory authorities, which resulted in the filing of a legal action to stall the issuance of petrol import licences.
That matter was eventually withdrawn by the Refinery.
Amid the dispute at the time, the federal government later granted marketers licences to buy petroleum products directly from the Dangote Refinery, following the Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC) decision to quit as the middleman between the two parties.
Dangote was also seen alleging that substandard petroleum products were being imported into Nigeria by other parties.
In what some analysts considered federal government intervention at the time, President Bola Tinubu later approved the reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Board and removed the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.
While the presidency has kept mum over Dangote’s recent allegations, the resignation could pave the way for another round of high-profile investigation by anti-graft agencies.