President Bola Tinubu has written two letters to the Senate, seeking confirmation of 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
In the first letter, President Tinubu nominated a former senator, Mr Magnus Abe, to serve as the NUPRC board chair. Mr Abe, who represented Rivers South East in the Senate for two terms, is a former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and current chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board are Mr Paul Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Mr Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director of the defunct 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, according to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, on Monday.
These include Mr Muhammed Lamido, executive commissioner for finance; Mr Edu Inyang, executive commissioner for Exploration and Acreage; Mr Justin Ezeala, executive commissioner for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Mr Henry Oki, executive commissioner for Development and Production.
Others are Mr Indabawa Alka, executive commissioner for corporate services and administration; Mr Mahmood Tijani, executive commissioner for health, safety and environment; and Mrs Olayemi Adeboyejo, as secretary and legal adviser.
Former President Buhari appointed Mr Lamido and Mrs Adeboyejo in 2022, while President Tinubu appointed Mr Alka in 2023. However, Mr Inyang, Mr Ezeala, the former managing director of Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited, Mr Mahmood Tijani, Mr Babalola and Mr Jezhi are new appointees of President Tinubu.
In his second letter to the Senate, President Tinubu nominated Mr Adegbite Adeniji, a lawyer, as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Mr 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 Mr Kenneth Kobani and Mr Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Mr Kobani was a minister of state for trade under former President Goodluck Jonathan and secretary to the government of Rivers State, under Mr Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
Also nominated for confirmation are Mr Abiodun Adeniji, executive director of finance; Mr Francis Ogaree, executive director of hydrocarbon; Mr Oluwole Adama, executive director of midstream and Downstream gas infrastructure; and Mr Mustapha Lamorde, executive director of Corporate Services and Administration. President Tinubu appointed Mr Adama in 2024, while late President Buhari appointed Mr Lamorde and Mr Adeniji in 2021 and Mr Ogaree in 2022
Other members of the NMDPRA board, as proposed by President Tinubu, are Mr Yahaya Yinusa, executive director, distribution systems; Adeyemi Aminu, executive director, corporate services; Mrs Modie Ogechukwu, executive director, economic regulation and strategic planning; and Mr Bolawale Dawodu, as board secretary and legal adviser. Mr 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 and confirmation of chief executive officers for the two regulatory agencies with Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan becoming the chief executive officer (CEO) of the NUPRC and Mr Saidu Mohammed taking over the CEO helm at NMDPRA.