BREAKING: Tinubu Makes 21 New Appointments in Oil Sector

• President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, forwarding his name and 20 others to the Senate for confirmation.

President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East Senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), seeking the Senate’s confirmation for him and 20 other nominees to serve on the boards of Nigeria’s two key petroleum regulatory agencies.

The nominations were conveyed in separate letters sent to the Senate on Monday, in which the President requested expedited consideration of board members for both the NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Abe, a two-term senator, previously served as a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and currently chairs the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.

If confirmed, he will head the NUPRC board alongside non-executive commissioners including Paul Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.

Seven executive commissioners were also nominated to the NUPRC board. They include Muhammed Lamido for finance; Edu Inyang for exploration and acreage; Justin Ezeala for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Henry Oki for development and production.

Others are Indabawa Alka for corporate services and administration; Mahmood Tijani for health, safety and environment; and Olayemi Adeboyejo as secretary and legal adviser.

Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed in 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, while Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Jezhi and Babalola are new nominees.

For the NMDPRA board, President Tinubu nominated Adegbite Adeniji, a seasoned energy lawyer, as chairman. Adeniji previously served as special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum and was part of the World Bank’s Oil & Gas Policy team that advised Nigeria on petroleum sector reforms. He currently serves as managing partner at ENR Advisory.

Other nominees to the NMDPRA board include Kenneth Kobani, a former minister of state for trade, and Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Executive nominees include Abiodun Adeniji for finance; Francis Ogaree for hydrocarbon; Oluwole Adama for midstream and downstream gas infrastructure; and Dr Mustapha Lamorde for corporate services and administration.

DON’T MISS: AI Used to Improve Quality of Tinubu-Kagame Paris Meeting Photo, Presidency Gives Details

Additional nominees are Yahaya Yinusa for distribution systems; Adeyemi Aminu for corporate services; Modie Ogechukwu for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.

The nominations follow the Senate’s recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as chief executive officer of the NUPRC and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA.

Both regulatory agencies were established under the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, which dissolved the Department of Petroleum Resources and restructured Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory framework.

President Tinubu urged all nominees to discharge their responsibilities with professionalism, stressing the strategic importance of effective regulation in Nigeria’s petroleum sector. The Senate is expected to screen the nominees in the coming weeks.