President Bola Tinubu has submitted the names of former Rivers South-East senator, Magnus Abe, alongside 20 other nominees to the Senate for confirmation as members of the governing boards of Nigeria’s key petroleum regulatory agencies.
The nominations, contained in separate letters sent to the Senate on Monday, seek approval for board appointments to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Abe, who served two terms in the Senate and was previously a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was nominated as chairman of the NUPRC board. He currently heads the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
In a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Abe is expected to work with other non-executive commissioners, including Paul Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna State, and Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
The President also nominated seven executive commissioners for the NUPRC. They are Muhammed Lamido for finance; Edu Inyang for exploration and acreage management; Justin Ezeala for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Henry Oki for development and production. Others include Indabawa Alka for corporate services and administration, Mahmood Tijani for health, safety and environment, and Olayemi Adeboyejo as board secretary and legal adviser.
Lamido and Adeboyejo were first appointed in 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, while Alka joined the commission in 2023 under President Tinubu. The remaining nominees are new additions to the board.
For the NMDPRA, President Tinubu nominated Adegbite Adeniji as chairman. Adeniji is a legal practitioner with over 30 years’ experience in energy and natural resources and has previously advised the federal government on petroleum sector reforms. He currently serves as managing partner at ENR Advisory.
Other nominees to the NMDPRA board include former Minister of State for Trade, Kenneth Kobani, and Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Executive directors nominated are Abiodun Adeniji for finance, Francis Ogaree for hydrocarbon processing, Oluwole Adama for midstream and downstream gas infrastructure, and Dr Mustapha Lamorde for corporate services and administration.
Additional board nominees include Yahaya Yinusa for distribution systems, Adeyemi Aminu for corporate services, Modie Ogechukwu for economic regulation and strategic planning, and Olawale Dawodu as secretary and legal adviser. Dawodu is an industry professional who previously worked with Exxon’s Nigerian subsidiaries.
The nominations follow the recent Senate confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
Both agencies were established under the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, which dismantled the former Department of Petroleum Resources and restructured Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory framework.
President Tinubu urged the nominees to uphold professionalism and transparency in their roles, stressing that effective regulation is critical to the growth and stability of the country’s petroleum sector. The Senate is expected to begin screening the nominees in the coming weeks.
- Latest
- Trending
