President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has moved to fully constitute the leadership of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory bodies, nominating twenty-one individuals to the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The President has formally requested the Senate to confirm the nominees.
The nominations, detailed in two separate letters to the Senate President, follow the recent confirmation of the Chief Executive Officers for both agencies and signal an effort to complete the governance structure mandated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Key Appointments for Upstream Regulation
For the NUPRC board, President Tinubu nominated former Senator Magnus Abe as Chairman. Abe, a two-term Senator representing Rivers South-East and a former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), brings significant political and sectoral experience to the role.
He is to be joined by two non-executive commissioners: Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Mr. Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The President also named a slate of executive commissioners, including Muhammed Sabo Lamido (Finance), Edu Inyang (Exploration and Acreage), and Justin Ezeala (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning). Others are Henry Darlington Oki (Development and Production), Indabawa Bashari Alka (Corporate Services), Mahmood Tijani (Health, Safety & Environment), and Ms. Olayemi Adeboyejo as Secretary/Legal Adviser.
Leadership for Midstream and Downstream
For the NMDPRA, Mr. Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer with over three decades in energy and natural resources, was nominated as Board Chairman. Adeniji has previously served as a special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum and worked with the World Bank on Nigeria’s gas sector reforms.
Chief Kenneth Kobani, a former Minister of State for Trade and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, and Mrs. Asabe Ahmed were nominated as non-executive members.
The executive director nominees include Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr. Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services). The board also includes Mr. Yahaya Yinusa, Adeyemi Aminu, Ms. Modie Ogechukwu, and Barrister Olawale Dawodu as Secretary/Legal Adviser.
In his correspondence, President Tinubu urged the Senate to consider the nominees expeditiously to ensure the agencies can function with full complement and authority.
The President charged all appointees and nominees to uphold the highest standards of professionalism in regulating the critical oil and gas sectors, emphasizing their role in attracting investment and ensuring industry stability.
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