Tinubu Sends Oil Board Nominees to Senate

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement on Monday,  January 5, stating that in the first letter to the Senate, the President nominated Senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the NUPRC board.

Abe, who represented Rivers South East in the Senate for two terms, is a former member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation board and currently chairs the National Agency of the Great Green Wall, Onanuga said.

Other nominees for the NUPRC board include Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, which was scrapped following the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021. Both were nominated as non-executive commissioners.

Onanuga said the President also nominated seven executive commissioners to the NUPRC board. They are Muhammed Sabo Lamido, executive commissioner for finance; Edu Inyang, executive commissioner for exploration and acreage; Justin Ezeala, executive commissioner for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Henry Darlington Oki, executive commissioner for development and production.

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

Lamido and Adeboyejo were first appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, while Alka was appointed by Tinubu in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola, and Jezhi are new appointees, Onanuga said.

In a second letter, Onanuga disclosed that Tinubu nominated Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer, as chairman of the NMDPRA board.

“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,” Onanuga added.

“He was a member of the Oil & Gas Policy team at the World Bank, which advised the Nigeria government 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.”

Tinubu also nominated Kenneth Kobani and Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members of the NMDPRA board.

Kobani previously served as minister of state for trade under former President Goodluck Jonathan and as secretary to the Rivers State Government under Nyesom Wike.

Other nominees for confirmation include Abiodun Adeniji, executive director of finance; Francis Ogaree, executive director of hydrocarbon processing; Oluwole Adama, executive director of midstream and downstream gas infrastructure; and Mustapha Lamorde, executive director of corporate services and administration.

Onanuga noted that President Tinubu appointed Adama in 2024, while late President Buhari appointed Lamorde and Adeniji in 2021 and Ogaree in 2022.

Other members of the NMDPRA board, as proposed by President Tinubu, are Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa, executive director, distribution systems; Adeyemi Murtala Aminu, executive director, corporate services; Modie Ogechukwu, executive director, economic regulation and strategic planning; and Barrister Olawale Dawodu, as board secretary and legal adviser.

The President urged the Senate to approve the nominees promptly, Onanuga said.