President Bola Tinubu has forwarded letters to the Senate seeking confirmation of 21 nominees for appointment into the boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The development was disclosed on Tuesday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
In the first letter, Tinubu nominated former senator representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe, as Chairman of the NUPRC board. Abe is a two-term lawmaker, former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and currently chairs the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board as non-executive commissioners are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Mr. Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The President also nominated several executive commissioners for the commission. They include Muhammed Sabo Lamido (Finance), Edu Inyang (Exploration and Acreage), Justin Ezeala (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), Henry Darlington Oki (Development and Production), Indabawa Bashari Alka (Corporate Services and Administration), Mahmood Tijani (Health, Safety and Environment), and Ms. Olayemi Adeboyejo as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
Onanuga noted that some of the nominees, including Lamido and Adeboyejo, were initially appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, while Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. Others are fresh nominations.
In a separate letter, Tinubu nominated Mr. Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as Chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji, a lawyer with over 30 years’ experience in energy and natural resources, previously served as Special Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters and was part of the World Bank Oil and Gas Policy advisory team to Nigeria.
Other nominees for the NMDPRA board include Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs. Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Executive members nominated are Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr. Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration).
Additional nominees are Mr. Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Ms. Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), and Barrister Olawale Dawodu as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to expedite action on the confirmation of the nominees, following the recent appointment of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
The President charged all the nominees to discharge their regulatory responsibilities with professionalism to ensure effective oversight and development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
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