Tinubu Shakes Up NNPC Board, Appoints New CEO and Chairman
Editor
President Bola Tinubu has made significant changes to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, sacking the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, and the board chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure.
In a statement issued by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu announced the appointment of Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman of the NNPC Limited board.
The new 11-man board includes Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November. Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones.
The board members representing the geopolitical zones are Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), and Babs Omotowa (North Central). Austin Avuru represents the South-South, David Ige represents the South-West, and Henry Obih represents the South-East.
Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Sa’id Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
According to the statement, all the appointments are effective as of April 2.
President Tinubu invoked the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, to emphasize that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.
The President handed out an immediate action plan to the new board, which includes conducting a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and joint venture assets to ensure alignment with value maximization objectives.
The Tinubu administration aims to increase investment in the oil sector to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. The administration also targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030.
Concurrently, the government wants gas production to reach 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030. President Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.
The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.
Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company.
