Tinubu nominates 21 Board Members for NMDPRA, NUPRC, seeks Senate confirmation
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded two separate letters to the Senate seeking confirmation of 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
In the first letter, the President nominated former senator representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe, as chairman of the NUPRC board. Abe is a former member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) board and currently serves as chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
Also nominated as non-executive commissioners on the NUPRC board 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 defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
President Tinubu further nominated seven executive commissioners for the NUPRC board. 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.
While Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed in 2022 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are new nominees.
In a second letter, President Tinubu nominated Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, an energy law expert, as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji has over three decades of experience in the energy and natural resources sector and previously served as a special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum. He is currently the managing partner at ENR Advisory.
Other nominees for the NMDPRA board include Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Kobani is a former Minister of State for Trade and a former Secretary to the Government of Rivers State.
The President also sought confirmation for executive directors, namely Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon Processing), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration). Adama was appointed in 2024 by President Tinubu, while Adeniji, Lamorde and Ogaree were appointed between 2021 and 2022 by former President Buhari.
Additional nominees include Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Ms Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), and Barrister Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to consider and approve the nominees expeditiously. The nominations follow the recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
The President has charged all appointees and nominees to carry out their responsibilities with professionalism in regulating Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
