In a major shake-up of Nigeria’s oil sector leadership, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dismissed Chief Pius Akinyelure as chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari as its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO).
The reconstitution also affects all other board members appointed alongside Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
The newly formed 11-member board features Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman.
Other key appointments announced by Tinubu include Adedapo Segun, who retains his role as chief financial officer following his replacement of Umaru Isa Ajiya last November.
Six non-executive directors representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones were also named. They are: Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), Babs Omotowa (North Central), Austin Avuru (South-South), David Ige (South West), and Henry Obih (South East).
Also, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Aminu Said Ahmed, representing the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, were appointed to the board.
Accorddingly, all appointments take effect immediately.
Citing his powers under Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, President Tinubu emphasized that the board’s restructuring is geared towards enhancing operational efficiency, restore investor confidence, boost local content, and advance gas commercialisation and diversification.
As part of their mandate, the new board is expected to conduct a strategic review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure value maximisation.
Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has pushed for oil sector reforms to attract investment, leading to $17 billion in commitments last year.
The government now aims to increase investments to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.
Some of the president’s key production targets include: Raising crude oil output to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million by 2030, Increasing gas production to eight billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030, and Boosting NNPC’s share of crude oil refining to 200,000 barrels daily by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030.
A native of Borno State, Kida holds a civil engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.
He began his career at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production, where he became Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Beyond his oil industry career, Kida is a former basketball player and president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Also, Ojulari, from Kwara State, was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His firm played a crucial role in the recent $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
An Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Ojulari began his career at Elf Aquitaine as Nigeria’s first indigenous process engineer. He later joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991, holding various roles across Europe and the Middle East before becoming Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) in 2015.
President Tinubu expressed gratitude to the outgoing board members for their contributions, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which recently resumed petroleum product production after years of inactivity. He wished them success in their future endeavors.