By Chibuike Nwabuko
ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm 21 nominees for the boards of Nigeria’s two key petroleum regulators, namely; the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
In a letter to the upper chamber, Tinubu nominated former senator and ex-NNPC board member Magnus Abe as chairman of the NUPRC board. Abe, who represented Rivers South East for two terms, currently chairs the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
This announcement was contained in statement released Monday on the X handle of the Special Adviser to the President (Information and Strategy), Bayo Onanuga.
According to Adenuga, also nominated as non-executive commissioners on the NUPRC board are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
The President further named seven executive commissioners for the upstream regulator: 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 Olayemi Adeboyejo as secretary and legal adviser.
While Lamido and Adeboyejo were appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022 and Alka by Tinubu in 2023, others, including Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are fresh nominees.
In a second letter, Tinubu nominated energy lawyer Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji brings more than three decades of experience in energy and natural resources, including advisory roles to the Ministry of Petroleum and the World Bank. He is currently managing partner at ENR Advisory.
Non-executive nominees to the NMDPRA board include Chief Kenneth Kobani, a former minister of state for trade and former Rivers State SSG, and Mrs Asabe Ahmed.
Other executive nominees are Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration).
Tinubu appointed Adama in 2024, while Buhari appointed Lamorde and Adeniji in 2021 and Ogaree in 2022.
Additional board members proposed are Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), and Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.
Tinubu urged the Senate to consider and approve the nominations expeditiously. The requests follow the recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
The President charged all appointees to discharge their duties professionally as regulators of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
