The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board has been reconstituted with approval from President Bola Tinubu, who has removed Chief Pius Akinyelure as chairman and Mallam Mele Kyari as group chief executive officer.
Early on Wednesday morning, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), said that Tinubu had dismissed all other board members who had been appointed alongside Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
Ahmadu Kida is the Non-Executive Chairman and Engineer Bashir Ojulari is the Group CEO of the new 11-member board.
President Tinubu has chosen Adedapo Segun, who took over as chief financial officer from Umaru Ajiya last November, to the new board. The nation’s geopolitical zones are represented by the six non-executive directors on the board.
They are Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), who represents North Central; Bello Rabiu, who represents North West; and Yusuf Usman, who represents North East. South-South non-executive director Austin Avuru, South-West non-executive director David Ige, and South East non-executive director Henry Obih were all appointed by President Tinubu. The Federal Ministry of Finance’s permanent secretary, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, will serve as the ministry’s representative on the new board.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will be represented by Aminu Ahmed.
As of April 2, all appointments are in effect.
Using the authority provided by Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, President Tinubu emphasized the importance of the board’s reorganization in improving operational effectiveness, regaining investor trust, increasing local content, stimulating economic growth, and promoting gas commercialization and diversification.
In order to guarantee alignment with value maximization goals, President Tinubu also provided the new board with an immediate action plan to perform a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and joint venture assets.
In an effort to draw in investment, the Tinubu administration has been reforming the oil sector since 2023.
NNPC announced $17 billion in fresh investments in the industry last year.
As of right present, the administration wants to raise the investment to $60 billion by 2030 and $30 billion by 2027.
By 2027 and 2030, respectively, the Tinubu administration hopes to increase oil production to two and three million barrels per day.
At the same time, the government intends to increase gas production to 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030 and 8 billion cubic feet per day by 2027.
President Tinubu further anticipates that the new board will increase NNPC’s proportion of crude oil refining production to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030.
Kida, the newly appointed board chairman, hails from Borno State. He graduated in 1984 with a degree in civil engineering from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
Additionally, he graduated from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris with a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering.
He began working in the oil sector at Elf Petroleum Nigeria before becoming a trainee engineer at Total Exploration & Production in 1985.
In 2015, Kida was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services for Total Nigeria. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
Kida is the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) and a former basketball player in addition to his work in the oil sector.
Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, originates from Kwara State.
Until his recent job, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company.
His Renaissance recently spearheaded a group of domestic energy companies in the historic $2.4 billion purchase of the full ownership stake in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
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Ojulari is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, just like Kida. He earned a Mechanical Engineering degree upon graduation.
He was the first Nigerian process engineer to start a successful career in the oil industry, working for Elf Aquitaine.
In 1991, he became an associate production scientist with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. after leaving Elf.
In addition to his work in Nigeria, he held several positions as a strategic planner, asset manager, field developer, and petroleum process and production engineer in Europe and the Middle East.
He took over as Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company’s (SNEPCO) managing director in 2015. He was a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the chairman and trustee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) during his career.
President Tinubu expressed gratitude to the former board members for their devoted service to NNPC Limited, highlighting their work in restoring the historic refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri, which allowed them to start producing petroleum products again after extended shutdowns.
He wished them luck in all of their future pursuits.
