The chief executives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engineers Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, have stepped down from their positions.

The development was confirmed in a statement issued on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.

Following the development, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested Senate approval for the nominations of two new chief executives for the regulators—Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.

Onanuga said the nominations followed the resignations of Engineer Farouk Ahmed, former head of the NMDPRA, and Komolafe, former chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission NUPRC.

“To fill these positions, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.

“The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry,” the statement partly reads.

Onanuga noted that both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to head the two regulatory agencies established under the Petroleum Industry Act.

Onanuga said Eyesan, an Economics graduate of the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years working with the NNPC and its subsidiaries.

She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and earlier served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at the NNPC between 2019 and 2023.

Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, is a 1981 graduate of Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University. He was also announced on Wednesday as an independent non-executive director of Seplat Energy.

His previous appointments include Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as chairman of the boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.

He also served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Gas and Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and policy frameworks, including the Gas Master Plan, the Gas Network Code, and inputs into the PIA.

Engineer Mohammed was instrumental in the delivery of key projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train 7.

The development comes just days after Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, accused Farouk Ahmed of alleged corruption linked to his children’s overseas education.

An anti-graft agency has acknowledged receipt of the allegations and said it would investigate further.