President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East Senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and forwarded his name alongside 20 other nominees to the Senate for confirmation to serve on the boards of the country’s two major petroleum regulatory agencies.
In separate letters transmitted to the Senate on Monday, the President sought expedited legislative approval for board members of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Abe, who represented Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the Senate for two terms, previously served as a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and is currently the chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Abe will head the NUPRC board alongside other non-executive commissioners, including Paul Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
President Tinubu also nominated seven executive commissioners to serve on the NUPRC board, with Muhammed Lamido designated as executive commissioner for finance, Edu Inyang for exploration and acreage, Justin Ezeala for economic regulation and strategic planning, and Henry Oki for development and production.
Other executive commissioners nominated for the NUPRC board are Indabawa Alka for corporate services and administration, Mahmood Tijani for health, safety and environment, and Olayemi Adeboyejo as secretary and legal adviser.
Lamido and Adeboyejo were first appointed to the commission by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, while President Tinubu appointed Alka in 2023.
Inyang, Ezeala, who is a former managing director of Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited, Tijani, Babalola, and Jezhi are new appointees to the commission.
For the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, President Tinubu nominated Adegbite Adeniji as chairman of the board.
Adeniji, a lawyer with over three decades of experience in energy and natural resources, previously served as special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters until 2018.
He was also a member of the World Bank’s Oil and Gas Policy team that advised the Nigerian government on petroleum sector reforms, including the development of the Strategic Gas Plan for Nigeria, and currently serves as managing partner at ENR Advisory.
The President further nominated Kenneth Kobani, a former Minister of State for Trade under President Goodluck Jonathan and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government under Nyesom Wike, as well as Asabe Ahmed, as non-executive members of the NMDPRA board.
Other nominees for the NMDPRA board include Abiodun Adeniji as executive director of finance, Francis Ogaree for hydrocarbon, Oluwole Adama for midstream and downstream gas infrastructure, and Dr Mustapha Lamorde for corporate services and administration.
President Tinubu appointed Adama to the board in 2024, while the late President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Lamorde and Adeniji in 2021 and Ogaree in 2022.
Additional nominees proposed by the President for the NMDPRA board are Yahaya Yinusa as executive director for distribution systems, Adeyemi Aminu for corporate services, Modie Ogechukwu for economic regulation and strategic planning, and Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.
Dawodu is an industry veteran who previously served as Financial Reporting Manager at Exxon Nigerian subsidiaries.
The presidential nominations come shortly after the Senate confirmed the chief executive officers of the two petroleum regulatory agencies.
Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan was confirmed as chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, while Saidu Aliyu Mohammed was approved as chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Both regulatory agencies were created by the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, which dissolved the Department of Petroleum Resources and introduced a new governance framework for Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
President Tinubu charged all appointees and nominees to carry out their duties professionally as regulators of the oil and gas industry, stressing the strategic importance of effective oversight in the sector.
The Senate is expected to commence screening of the nominees in the coming weeks ahead of formal confirmation votes.
