360
By Lizzy Chirkpi
President Bola Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting confirmation of 21 nominees for the governing boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Tinubu Nominates 21 for NUPRC, NMDPRA Boards, Seeks Senate’s Swift Confirmation Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The nominations were disclosed on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
In the first letter to the Senate, the President nominated former senator and ex–NNPC board member, Senator Magnus Abe, as Chairman of the NUPRC board. Abe, who represented Rivers South-East for two terms, currently serves as Chairman of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board as non-executive commissioners are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Mr. Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
President Tinubu also proposed the appointment of several executive commissioners for the NUPRC. They include Muhammed Sabo Lamido (Finance), Mr. 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), and Mahmood Tijani (Health, Safety and Environment). Ms. Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
Some of the nominees, including Lamido and Adeboyejo, were initially appointed under former President Muhammadu Buhari, while Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. The remaining nominees are fresh appointments.
In a separate correspondence, the President nominated Mr. Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as Chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji, a lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience in energy and natural resources, previously served as Special Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters and was part of the World Bank Oil and Gas Policy team that advised Nigeria.
Other nominees for the NMDPRA board include Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs. Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Executive members nominated are Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr. Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration).
Additional board members include Mr. Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Ms. Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), and Barrister Olawale Dawodu, who was nominated as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to confirm the nominees promptly, following the recent appointment of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
The President charged all appointees to carry out their regulatory responsibilities with professionalism, stressing the need for strong and effective oversight of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.