The Chief Executives of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies, NMDPRA and NUPRC, Engr. Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, have resigned.
Following their exit, President Bola Tinubu has nominated new leaders for the two agencies and sent their names to the Senate for confirmation.
According to a report obtained from Vanguard, the President’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, explained that the nominations were made following the resignation of the two officials, who were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Both agencies were created under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to regulate Nigeria’s upstream and downstream oil sector.
President Tinubu has requested the Senate to expedite confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA.
The two new nominees bring extensive experience to their roles, Eyesan is a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin and spent nearly 33 years with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and its subsidiaries.
She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, between 2023 and 2024, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering.
He has held key positions in the oil and gas sector, including Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company.
He has also chaired the boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail, same day he was appointed as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
With the Senate now tasked with confirming the nominees, attention turns to how swiftly the new leadership will take charge to continue shaping Nigeria’s oil and gas industry under the Petroleum Industry Act.