President Bola Tinubu has dismissed Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and replaced him with Bashir Ojulari. The President also removed Pius Akinyelure as the board chairman and reconstituted the entire board of the company.
The announcement came in the early hours of Wednesday through a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
“President Tinubu has approved the reconstitution of the NNPCL board and appointed a new chairman and Group CEO,” the statement read.
According to the statement, Bashir Ojulari will now lead the NNPCL as the new Group Chief Executive Officer, while Ahmadu Musa Kida has been appointed as the new non-executive chairman of the board. Both appointments take effect immediately.
A Complete Board Reshuffle
Tinubu also replaced all other board members who were appointed alongside Kyari and Akinyelure in November 2023. The newly constituted 11-member board includes key figures from across the country.
Adedapo Segun, who had previously replaced Umaru Ajiya as the chief financial officer in 2023, has now been confirmed as a member of the board.
Other non-executive directors appointed to represent the six geopolitical zones are:
- Bello Rabiu (North West)
- Yusuf Usman (North East)
- Babs Omotowa (North Central), a former managing director of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company
- Austin Avuru (South-South)
- David Ige (South West)
- Henry Obih (South East)
Additionally, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, a permanent secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the finance ministry on the board, while Aminu Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Why the Shake-Up?
President Tinubu exercised his authority under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, to make the sweeping changes. The Presidency explained that the restructuring aims to improve NNPCL’s operational efficiency, boost investor confidence, and enhance local content in the oil and gas sector.
“The President expects the new board to drive economic growth, advance gas commercialisation, and diversify Nigeria’s energy sector,” Onanuga stated.
Tinubu has also given the new board a key task: to conduct a thorough review of NNPCL’s joint venture assets to ensure they align with national economic goals.
Oil and Gas Sector Reforms
Since coming into office in 2023, President Tinubu has pursued significant reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. His administration has secured $17 billion in new investments and aims to raise this figure to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.
“The goal is to increase oil production to two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million barrels daily by 2030,” Onanuga stated.
The government also aims to raise gas production from its current level to eight billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.
Additionally, the new board has been tasked with increasing Nigeria’s crude oil refining capacity. The administration targets producing 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030 from NNPC’s share of refining.
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Meet the New Leadership
The new NNPCL chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, hails from Borno State. He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in civil engineering in 1984 and later obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol in Paris.
Kida started his oil industry career with Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production. Over the years, he held key positions, including Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services at Total Nigeria in 2015. In 2024, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
Apart from his career in oil and gas, Kida is also known for his contributions to Nigerian basketball, having served as the President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation.
Meanwhile, the new NNPCL Group CEO, Bashir Ojulari, is from Kwara State. Before his appointment, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His company recently led a $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s operations in Nigeria.
Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied mechanical engineering. His career in the oil industry began at Elf Aquitaine as a process engineer. He later joined Shell Petroleum Development Company in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
Over the years, Ojulari worked in various parts of the world, including Europe and the Middle East, taking on roles such as petroleum process engineer, production engineer, strategic planner, and asset manager. In 2015, he became the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company.
Ojulari is also well respected in the engineering community. He has served as chairman and a board trustee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigeria Council) and is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
Tinubu Thanks Outgoing Board Members
In his statement, President Tinubu thanked the outgoing board members for their service to NNPCL. He acknowledged their role in reviving Nigeria’s Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which had remained inactive for years.
“He expressed his appreciation for their dedication to the company and wished them success in their future endeavors,” the statement concluded.
With this major reshuffle, all eyes will now be on the new leadership of NNPCL as they take on the challenge of driving Nigeria’s oil and gas sector forward.