President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East Senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), requesting the Senate’s confirmation for him and 20 other nominees to serve on the boards of Nigeria’s key petroleum regulatory agencies.
In letters sent to the Senate on Monday, the President urged expedited approval for the proposed members of both the NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Abe, who represented Rivers South-East in the Senate for two terms, previously served on the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and currently chairs the National Agency of the Great Green Wall. He is set to lead the NUPRC board alongside non-executive commissioners including Paul Jezhi, former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Sunday Babalola, former deputy director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
Seven executive commissioners were also nominated for the NUPRC board: Muhammed Lamido (finance), Edu Inyang (exploration and acreage), Justin Ezeala (economic regulation and strategic planning), Henry Oki (development and production), Indabawa Alka (corporate services and administration), Mahmood Tijani (health, safety and environment), and Olayemi Adeboyejo (secretary and legal adviser).
While Lamido, Adeboyejo, and Alka were previously appointed by former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Tinubu, the other nominees are new appointments, including Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola, and Jezhi.
For the NMDPRA board, President Tinubu nominated Adegbite Adeniji, a lawyer with over 30 years of experience in energy and natural resources, as chairman. Adeniji previously served as a special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters and was a member of the World Bank’s Oil & Gas Policy team that advised Nigeria on petroleum sector reforms. He currently serves as managing partner at ENR Advisory.
Other NMDPRA nominees include Kenneth Kobani, former minister of state for trade under President Goodluck Jonathan, and Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members, alongside executive directors Abiodun Adeniji (finance), Francis Ogaree (hydrocarbon), Oluwole Adama (midstream and downstream gas infrastructure), and Dr Mustapha Lamorde (corporate services and administration). Additional executive directors nominated include Yahaya Yinusa (distribution systems), Adeyemi Aminu (corporate services), Modie Ogechukwu (economic regulation and strategic planning), and Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.
The nominations follow the recent Senate confirmation of the chief executive officers of the two regulatory agencies: Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan for NUPRC and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed for NMDPRA. Both bodies were established under the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, which abolished the Department of Petroleum Resources and restructured the governance of Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
President Tinubu charged all nominees to execute their responsibilities professionally, emphasizing the strategic importance of effective oversight in the oil and gas sector. The Senate is expected to screen and vote on the nominees in the coming weeks.
