President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm 21 nominees to the boards of Nigeria’s two key petroleum regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The requests, conveyed in two separate letters to the upper chamber, come weeks after the appointment and confirmation of new chief executive officers for both agencies, completing a major round of leadership changes under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which restructured the oil and gas regulatory framework in 2021.
For the NUPRC, Tinubu nominated former senator Magnus Abe as board chairman. Abe represented Rivers South East in the Senate for two terms and previously served on the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. He is currently chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees to the NUPRC board include Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the now-defunct Department of Petroleum Resources. Both are proposed as non-executive commissioners.
The President also forwarded names of executive commissioners covering finance; exploration and acreage; economic regulation and strategic planning; development and production; corporate services and administration; and health, safety and environment. Among them are Muhammed Sabo Lamido (finance), 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). Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as secretary and legal adviser.
According to the release, some of the nominees were first appointed under former President Muhammadu Buhari, while others are new appointments by Tinubu, reflecting a mix of continuity and change at the upstream regulator.
In a separate letter, Tinubu nominated energy lawyer Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji has worked in energy and natural resources for more than three decades, including advisory roles to the federal government and the World Bank, and is currently managing partner at ENR Advisory.
The President also nominated non-executive members Kenneth Kobani, a former minister of state for trade, and Asabe Ahmed, alongside executive directors responsible for finance, hydrocarbon processing, gas infrastructure, corporate services, distribution systems, and economic regulation and strategic planning.
In the letter, “The President urged the Senate to approve the nominees expeditiously,” the State House said. It added that the nominations followed the Senate’s recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as NUPRC chief executive and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
“Mr. President has charged all the appointees and nominees to discharge their duties and responsibilities professionally as regulators of the oil and gas sectors,” the statement, signed by presidential adviser Bayo Onanuga, said.
If confirmed, the boards will oversee regulation of Nigeria’s upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum operations, a central element of ongoing efforts to implement the PIA and stabilise governance in the oil and gas industry.
