ABUJA: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The request was conveyed in two separate letters read on the Senate floor and confirmed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Chief Bayo Onanuga.
For the NUPRC, President Tinubu nominated former Senator Magnus Abe as Chairman.
Abe, who represented Rivers South-East Senatorial District for two terms, is a former member of the NNPC board and currently chairs the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
Other non-executive nominees include Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna State, and Mr Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
Executive commissioner nominees for the NUPRC 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).
Ms Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
Lamido and Adeboyejo were first appointed in 2022 under the Buhari administration, while Alka joined in 2023; others, including Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola, and Jezhi, are fresh nominees.
For the NMDPRA, Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer with over 30 years in energy and natural resources and former technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum, was nominated as Chairman.
Adeniji also worked with the World Bank on Nigeria’s oil and gas reform agenda and is currently Managing Partner of ENR Advisory.
Non-executive members include Chief Kenneth Kobani, former Minister of State for Trade and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, and Mrs Asabe Ahmed.
Executive nominees are Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon Processing), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration).
Other members include Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Ms Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), with Barrister Olawale Dawodu as Board Secretary and Legal Adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to approve the nominations promptly, emphasizing the need for strong leadership in regulating Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The nominations follow the recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as CEO of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA.
He also charged all nominees to uphold professionalism and transparency in carrying out their regulatory responsibilities.
