President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.
Daily News 24 reports that this was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, who announced that all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023 had also been removed.
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The newly appointed board consists of 11 members, with Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari taking over as GCEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida assuming the role of non-executive chairman.
Also included in the restructured board is Adedapo Segun, who was appointed as chief financial officer last November and has now been named a board member.
The board features six non-executive directors representing different geopolitical zones. Bello Rabiu will represent the North West, Yusuf Usman the North East, and former Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) managing director Babs Omotowa will represent the North Central. Austin Avuru from the South-South, David Ige from the South West, and Henry Obih from the South East have also been appointed.
Additionally, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will serve as the ministry’s representative, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
According to the statement, President Tinubu exercised his authority under Section 59, Subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, stating that the board’s restructuring aims to improve operational efficiency, strengthen investor confidence, enhance local content, boost economic growth, and advance gas commercialization and diversification.
He has also tasked the new board with conducting a comprehensive review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture assets to align with the company’s value maximization goals.
The government also aims to raise crude oil production to two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million barrels daily by 2030, while boosting gas production to eight billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.
Furthermore, Tinubu has directed the board to ensure NNPC increases its share of crude oil refining to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels by 2030.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the newly appointed board chairman, hails from Borno State and holds a civil engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris. Kida began his career at Elf Petroleum Nigeria before joining Total Exploration and Production in 1985. He later became Total Nigeria’s deputy managing director of deep water services in 2015 and, in 2024, was named an independent non-executive director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. In addition to his oil industry experience, he has served as the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Bashir Bayo Ojulari, the new NNPC GCEO, is from Kwara State and holds a mechanical engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He began his career as a process engineer at Elf Aquitaine and later joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist. Over the years, he worked across Nigeria, Europe, and the Middle East in various technical and managerial roles. In 2015, he was appointed managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO). Before his latest appointment, he was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, where he led a consortium in the $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
President Tinubu expressed appreciation to the outgoing board members for their contributions, particularly their efforts in revamping the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which led to the resumption of petroleum production after extended shutdowns.
The appointments take effect from April 2.
