President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded the names of new chief executives for Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies to the Senate for confirmation, following the resignation of the substantive heads of the institutions.
The affected agencies are the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), both established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The resignations involve Mr Farouk Ahmed, former Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, and Mr Gbenga Komolafe, former Chief Executive of the NUPRC. Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to oversee the newly created regulators.
In separate letters read at plenary, President Tinubu nominated Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive of the NUPRC and Mr Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive of the NMDPRA.
The President urged the Senate to consider and confirm the nominations expeditiously, noting that timely approval would ensure continuity, stability and effective regulation within the petroleum sector.
Mrs Eyesan is a seasoned petroleum economist with close to 33 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, largely at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) and its subsidiaries. A graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, she retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, at NNPC Ltd., a position she held between 2023 and 2024.
She previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, from 2019 to 2023, where she played a key role in strategic reforms and policy implementation in the upstream petroleum sector.
Mr Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained his degree in 1981. He recently served as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy and has decades of experience in leadership and management across Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
His career spans several strategic positions, including Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company. He also chaired the boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries and NNPC Retail.
Mohammed previously served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power Directorate, where he provided leadership on major gas projects and policy frameworks. These include the Gas Masterplan, the Gas Network Code and key contributions to the development of the Petroleum Industry Act.
He was also instrumental in the execution of landmark projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Gas Pipeline and several Nigeria LNG train expansions.
The nominations were disclosed in a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
