President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sacked the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, and the board chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, in a major shake-up of the oil sector.
The president also removed all other board members appointed alongside Kyari and Akinyelure in November 2023.
In their place, he approved a new 11-member board, which Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari will lead as the new GCEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the Non-Executive Chairman, according to a press statement released by the Special Adviser to the President, Bayo Onanuga Wednesday morning.
The reconstituted board includes six non-executive directors, each representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. Bello Rabiu represents the North West, while Yusuf Usman represents the North East. Babs Omotowa, a former Managing Director of NLNG, represents the North Central. Austin Avuru represents the South-South, David Ige represents the South West, and Henry Obih represents the South East.
Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya from the Federal Ministry of Finance and Aminu Said Ahmed from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will also serve on the board.
President Tinubu said the overhaul was necessary to improve NNPC’s efficiency, attract investment, and strengthen Nigeria’s energy industry. He directed the new board to review NNPC’s assets and partnerships to ensure they are delivering maximum value.
Since 2023, Tinubu’s administration has been working on oil sector reforms, which have already attracted $17 billion in investments. The government now aims to increase investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030
The new targets include increasing crude oil production to 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and 3 million barrels per day by 2030. The government also aims to expand gas production to 8 billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. Additionally, there are plans to boost NNPC’s crude refining output to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
The new NNPC Chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is an experienced oil industry professional and a former president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation. He studied Civil Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and later earned a postgraduate diploma in Petroleum Engineering in France.
Kida has worked with Elf Petroleum, Total Exploration, and Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
The new GCEO, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, is from Kwara State and has over 30 years of experience in the oil sector.
He was previously Executive Vice President of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, where he led a consortium that acquired Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) for $2.4 billion. Ojulari has worked for Elf Aquitaine and Shell, holding key positions in Nigeria, Europe, and the Middle East.
President Tinubu thanked the outgoing board members for their contributions, particularly their role in reviving the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries. He wished them well in their future endeavors.
The new appointments take effect immediately.
