STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE PRESIDENT TINUBU RECONSTITUTES NNPC LIMITED BOARD, APPOINTS NEWCHAIRMAN, GROUP CEO
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a sweeping reconstitutionof the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing thechairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, MallamMele Kolo Kyari. President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed withAkinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the GroupCEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman. Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financialofficer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu. Six board members, non-executive directors, represent thecountry's geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West, Yusuf Usman,North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the NigerianLiquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central. President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executivedirector from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from theSouth West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.
Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the FederalMinistry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while AminuSaid Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. All the appointments are effective today, April 2. President Tinubu, invoking the powers granted under Section 59,subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board'srestructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoringinvestor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, andadvancing gas commercialisation and diversification. President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to thenew board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and JointVenture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives. Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sectorreforms to attract investment.
Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in newinvestments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing theinvestment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to twomillion barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently,the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030. Furthermore, President Tinubu expects the new board to elevateNNPC's share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach500,000 by 2030. The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. Heis an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree incivil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleumengineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeriaand later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in1985. Musa became Total Nigeria's Deputy Managing Director of Deep WaterServices in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director atPan Ocean-Newcross Group. Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a formerbasketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF)board. Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State.Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief OperatingOfficer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led aconsortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entireequity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC),worth $2.4 billion.
Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for ElfAquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career inthe oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company ofNigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist. Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the MiddleEast in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer,strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. In 2015, he became themanaging director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO). During his career, he was chairman and member of the board oftrustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and afellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
President Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicatedservice to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the oldPort Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleumproduct production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in theirfuture endeavours.
Bayo Onanuga Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy) April 2, 2025
