President Bola Tinubu has sacked the top echelon of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, NNPCL, including Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director. A statement by the President’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga confirmed that the sack is with immediate effect.

Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari and Ahmadu Musa Kida

 

 

President Bola Tinubu has made significant changes to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) by removing the entire board, including Group Managing Director Mele Kyari. This decision, announced by Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, takes immediate effect.

Tinubu has reconstituted the board with new members, led by Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman and Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as Group Chief Executive Officer. The new board’s primary objectives include enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, and driving sectoral reforms.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a major overhaul of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, dismissing Chairman Chief Pius Akinyelure and Group Chief Executive Officer Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.

President Tinubu has made significant changes to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board. He removed all members appointed alongside Chairman Chief Pius Akinyelure and Group CEO Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari in November 2023. The new 11-man board is led by Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive Chairman.

President Tinubu has appointed Adedapo Segun, who took over as chief financial officer from Umaru Isa Ajiya last November, to the newly constituted NNPC Limited board.

The board also includes six non-executive directors, each representing a geopolitical zone:
– North West: Bello Rabiu
– North East: Yusuf Usman
– North Central: Babs Omotowa, former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG)
– South-South: Austin Avuru
– South West: David Ige
– South East: Henry Obih

Additionally, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Aminu Said Ahmed, representing the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, have also been appointed to the board. All the appointments are effective today, April 2.

President Tinubu, exercising his authority under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, stressed that the restructuring of the NNPC Limited board is vital for achieving several key objectives. These include enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.

President Tinubu has tasked the new NNPC Limited board with conducting a strategic review of the company’s portfolio, including its operated and joint venture assets. This move aims to ensure that these assets align with the company’s objectives of maximizing value.

The Tinubu administration has been actively implementing oil sector reforms since 2023 to attract investment. These efforts have already yielded significant results, with the NNPC reporting $17 billion in new investments last year. Looking ahead, the administration aims to increase investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.

The Tinubu administration has set ambitious targets for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Oil Production Goals include increasing output to 2 million barrels daily by 2027 and 3 million barrels daily by 2030. In tandem, the government aims to boost Gas Production to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet daily by 2030.

Additionally, President Tinubu has tasked the new NNPC board with enhancing the company’s Crude Oil Refining Capacity to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and 500,000 barrels by 2030.

The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, hails from Borno State. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, which he obtained in 1984. Additionally, he possesses a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the prestigious Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.

He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985. Musa became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.

Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a former basketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) board.

Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari and Ahmadu Musa Kida

 

Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.

Similar to Chairman Kida, Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari also graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He began his illustrious oil sector career as the first Nigerian process engineer at Elf Aquitaine. In 1991, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd as an associate production technologist, further advancing his career.

Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari’s extensive career spans across various regions, including Nigeria, Europe, and the Middle East, where he held diverse roles such as petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. Notably, he rose to become the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) in 2015.

During his illustrious career, he held key positions in prestigious organizations, including serving as chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council). Additionally, he was honored as a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.