President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East senator Magnus Abe, energy lawyer Adegbite Adeniji, Abiodun Adeniji, and Sunday Babalola among 21 candidates for appointment to the boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
In separate letters transmitted to the Senate on Monday, the President sought legislative confirmation for the nominees to strengthen the leadership of the two petroleum regulatory agencies established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Abe was nominated as non-executive chairman of the NUPRC. The two-term senator and former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation currently serves as chairman of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
Also nominated as non-executive commissioners of the NUPRC are Paul Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna State, and Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.
President Tinubu further nominated seven executive commissioners to the NUPRC board. They include Muhammed Lamido for finance; Edu Inyang for exploration and acreage management; Justin Ezeala for economic regulation and strategic planning; Henry Oki for development and production; Indabawa Alka for corporate services and administration; Mahmood Tijani for health, safety and environment; and Olayemi Adeboyejo as secretary and legal adviser.
Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, while Alka was appointed by Tinubu in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Jezhi and Babalola are new nominees.
For the NMDPRA board, the President nominated Adegbite Adeniji as chairman. Adeniji has over 30 years’ experience in energy and natural resources law and previously served as special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters.
Other non-executive members nominated to the NMDPRA board include Kenneth Kobani, former minister of state for trade, and Asabe Ahmed.
Executive directors nominated to the NMDPRA board are Abiodun Adeniji for finance; Francis Ogaree for hydrocarbon processing; Oluwole Adama for midstream and downstream gas infrastructure; and Dr Mustapha Lamorde for corporate services and administration.
Additional nominees include Yahaya Yinusa as executive director for distribution systems; Adeyemi Aminu for corporate services; Modie Ogechukwu for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Olawale Dawodu as board secretary and legal adviser.
The nominations follow the recent Senate confirmation of the chief executive officers of the two agencies — Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as CEO of the NUPRC and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA.
The Senate is expected to screen the nominees in the coming weeks.
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