The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has described the composition of the new board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) as a reflection of President Bola Tinubu’s pro-business mindset on the oil industry.

In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group noted that only a President with a wealth of experience and rich private sector background could come up with such a team of industry experts to take NNPCL to great heights.

“For us, the appointment of Engineer Bashir Ojulari, who, until now, was Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company and Engineer Musa Kida as the non-executive Chairman of the 11-man board, signposts a new dawn at the NNPCL.

“Although this is not the first time the corporation would have an outsider in charge, it is the first time the board will be entirely populated by industry experts.

“We are simply elated that no single politician is on the board which for us is a demonstration of President Tinubu’s readiness to ensure professionalism in deference to the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

“We totally agree with the President that the board’s restructuring is crucial for ‘enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification’.

“For the avoidance of doubt, there is none of the President’s appointees on the NNPCL board who is not a technocrat with deep insider knowledge of the oil and gas sector.

“We are glad that these are people who are used to setting and meeting targets; hence, President Tinubu’s immediate action plan of conducting a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives will not look like a big task.”

It said the group look forward to the NNPCL meeting the target set by the Tinubu administration of raising oil production to two million barrels per day as well as a daily gas production of 8 billion cubic feet in 2027.

The group added that it would not be out of place to expect the new NNPCL to perform feats similar to that of global giants, Aramco, and Petrobras, as well as compete with them on the international stage.(NAN)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Malam Mele Kyari.

A statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, indicates that the President  removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.

The new 11-man board has Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.

Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.

Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West, Yusuf Usman, North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central.

Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.

Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

All the appointments are with immediate effect.

Tinubu, invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency.

He added that it would restore investor confidence, boost local content, drive economic growth, and advance gas commercialisation and diversification.

The President also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.

Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment.

In 2024, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector.

The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.

The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.

Furthermore, Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.

The new board chairman, Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the 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, Kida is a former basketballer 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 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.

Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector.

From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.

Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.

In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).

During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavours.(NAN)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz