PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has appointed Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari to replace Mele Kyari as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited group chief executive officer (CEO).
The president on Wednesday announced a sweeping reconstitution of the NNPC board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.
Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
The new 11-man board has Engineer 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.
All the appointments are effective today, April 2.
Below are 10 things to know about Ojulari:
1 – Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State.
2 – Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company.
3 – 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.
4 – Ojulari is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
5 – He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector.
6 – From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
7 – 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.
8 – In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
9 – He was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council).
10 – He is also a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.