PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken a major step in strengthening Nigeria’s petroleum sector governance with the nomination of former Rivers South-East Senator, Magnus Abe, alongside 20 others, to the governing boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
News Point Nigeria reports that the President has forwarded the nominations to the Senate for confirmation, urging lawmakers to consider and approve the appointments expeditiously, given the strategic role of the two regulatory bodies in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
In separate letters read on the floor of the Senate on Monday, President Tinubu nominated Magnus Abe as Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Abe, a two-term senator who represented Rivers South-East, previously served as a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and currently chairs the National Agency of the Great Green Wall, a federal body focused on environmental sustainability.
According to a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Abe will head the NUPRC board alongside other non-executive commissioners, including Paul Jezhi, a former Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Kaduna State, and Sunday Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
President Tinubu also nominated seven executive commissioners to serve on the NUPRC board. They include:
Muhammed Lamido – Executive Commissioner, Finance
Edu Inyang – Executive Commissioner, Exploration and Acreage
Justin Ezeala – Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning
Henry Oki – Executive Commissioner, Development and Production
Indabawa Alka – Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration
Mahmood Tijani – Executive Commissioner, Health, Safety and Environment
Olayemi Adeboyejo – Secretary and Legal Adviser
Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, while Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. The remaining nominees are new appointees.
For the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), President Tinubu nominated Adegbite Adeniji, a seasoned energy lawyer with over 30 years’ experience, as Chairman of the Board.
Adeniji previously served as Special Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas until 2018 and was part of the World Bank Oil and Gas Policy Team that advised Nigeria on petroleum sector reforms, including the development of the Strategic Gas Plan. He is currently the Managing Partner at ENR Advisory.
Other nominees to the NMDPRA board include Kenneth Kobani, a former Minister of State for Trade under President Goodluck Jonathan and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government under Nyesom Wike, as well as Asabe Ahmed, both as non-executive members.
Executive directors nominated for the authority include:
Abiodun Adeniji – Executive Director, Finance
Francis Ogaree – Executive Director, Hydrocarbon
Oluwole Adama – Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure
Dr Mustapha Lamorde – Executive Director, Corporate Services and Administration
Adama was appointed by President Tinubu in 2024, while Lamorde and Adeniji were initially appointed by the late President Buhari in 2021, and Ogaree in 2022.
Additional nominees are:
Yahaya Yinusa – Executive Director, Distribution Systems
Adeyemi Aminu – Executive Director, Corporate Services
Modie Ogechukwu – Executive Director, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning
Olawale Dawodu – Board Secretary and Legal Adviser
Dawodu is an industry veteran who previously served as Financial Reporting Manager at ExxonMobil Nigerian subsidiaries.
The nominations follow the recent Senate confirmation of the chief executive officers of the two regulatory agencies. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan was confirmed as CEO of NUPRC, while Saidu Aliyu Mohammed was approved as CEO of NMDPRA.
Both agencies were established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021, which dismantled the Department of Petroleum Resources and restructured Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory framework.
President Tinubu urged all nominees to discharge their responsibilities with professionalism, integrity, and diligence, stressing that effective regulation is critical to attracting investment, boosting production, and ensuring transparency in Nigeria’s petroleum industry.