President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday, approved the dismissal of Mele Kyari as Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) following mounting concerns over various aspects of the company’s operations.
Naija News had earlier reported that the dissolution of the entire NNPCL board accompanied this decision.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga confirmed that Tinubu had authorized a comprehensive reconstitution of the NNPCL board.
This restructuring saw the removal of Chairman Pius Akinyelure and Group CEO, Mele Kolo Kyari, alongside other board members appointed in November 2023.
As part of the restructuring, Tinubu appointed Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO, while Ahmadu Musa Kida was appointed as the non-executive Chairman of the board.
The president also retained Adedapo Segun, who had replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as Chief Financial Officer in November 2023, on the newly formed board.
In addition to these key appointments, six non-executive directors were appointed to represent Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The appointees include Bello Rabiu from the North West, Yusuf Usman from the North East, and Babs Omotowa, former Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), representing North Central. Austin Avuru from the South South, David Ige from the South West, and Henry Obih from the South East also joined the new board.
Furthermore, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Aminu Said Ahmed, representing the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, were appointed as members of the new board.
Here is the profile of the new appointees:
Bashir Bayo Ojulari
Ojulari, the new NNPCL GCEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which 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.
Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, according to the statement. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He 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.
Ahmad Musa Kida – Chairman
The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, hails from Borno State and 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. Kida became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015.
He was an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Apart from his oil industry career, Kida is a former basketball player and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) board.
Adedapo Segun – CFO
The new Chief Financial Officer worked with Chevron as a Financial Services Manager for five years, 10 months before joining NNPC as a Group General Manager, Treasury. He was also Chief Finance and Investor Relations Officer and Executive Vice-President of Downstream.
Board Members (NNPCL)
Bello Rabiu, North West
Bello Rabiu was Chief Operating Officer/Group Executive Director, Upstream of NNPC, where he oversaw the activities of the Corporation’s Upstream businesses, including; National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and NNPC Oil Field Services (NOFS).
He has a balanced knowledge of the Exploration & Production industry in Nigeria with capability which combines commercial/fiscal knowledge with operations.
Rabiu retired from the services of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in July 2019 after 28 years of service.
Yusuf Usman, North East
He has over 30-year experience in the oil and gas industry. He started his career as Facilities/Project Engineer with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Warri, from 1987 to 1993. In 1993, he joined the Services of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as Facilities Engineer. Between 1993 to October 2007, he rose to become the Technical Assistant to GGM NAPIMS.
During the period, Usman superintended over many projects, including the EKPE Gas Compression Station for EXXON Mobil JV in Houston, France & Nigeria, AMENAM/KPONO Oil and Gas Development for Total JV in Dubai, France & Nigeria, FEED of Brass and Olokola LNG Gas Supply Projects for CNL JV in Houston, USA, Gbaran/Ubie Central Gas Processing Facilities for SPDC/NNPC Joint Venture in UK and Nigeria, Dry Dock of MV Oloibiri for Texaco Overseas/NNPC JV in Greece, Usan FPSO Project for Total/NNPC Joint Venture in France, South Korea and Nigeria etc.
Babs Omotowa- North Central
Babs Omotowa is described as an international leader in the Energy industry across Europe, Africa, the United States of America, Asia, and the Middle East, in organisation leadership, commercial, strategy and operational roles spanning over 26 years.
Omotowa was the Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited (“NLNG”) for almost 5 years from December 2011 to September 2016.
Prior to joining Nigeria LNG, he served in different capacities including as a Vice-President, Shell Sub-Saharan Africa, Director at Shell Petroleum Development Company, a Non-Executive Director of West Africa Gas Pipeline Company, amongst others.
After his role as MD, NLNG, he served as a Vice President of Shell Global Upstream E&P and later as Special Adviser to the Shell Global Upstream Director.
Austin Avuru – Non-Executive Director, South-South
Austin Avuru is a Geologist by training who spent over 40 years in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and was Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Limited and in 2010, became the pioneer CEO of Seplat Ltd, a company he co-founded.
Under his leadership, Seplat was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Nigeria Stock Exchange. He retired as CEO of Seplat in 2020 and remains on the Board.
He is a fellow and past President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and recipient of the Aret Adams Award. He is the author of “Politics, Economics & the Nigerian Petroleum Industry” and co-author of “Nigerian Petroleum Business, A Handbook”.
David Ige – Non-executive director (South West)
David Oluseyi Ige was former Group Executive Director of the NNPC. He has over 25 years work experience which cuts across Oil & Gas, management consulting and academics in world class organisations.
His experience spans Exploration, Development and Production of Oil and Natural Gas plus Midstream infrastructure and Downstream disposal of Hydrocarbons.
He is widely recognised for initiating and developing the Nigeria Gas Master Plan and policy, in response to a major threat to the nation’s energy agenda arising from lack of a viable gas infrastructure.
Henry Obih –Non-executive director (South East)
Henry Obih was former Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Downstream in NNPC until his retirement in 2019.
Prior to joining NNPC as GED/COO in 2016, Engr. Obih had a 22-year sojourn at Mobil Oil Nigeria (ExxonMobil Nigeria Downstream) and held several other high- profile positions across different areas across the organisation such as Operations, Customer Service and Logistics.
His recent leadership roles include board positions at Nigeria Gas Marketing Company Limited, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited, NNPC Retail Limited, NIDAS Marine Limited (a subsidiary of NNPC in joint venture with Daewoo Industries South Korea), NIKORMA Limited (a subsidiary of NNPC in joint venture with Hyundai Heavy Industries South Korea) and Duke Oil Company Inc.
