President Bola Tinubu has appointed Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), replacing Mele Kyari. The announcement was made on Tuesday by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, who also confirmed the dissolution of the NNPCL board. The former board chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, has been replaced by Ahmadu Musa Kida, while all other board members appointed alongside Kyari and Akinyelure in November 2023 have been removed.
According to Onanuga, the newly constituted 11-member board includes Ojulari as the Group CEO and Kida as the non-executive chairman. Adedapo Segun, who was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in November 2023 after replacing Umaru Isa Ajiya, has been retained on the board. Six non-executive directors have been appointed to represent the country’s six geopolitical zones: Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) (North Central), Austin Avuru (South-South), David Ige (South West), and Henry Obih (South East). Additionally, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The appointments take effect immediately, with Tinubu exercising his powers under Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021. He emphasized that the restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification. The President also directed the new board to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPCL-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximization objectives.
Since 2023, Tinubu’s administration has been implementing oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPCL reported securing $17 billion in new investments. The administration aims to increase this figure to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. The government also plans to raise crude oil production to two million barrels per day (bpd) by 2027 and three million bpd by 2030. Concurrently, gas production is expected to rise to eight billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. Additionally, Tinubu has set targets for NNPCL’s crude oil refining capacity to reach 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
