Tinubu Names Eyesan, Mohammed as New Oil Regulators’ Chiefs

 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated new chief executive officers for Nigeria’s two key petroleum regulatory agencies following the resignations of their pioneer heads.

Presidential spokesman, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said the nominations came after Mr. Gbenga Komolafe stepped down as Commission Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), while Engineer Farouk Ahmed resigned as Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Komolafe and Ahmed were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the agencies created under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Tinubu has written to the Senate seeking confirmation of Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as the new head of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive of the NMDPRA.

Mrs. Eyesan, who will take charge of the upstream regulator, brings 33 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry. An Economics graduate of the University of Benin, she spent her career at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. She most recently served as Executive Vice President, Upstream, between 2023 and 2024, and was previously Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, from 2019 to 2023.

Engineer Mohammed, the nominee for the NMDPRA, was born in 1957 in Gombe. He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1981 with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He was also announced on Wednesday as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.

His career spans top leadership roles including Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company. He has chaired the boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries and NNPC Retail.

As Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Gas and Power Directorate, Mohammed provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and contributed to policy frameworks such as the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code and the Petroleum Industry Act.

He also played key roles in the delivery of critical infrastructure projects, including the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Nigeria LNG Train projects.

The Senate is expected to screen the nominees in the coming days before their confirmation.