The chief executives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NUPRC), Engineers Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, have resigned.
Bayo Onanuga, Particular Adviser to the President on Data and Technique, disclosed this in an announcement on Wednesday.
Following the event, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested the Senate to approve the nominations of two new chief executives for the regulators—Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
What Bayo Onanuga Is Saying
Based on Onanuga, the replacements adopted the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC.
“To fill these positions, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting expedited affirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
“The 2 nominees are seasoned professionals within the oil and fuel business,” the assertion partly reads.
Onanuga famous that the resignees had been appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to steer the 2 regulatory businesses created by the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA).
Transient Profiles of the New Appointees
Based on Onanuga, Eyesan, a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, spent almost 33 years with the NNPC and its subsidiaries.
She retired as Government Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and beforehand served as Group Basic Supervisor, Company Planning and Technique at NNPC from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, graduated from Ahmadu Bello College in 1981 with a bachelor’s diploma in Chemical Engineering. He was additionally introduced right this moment as an impartial non-executive director at Seplat Vitality.
His prior roles embrace Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Firm and the Nigerian Gasoline Firm, in addition to Chair of the boards of West African Gasoline Pipeline Firm, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
He additionally served as Group Government Director/Chief Working Officer, Gasoline & Energy Directorate, the place he offered strategic management for main fuel tasks and coverage frameworks, together with the Gasoline Grasp Plan, Gasoline Community Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA).
Engineer Mohammed additionally performed a pivotal position in delivering key tasks such because the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Growth, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gasoline Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Prepare 7.
What You Ought to Know
The event comes a couple of days after Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, accused Farouk Ahmed of alleged corruption in workplace.
Particularly, Dangote publicly accused the NMDPRA boss of corruption and financial sabotage, together with claims that Ahmed spent about $5 million on the abroad secondary schooling of his 4 kids—a determine Dangote mentioned is inconsistent with the earnings of a public official.
He additionally alleged that the NMDPRA has been releasing figures that don’t precisely mirror precise manufacturing at its Lekki-based refinery, insisting that the regulator’s experiences current a distorted view of operations.
BusinessTimes experiences that Dangote has been engaged in almost a year-long public criticism of oil regulatory authorities, which resulted within the submitting of a authorized motion to stall the issuance of petrol import licences.
That matter was finally withdrawn by the Refinery.
Amid the dispute on the time, the federal authorities later granted entrepreneurs licences to purchase petroleum merchandise instantly from the Dangote Refinery, following the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm’s (NNPC) determination to stop because the intermediary between the 2 events.
Dangote was additionally seen alleging that substandard petroleum merchandise had been being imported into Nigeria by different events.
In what some analysts thought-about federal authorities intervention on the time, President Bola Tinubu later authorized the reconstitution of the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm (NNPC) Restricted Board and eliminated the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and the Group Chief Government Officer, Mele Kyari.
Whereas the presidency has saved mum over Dangote’s latest allegations, the resignation may pave the best way for an additional spherical of high-profile investigation by anti-graft businesses.
