Farouk Ahmed, Komolafe Resign As Tinubu Nominates Eyesan, Saidu Mohammed As New Petroleum Regulators

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated new chief executives for Nigeria’s two petroleum regulatory agencies following the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, the pioneer heads of the regulators created under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

In separate letters to the Senate, the President requested expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The nominations come after Farouk Ahmed stepped down as CEO of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe resigned as CEO of the NUPRC. Both men were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the two agencies established by the PIA to reform Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

Eyesan is a veteran of the oil and gas sector with nearly 33 years of experience at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. An Economics graduate of the University of Benin, she retired in 2024 as Executive Vice President, Upstream, having previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy between 2019 and 2023.

Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was announced on Wednesday as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.

His career includes stints as Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company, as well as board chairmanship roles at the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.

Mohammed also served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major policy frameworks such as the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code, and key inputs into the Petroleum Industry Act. He played pivotal roles in delivering critical gas infrastructure projects including the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train projects.

The President’s nominees are expected to appear before the Senate for screening and confirmation in the coming days.