TINUBU NOMINATES MAGNUS ABE AS NUPRC BOARD CHAIR, SEEKS SENATE CONFIRMATION FOR PETROLEUM REGULATORS

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has written to the Senate, seeking confirmation of 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
A major highlight of the nominations is the appointment of former Senator Magnus Abe as Chairman of the Board of the NUPRC. Abe, who represented Rivers South-East Senatorial District for two terms, is a former member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) board and currently serves as Chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board include Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, former Chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Mr Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former Deputy Director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Both are nominated as non-executive commissioners.
President Tinubu also forwarded the names of executive commissioners for the NUPRC board. They are Muhammed Sabo Lamido (Finance), Edu Inyang (Exploration and Acreage), Justin Ezeala (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), Henry Darlington Oki (Development and Production), Indabawa Bashari Alka (Corporate Services and Administration), and Mahmood Tijani (Health, Safety and Environment). Ms Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
While Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed in 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, Alka was appointed by President Tinubu in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are fresh nominees by the President.
In a separate letter, President Tinubu sought Senate confirmation for nominees to the board of the NMDPRA, with Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a seasoned energy lawyer and Managing Partner at ENR Advisory, nominated as Chairman. Adeniji has over three decades of experience in energy and natural resources policy and previously served as a technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum.
Other NMDPRA nominees include Chief Kenneth Kobani, former Minister of State for Trade and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, and Mrs Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Executive directors nominated are Abiodun Adeniji (Finance), Francis Ogaree (Hydrocarbon Processing), Oluwole Adama (Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure), and Dr Mustapha Lamorde (Corporate Services and Administration).
Additional board members include Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa (Distribution Systems), Adeyemi Murtala Aminu (Corporate Services), Ms Modie Ogechukwu (Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning), and Barrister Olawale Dawodu as Board Secretary and Legal Adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to expedite consideration and approval of the nominees, noting that the requests followed the recent confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
The President charged all appointees to discharge their responsibilities with professionalism in regulating Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.