Tinubu restructures NNPCL Board, Ojulari replaces Kyari as GCEO

President Bola Tinubu has dismissed the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kolo Kyari, and the board chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, in a sweeping reconstitution of the company’s leadership.

Along with Kyari and Akinyelure, all other board members appointed in November 2023 have also been removed.

This was announced in a statement released early Wednesday by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga.

According to the statement, President Tinubu has approved the appointment of Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the new non-executive chairman of the board.

The statement also confirmed that Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as Chief Financial Officer last November, has been retained on the newly constituted board.

Other non-executive directors representing the country’s geopolitical zones include Bello Rabiu from the North West, Yusuf Usman from the North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), representing the North Central.

Austin Avuru has been appointed as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige from the South-West, and Henry Obih from the 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 immediate effect, with Tinubu exercising his powers under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.

The restructuring, according to the statement, is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.

The president has also directed the new board to conduct a strategic review of NNPCL’s asset portfolio to ensure alignment with value-maximization objectives.

His administration has implemented reforms in the oil sector since 2023 to attract investment, with NNPCL reporting $17 billion in new investments last year.

The goal is to increase this figure to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. Tinubu also set ambitious production targets, aiming to raise crude oil output to two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million by 2030, while gas production is expected to reach 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion by 2030.

Additionally, the government plans to increase NNPCL’s share of crude oil refining to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.

The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State and holds a degree in civil engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He further obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.

He began his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria before joining Total Exploration and Production, where he eventually became Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015.

In 2023, he was appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Beyond his professional achievements in the oil sector, Kida is a former basketball player and previously served as the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).

Ojulari, the new Group Chief Executive Officer, hails from Kwara State and was previously the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company.

He played a key role in leading a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the $2.4 billion acquisition of the entire equity holding in Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

Like Kida, he is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, where he studied mechanical engineering.

Ojulari started his career as a process engineer at Elf Aquitaine before joining Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.

His extensive career spans roles in Europe and the Middle East, including positions as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.

In 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).

He has also served as chairman and board trustee member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

President Tinubu thanked the outgoing board members for their dedication, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavors.