By Abiola Olawale
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has undertaken a massive shake-up at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, sacking Mele Kyari as Group Chief Executive Officer and appointing Bashir Bayo Ojulari as his successor, effective April 2, 2025.
The decision which was announced in a press statement issued on Wednesday night by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, was said to be aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s oil and gas sector for enhanced efficiency and investor confidence.
As part of the overhaul, Ahmadu Musa Kida has been appointed as NNPC’s new chairman, replacing Pius Akinyelure who was previously chairman. Also, Adedapo Segun has been confirmed as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO).
In line with the Petroleum Industry Act(PIA), Tinubu also appointed six non-executive directors from each geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
They include Bello Rabiu, representing the northwest, Yusuf Usman from the northeast, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) for the north-central.
Others are Austin Avuru for the south-south, David Ige for the south-west, and Henry Obih for the south-east.
“This restructuring is aimed at repositioning NNPC Limited for greater productivity and efficiency in line with global best practices. We are taking bold steps to transform the company into a more commercially driven and transparent entity,” the statement by Onanuga reads in part.
According to the Presidency, Ojulari is expected to bring pn board a wealth of experience garnered over the years from the oil and gas industry.
Ojulari who hails from the Yoruba-speaking part of Kwara state, had previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company and held key positions at Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo).
Kida, the new NNPC chairman, brings over three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector. A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in civil engineering, he later obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.
He began his career at Elf Petroleum Nigeria before moving to Total Exploration and Production, where he rose to become deputy managing director of Deep Water Services in 2015. He most recently served as an independent non-executive director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
