President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded the names of two nominees to the Senate for confirmation as new chief executives of Nigeria’s key petroleum regulatory agencies, following the resignation of Engr. Farouk Ahmed and Engr. Gbenga Komolafe.
In a communication to the Senate on Tuesday, President Tinubu requested the upper chamber’s approval of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Engr. Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The nominations come after the resignations of Ahmed and Komolafe, both appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which established the two agencies to oversee oil and gas sector reforms.
Eyesan, the nominee for the NUPRC position, is a seasoned economist and energy industry expert with over three decades of experience at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries. She most recently served as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and previously as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, between 2019 and 2023.
Engr. Mohammed, the nominee for the NMDPRA, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, obtained in 1981. Born in Gombe in 1957, he has held several leadership roles in Nigeria’s energy sector and was announced earlier today as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to give the nominations accelerated consideration to ensure the continued effective regulation of Nigeria’s upstream, midstream, and downstream petroleum sectors.
