In a major shake-up of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) board, President Bola Tinubu has dismissed Chairman Pius Akinyelure and Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari.
This restructuring includes the removal of all other board members who were appointed alongside Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
As a result, the President has appointed Bashir Ojulari as the new Group CEO, effective April 2, 2025.
The announcement was made by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement titled, “President Tinubu Reconstitutes NNPC Limited Board, Appoints New Chairman and Group CEO.”
The newly formed 11-member board includes Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as Non-Executive Chairman. Additionally, Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Ajiya as Chief Financial Officer in November 2023, has been retained on the new board.
The newly appointed six non-executive directors represent the country’s geopolitical zones: Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), Babs Omotowa (North Central), former Managing Director of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Austin Avuru (South-South), David Ige (South West), and Henry Obih (South East).
Furthermore, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the board, while Aminu Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. These appointments take effect immediately.
President Tinubu exercised his authority under Section 59, Subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, citing the need to enhance operational efficiency, restore investor confidence, boost local content, drive economic growth, and advance gas commercialisation and diversification.
The newly appointed board has been tasked with conducting a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture assets to align with value maximisation objectives.
Since 2023, Tinubu’s administration has undertaken significant reforms in the oil sector. In 2024, NNPC announced $17 billion in new investments within the industry. Onanuga stated that the administration now aims to increase investments to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.
The government also targets raising oil production to two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million barrels per day by 2030, alongside increasing gas production to eight billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet daily by 2030.
Additionally, the President expects the new board to increase NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and reach 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the newly appointed board chairman, hails from Borno State. He earned a civil engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1984, followed by a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Français du Pétrole in Paris.
His career began at Elf Petroleum Nigeria, later transitioning to Total Exploration and Production, where he served as Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. In 2024, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Beyond his oil industry experience, Kida has a background in sports as a former basketball player and the President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation board.
Bashir Ojulari, the new NNPC Group CEO, is from Kwara State. Prior to his appointment, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His leadership was instrumental in the $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria by a consortium of indigenous energy firms.
Ojulari holds a mechanical engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His oil and gas career began at Elf Aquitaine, where he was the first Nigerian process engineer. He later joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria in 1991, working in various roles across Europe and the Middle East as a petroleum process engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.
In 2015, he became Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company. He has also served as Chairman and Trustee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
President Tinubu expressed gratitude to the outgoing board members for their service, particularly in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns.
