Tinubu Nominates Chairmen, Board Members for Oil Regulatory Agencies, Seeks Senate Confirmation
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded the names of 21 nominees to the Senate for confirmation as board members of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The nominations were contained in two separate letters sent by the President to the upper chamber and read during plenary, in line with statutory requirements.
In the first letter, President Tinubu nominated former senator representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe, as Chairman of the NUPRC Board. Abe, a two-term lawmaker, is a former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and currently serves as Chairman of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.
Other nominees for the NUPRC board as non-executive commissioners are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a 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).
The President also nominated several executive commissioners for the NUPRC board. They include Muhammed Sabo Lamido as Executive Commissioner for Finance; Edu Inyang as Executive Commissioner for Exploration and Acreage; Justin Ezeala as Executive Commissioner for Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning; and Henry Darlington Oki as Executive Commissioner for Development and Production.
Others are Indabawa Bashari Alka as Executive Commissioner for Corporate Services and Administration; Mahmood Tijani as Executive Commissioner for Health, Safety and Environment; and Ms Olayemi Adeboyejo as Secretary and Legal Adviser.
While Lamido and Adeboyejo were initially appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, and Alka by President Tinubu in 2023, Inyang, Ezeala, Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are fresh nominees of the current administration.
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In a second letter, President Tinubu nominated Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as Chairman of the NMDPRA Board. Adeniji, a lawyer with over three decades of experience in energy and natural resources governance, previously served as Special Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas matters and was part of the World Bank’s Oil and Gas Policy team that advised Nigeria on petroleum sector reforms.
Also nominated as non-executive members of the NMDPRA board are Chief Kenneth Kobani, a former Minister of State for Trade and ex-Secretary to the Rivers State Government, and Mrs Asabe Ahmed.
For executive positions on the NMDPRA board, the President nominated Abiodun Adeniji as Executive Director, Finance; Francis Ogaree as Executive Director, Hydrocarbon; Oluwole Adama as Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure; and Dr Mustapha Lamorde as Executive Director, Corporate Services and Administration.
While Adama was appointed by President Tinubu in 2024, Lamorde and Adeniji were appointed by former President Buhari in 2021, and Ogaree in 2022.
Other nominees include Mr Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa as Executive Director, Distribution Systems; Adeyemi Murtala Aminu as Executive Director, Corporate Services; Ms Modie Ogechukwu as Executive Director, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning; and Barrister Olawale Dawodu as Board Secretary and Legal Adviser.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to consider and confirm the nominees expeditiously.
The nominations follow the recent appointment and confirmation of chief executive officers for the two regulatory agencies. The Senate had earlier confirmed Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
The President charged all appointees and nominees to discharge their responsibilities professionally in their roles as regulators of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The statement was signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on January 5, 2026.
By PRNigeria
