Nigerian President appoints former Shell executive as new CEO of NNPC

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed  Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive Chairman of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) following the dismissal of the previous company board.

Ojulari, the former Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, replaces Mele Kyari, with the appointment effective immediately, Nigeria presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said in a statement.

Ojulari was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Africa Energy Co., which owns Shell's former onshore subsidiary in Nigeria.

President Tinubu also replaced the board of NNPC, appointing an 11-member team to drive reforms and boost efficiency in the oil sector.

Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.

Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country's geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central.

President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.

Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Presidency said.

President Tinubu emphasised that the board's restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.

President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives, the statement said.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer with an output of 1.8 million barrels per day, and the administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.

The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030, the Presidency said.

Furthermore, President Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC's share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.