By Douglas Maha, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has authorized the reorganization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s board, resulting in the removal of Chief Pius Akinyelure as chairman and Mele Kyari as Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO).
This announcement was made in a statement by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, on April 2, 2025.
The president emphasized that the restructuring of the board is vital for improving operational efficiency, restoring investor trust, increasing local content, promoting economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.
The entire board appointed alongside Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023 has been removed. The new 11-member board features Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman.
Also included in the new board is Adedapo Segun, who took over from Umaru Isa Ajiya as CFO in November 2023.
The new non-executive directors represent various geopolitical zones of Nigeria, as shown in the table below:
| Board Member | Role | Geopolitical Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmadu Musa Kida | Non-Executive Chairman | Borno State (North East) |
| Bashir Bayo Ojulari | Group CEO | Kwara State (North Central) |
| Adedapo Segun | Chief Financial Officer | N/A |
| Bello Rabiu | Non-Executive Director | North West |
| Yusuf Usman | Non-Executive Director | North East |
| Babs Omotowa | Non-Executive Director | North Central |
| Austin Avuru | Non-Executive Director | South-South |
| David Ige | Non-Executive Director | South West |
| Henry Obih | Non-Executive Director | South East |
| Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya | Non-Executive Director | Ministry of Finance |
| Aminu Said Ahmed | Non-Executive Director | Ministry of Petroleum Resources |
The new appointments are effective as of April 2, 2025.
The restructuring is backed by the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021. President Tinubu outlined the primary goals of the new board, which include optimizing the value of NNPC assets, restoring investor confidence, increasing oil production, and ramping up gas production.
Specifically, the administration seeks to grow oil production to 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and 3 million by 2030, while gas production should rise to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.
Tinubu also set a goal for NNPC to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily by 2027, aiming to reach 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
The president also expressed his gratitude to the outgoing board members for their service, particularly their work on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which had been shut down for extended periods.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the new non-executive chairman, hails from Borno State. He holds a civil engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Français du Pétrole in Paris. Kida began his oil career at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later worked at Total Exploration and Production, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015.
He currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Outside of his oil career, Kida is a former basketball player and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Bashir Bayo Ojulari, the new Group CEO, is from Kwara State. Before his appointment, he was the Executive Vice President and COO of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, leading a successful $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC) full equity holding.
Ojulari, also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has had a distinguished career, starting as the first Nigerian process engineer at Elf Aquitaine and later joining Shell in 1991. His career spans various roles in Europe, the Middle East, and Nigeria, including Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) in 2015. Ojulari has also served as chair and board member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council).
With the new appointments, the Tinubu administration aims to significantly boost Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, focusing on maximizing the value of national resources while enhancing domestic capacity and attracting more investment.
