President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded the names of two nominees to the Senate for confirmation as chief executive officers of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies, following the resignation of their current heads.
The nominations affect the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), both established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The President’s request came after Engineer Farouk Ahmed stepped down as Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, while Gbenga Komolafe resigned as head of the NUPRC. Ahmed and Komolafe were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari at the inception of the two regulatory bodies.
To replace them, President Tinubu nominated Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, urging the Senate to consider and confirm the appointments.
Eyesan is an economist and a long-serving oil and gas professional, with nearly 33 years of experience at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, between 2023 and 2024, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, from 2019 to 2023. She is a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, obtained in 1981. He was recently announced as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
Mohammed has held several senior positions in Nigeria’s energy sector, including Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company. He also chaired the boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
In addition, he served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Gas and Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and policy initiatives, including the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act.
He was also involved in the delivery of key national gas infrastructure projects, such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train projects.
The Senate is expected to consider the nominations in line with its constitutional oversight and confirmation powers.
