President Bola Tinubu has appointed Rabiu Umar, a staff member of Dangote Industries Limited, as the new chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), following the removal of Saidu Mohammed.

Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga said in a statement on Wednesday that the president approved Mr Mohammed’s removal “in the public interest.”

Mr Umar is expected to resign from his position as Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited to take up the new role.

NMDPRA’s most senior official will serve in an acting capacity, pending Senate confirmation of Mr Umar’s appointment, Mr Onanuga said.

“This decision, made pursuant to the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, is aimed at strengthening regulatory effectiveness in the midstream and downstream petroleum sector, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Mr Onanuga said.

As NMDPRA CEO, Mr Umar will coordinate measures to prevent indiscriminate increases in fuel prices.

Mr Umar will also oversee key activities, including the issuance of import licences for petroleum products—an issue criticised by Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Industries Limited, which owns the Dangote Refinery.

In September 2024, Mr Dangote filed a lawsuit against the NMDPRA over the continued issuance of import licences for diesel and jet fuel, arguing that the agency violated the Petroleum Industry Act.

Also named as defendants in the suit were the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and petroleum marketers Matrix Petroleum, A.A. Rano, and AYM Shafa.

Last year, he filed petitions against the NMDPRA’s former CEO, Farouk Ahmed, accusing him of corruption and financial impropriety. 

Following the allegations, the president removed Mr Ahmed and appointed Mr Mohammed.

In the petition, Mr Dangote alleged that Mr Ahmed lived beyond his legitimate means, stating that four of his children attended elite secondary schools in Switzerland, incurring costs running into several millions of dollars—an expenditure that raises questions about potential conflicts of interest and the integrity of regulatory oversight in the downstream petroleum industry.

He also alleged that Mr Ahmed spent an additional $2 million on their tertiary education, including $210,000 for Faisal Ahmed’s 2025 MBA programme at Harvard University.

A graduate of Bayero University, Kano, Mr Umar began his career at Oando Plc. He joined Dangote Industries Limited in 2019 as Group Sales and Marketing Director and has over two decades of experience in the energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors.