President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, asked the Senate to approve new chief executives for Nigeria’s petroleum regulators following the resignation of their substantive heads.

The affected agencies are the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, both created under the Petroleum Industry Act.

The resignations involve  Farouk Ahmed, former chief executive of the NMDPRA, and Gbenga Komolafe, former chief executive of the NUPRC.

Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the newly established regulatory institutions.

In separate letters to the Senate, Mr Tinubu nominated Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as NUPRC chief executive and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as NMDPRA chief executive.

The president urged senators to treat the nominations with urgency, saying confirmation would “ensure continuity and stability within the petroleum regulatory framework”.

Ms Eyesan is a seasoned petroleum economist with nearly 33 years’ experience at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. and its subsidiaries.

She is a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin and retired as executive vice president, Upstream, at NNPC Ltd., serving between 2023 and 2024.

She earlier served as group general manager, corporate planning and strategy, from 2019 to 2023, contributing to strategic reforms in the upstream sector. 

Mr Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he earned his degree in 1981. 

He recently served as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy and has decades of leadership experience across Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

His previous roles include managing director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company.

Mr Mohammed also chaired boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries and NNPC Retail.

He served as group executive director and chief operating officer, gas and power directorate, providing leadership on major gas projects and policy frameworks.

These included the Gas Masterplan, the Gas Network Code and contributions to shaping the Petroleum Industry Act.

He played key roles in delivering projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Gas Pipeline and Nigeria LNG train expansions.

The nominations were conveyed in a statement issued by the president’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga. 

(NAN)