Tinubu Reconstitutes NNPCL Board, Sacks Kyari, Appoints Ojulari As Group Executive

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu in the early morning of Wednesday, April 2, sacked the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), including its group chief executive officer, Mele Kyari, and chairman Pius Akinyelure, with immediate effect.
The President thanked the outgoing Board members for their dedicated service to NNPCL, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns, wishing them well in their future endeavours.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said Tinubu approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Board, axing Akinyelure, Kyari all other members appointed with them in November 2023.
The new 11-man Board has Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) and Ahmadu Musa Kida as Non-executive Chairman, while Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, was appointed to the new Board.
Also appointed were six members/non-executive directors, representing the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu (Northwest); Yusuf Usman (Northeast); Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG, North Central); Austin Avuru, Non-Executive Director (South-South); David Ige, Non-Executive Director (Southwest) and Henry Obih, Non-Executive Director (Southeast).
In addition, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, represents the ministry, while Aminu Said Ahmed represents the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on the new Board.
According to the statement, Tinubu, invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, 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.
He 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.
Kida, from Borno State, is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where he received a degree in Civil Engineering in 1984, and also obtained a postgraduate diploma in Petroleum Engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris.
He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985, becoming its Nigeria’s deputy managing director of Deep Water Services in 2015 and an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group last year.
He is a former basketballer and president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF) Board.
Ojulari hails from Kwara State and until his new appointment, was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4billion.
Also an Mechanical Engineering alumnus of ABU, Ojulari worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer and joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) and was at a time chairman and member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.