President Bola Tinubu has announced a major shake-up in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited board, removing Chairman Pius Akinyelure and Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari.
In their place, he has appointed Bashir Ojulari as the new CEO, effective April 2, 2025.
According to a statement from Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President also dissolved the entire board appointed in November 2023 and reconstituted a new 11-member team.
Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari takes over as Group CEO, while Ahmadu Musa Kida assumes the role of non-executive chairman.
Adedapo Segun, who was appointed chief financial officer last November, remains on the board alongside six non-executive directors representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones.
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, and Aminu Ahmed from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will serve as government representatives. The appointments take immediate effect.
Onanuga stated, “President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023. The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.”
President Tinubu, exercising his powers under Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, said the reconstitution is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, and driving economic growth.
He has tasked the new board with conducting a strategic review of NNPC’s assets to ensure alignment with national value maximisation objectives.
He outlined his vision, saying, “The board must conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.”
Since taking office, Tinubu’s administration has been pushing oil sector reforms, with NNPC attracting $17 billion in new investments in 2024 alone.
The administration aims to increase that to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.
Oil production targets have been set at two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million by 2030, while gas production is expected to hit eight billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion by 2030.
Onanuga added, “The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30bn by 2027 and $60bn by 2030. The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.”
The new board is also expected to drive NNPC’s refining capacity to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the new NNPC board chairman, hails from Borno State and holds a civil engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as well as a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol in Paris.
He has had a long career in the oil industry, starting at Elf Petroleum Nigeria before joining Total Exploration and Production, where he rose to become Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services. Outside the oil sector, Kida has also made a name for himself in basketball administration as a former president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation.
Bashir Ojulari, the new Group CEO, is from Kwara State and is a mechanical engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Until his appointment, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which led the $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. Ojulari began his career as a process engineer at Elf Aquitaine before joining Shell Petroleum Development Company in 1991.
He has worked in Europe and the Middle East in various roles, including petroleum process engineer, strategic planner, and asset manager, before becoming the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company in 2015.
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and has served on the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council).
Onanuga noted, “President Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavours.”
