President Bola Tinubu has dismissed the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, along with the board chairman, Pius Akinyelure and other board members appointed in November 2023.
In a statement released on Wednesday by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu announced the appointment of a new 11-member board. Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari has been named the new GCEO, while Ahmadu Musa Kida will serve as the non-executive chairman.
Adedapo Segun, who became Chief Financial Officer last November, will continue in that role. Other appointees include six non-executive directors representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones: Bello Rabiu (North-West), Yusuf Usman (North-East), Babs Omotowa (North-Central), Austin Avuru (South-South), David Ige (South-West) and Henry Obih (South-East). Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance and Aminu Said Ahmed from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will also serve on the board.
The restructuring, effective immediately, is aimed at improving NNPC’s efficiency, boosting investor confidence and increasing oil and gas production. Tinubu expects the new board to expand crude oil refining capacity to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030. The administration also plans to increase oil production to three million barrels daily and gas production to 10 billion cubic feet daily by 2030.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, the new board chairman, is an experienced oil industry executive with a background in engineering. He previously served as Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services at Total Nigeria and is a former president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation.
Ojulari, the new GCEO, brings decades of experience in the oil and gas sector, having held leadership roles at Shell Petroleum Development Company and most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Renaissance Africa Energy.
President Tinubu expressed gratitude to the outgoing board members for their contributions, particularly in reviving the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, and wished them success in their future endeavors.