Kunle Sanni
President Bola Tinubu has nominated new chief executives for Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies following the resignation of their current heads, Engineer Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe.
Ahmed resigned as Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), while Komolafe stepped down from his position as head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari after the creation of the agencies under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
In the wake of the resignations, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, seeking approval for the appointment of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive of the NMDPRA. The President requested expedited consideration of the nominations.
Eyesan is a veteran of the oil and gas industry with nearly 33 years of experience at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. A graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, she retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, in 2024. She previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at NNPC between 2019 and 2023.
Engineer Mohammed, a Chemical Engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has held several senior positions in Nigeria’s energy sector. His past roles include Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power Directorate.
