President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded to the Senate the names of two nominees to lead Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies, following the resignation of the current chief executives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The request, contained in a letter to the Senate, seeks the confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA. The President urged the upper chamber to expedite consideration of the nominations.
The nominations follow the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed, former head of the NMDPRA, and Gbenga Komolafe, who headed the NUPRC. Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari to oversee the two regulators established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Eyesan is a seasoned oil and gas professional with nearly 33 years’ 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, having earlier served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, between 2019 and 2023.
Engineer Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was recently announced as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy. His career includes stints as Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as chairmanship of the boards of the West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries and NNPC Retail.
He also served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Gas and Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership on major gas infrastructure projects and policy frameworks, including the Gas Masterplan, the Gas Network Code and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act. Among projects he helped deliver are the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Gas Pipeline and Nigeria LNG Train developments.
The Senate is expected to consider the nominations in the coming days.
