January 5, 2026 l Dalena Reporters
ABUJA — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has initiated a significant reconstitution of leadership within Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory architecture, forwarding two letters to the Senate seeking confirmation of 21 board nominees for key sector regulators, including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
In the first of the presidential communications, Tinubu nominated former Senator Magnus Abe as Chairman of the NUPRC board. Abe, a two-term representative of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District, previously served on the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and currently heads the National Agency of the Great Green Wall. His appointment signals a blend of legislative experience and sector governance credentials at the helm of upstream regulation.
The president’s letter also included nominations for non-executive commissioners on the NUPRC board, such as Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the now-defunct Department of Petroleum Resources. In addition, seven executive commissioners were proposed, covering critical portfolios such as finance, exploration and acreage, economic regulation and strategic planning, development and production, corporate services, and health, safety and environment. Ms. Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as secretary and legal adviser to the board.
In the second letter, Tinubu put forward Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji as Chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji, a seasoned energy lawyer with over three decades of experience, previously served as a technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum and was part of the World Bank’s Oil & Gas Policy team that worked on sector reforms in Nigeria. Other nominees for the NMDPRA board include Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs. Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members, along with a slate of executive directors tasked with overseeing areas such as finance, hydrocarbons, gas infrastructure, corporate services, distribution systems, and economic regulation.
President Tinubu urged the Senate to expedite consideration and confirmation of all nominees, stressing that the appointments are central to strengthening regulatory oversight and continuity within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The requests follow the recent Senate confirmations of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA, completing leadership structures critical to implementing reforms under the Petroleum Industry Act.
The reconstitution effort reflects the administration’s broader objective of enhancing institutional capacity and regulatory governance across the petroleum industry — a sector pivotal to Nigeria’s economic viability and foreign investment appeal.
As the Senate prepares to begin confirmation hearings, stakeholders across the industry and policy circles will be closely watching the process, with expectations that the approved board members will drive effective enforcement of licensing, compliance, and strategic growth policies in both upstream and midstream/downstream segments of the oil and gas value chain.