The Pan Nigerian Oil and Gas Stakeholders on Wednesday commended President Bola Tinubu for taking a significant step towards reforming the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited by reconstituting its board and appointing new leadership.
A press statement in Portharcourt, Rivers State by a concerned industry key player on behalf of the Pan Nigerian Oil and Gas Stakeholders, Engr. Raphael Ajuri described the President as a great leader with the courage to do the unthinkable, saying “this is the first time in the nation’s history that a President will hands down a marching order and clear-cut target for the board with a view of making Nigeria recover its lost grounds in the sector”.
Ajuri said this is indeed an era of “Renewed Hope” as this latest development would spur the nation to achieve many of the eluded decades of expansive growth in the nation’s economy.
He said the President’s move aims to enhance operational efficiency, restore investor confidence, and drive economic growth in the oil sector.
The new 11-man board, led by Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman, is tasked with conducting a strategic portfolio review to ensure alignment with value maximization objectives.
The board members represent the country’s geopolitical zones, bringing diverse expertise and perspectives to the table. President Tinubu has set ambitious targets for the new board, including increasing oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030.
Ajuri said Tinubu’s administration also aims to boost gas production, elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output, and attract significant investments to the sector.
He said the Industry stakeholders expect the new board to “Enhance transparency and accountability; Ensure that NNPC’s operations are transparent, and decisions are made in the best interest of the nation”.
Ajuri further said that the federal government should also expect the new board to build strong relationships with international oil companies, local stakeholders, and communities to drive growth and development.
“The board should Increase the participation of Nigerian companies and professionals in the oil and gas sector to create jobs and stimulate economic growth while at the same time, Implement sustainable practices and mitigate the environmental impact of oil and gas operations.
Ajuri added that, on the overall, “President Tinubu’s reforms and the new board’s leadership are expected to revitalize the oil sector, drive economic growth, and improve the lives of Nigerians.
The President Tinubu, had while invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.
President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives. Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion 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.
Furthermore, President Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.
The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985. Musa became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015.
Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a former basketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF) board.
Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.
Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist. Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager
In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
