President Bola Tinubu has won plaudits for the appointments made to the board of the state energy company, NNPC, with industry stakeholders hailing the move as a decisive step toward reforming the nation’s energy sector.
On Wednesday morning, the president unveiled major leadership changes, replacing the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC)’s, long-serving managing director/CEO Mele Kyari with Bayo Ojulari, a seasoned engineer and ex-Shell chief executive, as the new Group CEO.
The sweeping reshuffle also brought in Ahmadu Musa-Kida as non-executive chairman, along with industry veterans Austin Avuru, Babs Omotowa, David Ige, and Henry Obih as non-executive directors.
The move has been welcomed by both insiders and outsiders in Nigeria’s struggling oil and gas sector, which many blame for the country’s economic challenges due to its persistent underperformance.
According to a senior industry player, “It is probably the best set of appointments I have seen in NNPC and across any government generally in a national entity better balanced between Nigerian federal character, integrity and competence.”
Another senior official in the industry said, “These men are of proven oil and gas track record. They will take NNPC to great heights if they have freehand and don’t squabble with themselves.”
Another source said, “I am delighted to see David, Austin and Bayo on the board. It is much less a political board than usual.”
According to a senior lawyer, “Can you imagine if the president will do this with major government agencies in Nigeria, this country will be in the moon.”
Inside NNPC’s new look team
Bashir Bayo Ojulari, Group CEO
Ojulari is a Nigerian engineer with expertise in petroleum, process, and production engineering. He has held leadership roles across Nigeria, Europe, and the Middle East.
He served as managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) from 2015 to 2021 and was a board member of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
After retiring from Shell, he became chairman of BAT Advisory & Energy Company. In January 2024, he was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of Renaissance Group, the consortium that acquired Shell’s $1.3 billion onshore assets in Nigeria.
Ahmadu Musa Kida, non-executive 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 basketball player and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) Board.
Adedapo Segun, CFO
With over 30 years of accounting and management experience, 25 of which were in a top ten fortune 500 company, Segun’s oil and gas industry exposure covers both upstream and downstream in Nigeria as well as in the US. Beyond the finance and accounting function, he has had experience broadening assignments in Facilities Engineering and Security Services.
Segun joined NNPC Limited as Treasurer in April 2016 and drove a series of optimisation initiatives culminating in ISO 9001:2015 certification of Group Treasury Quality Management Systems, the very first in the Finance & Accounts function.
In October 2022, following the transition to NNPC Limited, Segun became the pioneer Chief Finance and Investor Relations Officer where he was charged with the responsibility of raising medium and long-term financing for NNPC Limited and its wholly owned subsidiaries, as well as overseeing Investor Relations activities, including the Company’s journey towards its Initial Public Offer.
He led the negotiation and closing of financing initiatives to raise billions of US dollars and has laid a solid foundation for the emergence of NNPC Limited as a Public Limited Liability Company.
Bello Rabiu (North West)
Bello Rabiu holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mathematical Statistics from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria and another Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering from The Imperial College, London, UK.
As COO/GED Upstream of NNPC, Rabiu oversaw the activities of the Corporation’s Upstream businesses, including; National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and NNPC Oil Field Services (NOFS).
He has a balanced knowledge of the Exploration & Production industry in Nigeria with unusual capability which combines commercial/fiscal knowledge with operations. This was valuable in the development of the 2016 Nigerian Government approved upstream Joint Venture funding scheme, which has restored the confidence of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Independent Partners in Nigeria’s Upstream Joint Venture, resulting in increased national oil production of 2.3 mbpd by 2019.
He was responsible for the implementation of the 7 Critical Domestic Gas Development Projects (including AGPC), an offshoot of Nigerian Gas Master Plan aimed at using gas for Nigeria’s industrialisation, economic growth and development – where significant consideration had to be given to strategic intent, fiscal rules and commerciality of supply.
Yusuf Usman (North East)
Yusuf Usman graduated from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1987, with a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree in Chemical Engineering.
He has over 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry. He started his career as Facilities/Project Engineer with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Warri, from 1987 to 1993.
In 1993, he joined the Services of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as Facilities Engineer. Between 1993 to October 2007, he rose to become the Technical Assistant to GGM NAPIMS.
In January 2007, he was redeployed to Nigerian Gas Company as a Superintendent ETSD, responsible for the upgrade of the Afam Metering Station Project.
Babs Omotowa (North Central)
Babs Omotowa is an international leader in the energy industry across Europe, Africa, the US, Asia, and the Middle East, in organisation leadership, commercial, strategy and operational roles spanning over 26 years.
Omotowa holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry, Master’s Degrees in Business Administration specialising in Operations Research and Supply Chain Management, and an Honorary Doctor of Science.
Omotowa was the Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) for almost 5 years from December 2011 to September 2016. Before joining Nigeria LNG, he served in different capacities, including as a Vice-President of Shell Sub-Saharan Africa, Director at Shell Petroleum Development Company, and a Non-Executive Director of West Africa Gas Pipeline Company, amongst others.
Austin Avuru (South-South)
Avuru is the founder and executive chairman of AA Holdings. A geologist by training, Avuru spent over 40 years in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and was Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Limited. In 2010, he became the pioneer CEO of Seplat Ltd, a company he co-founded.
Under his leadership, Seplat was dually listed on the London Stock Exchange and Nigeria Stock Exchange. He retired as CEO of Seplat in 2020 and remains on the Board. He is also the Chairman of AA Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to creating social-economic change in education and healthcare.
David Ige (South West)
David Oluseyi Ige is a former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He has over 25 years of work experience, which cuts across Oil & Gas, management consulting and academics in world-class organisations.
His experience spans Exploration, Development and Production of Oil and Natural Gas plus Midstream infrastructure and Downstream disposal of Hydrocarbons.
He is widely recognised for initiating and developing the Nigeria Gas Master Plan and policy in response to a major threat to the nation’s energy agenda arising from the lack of a viable gas infrastructure.
Henry Obih (South East)
Henry Ikem Obih was appointed to the Board of Fidelity Bank as an Independent Non-Executive Director in September 2020. He serves on the Board of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and was Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer (GED/COO), Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) until his retirement in 2019.
Prior to joining NNPC as GED/COO in 2016, Obih had a stellar 22-year career at Mobil Oil Nigeria (ExxonMobil Nigeria Downstream) and held several other high-profile positions across different areas of the organization, such as Operations, Customer Service and Logistics.
Lydia Shehu Jafiya, representing Finance Ministry
Lydia Shehu Jafiya obtained a B.Sc. Business Administration (specialising in Banking and Finance) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1989 and 1994 respectively.
She joined the Federal Civil Service as Finance Officer II in 1990 under the pool of the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and was deployed to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. She served in various capacities among which were: Assistant Director (Accounts) in The Presidency (OSSAP-MDGs); Deputy Director (Budget) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Director (Finance and Accounts) in Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) and was appointed Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in August, 2022.
Jafiya is an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, an Associate of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Fellow, Certified National Accountants of Nigeria (FCNA); among others.
Aminu Said Ahmed, representing Ministry of Petroleum Resources
Aminu Said Ahmed, Special Projects and Innovation, Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board.