President Tinubu Appoints Bashir Ojulari As New NNPCL CEO…Reasons Why He Allowed Kyari To Serve Out His Term

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday appointed Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr  Bayo Onanuga,  who disclosed this in a statement he issued in Abuja, noted that this has ended the tenure of Mele Kyari while adding that the decision is effective from April 2, 2025.

The President has tasked the new NNPCL leaders with ramping up the organization’s crude oil refining capacity, setting a target of 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and an ambitious 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.

Onanuga added that a new 11-man board for the NNPCL has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.

He added that Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.

‘Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones.

They are Bello Rabiu, Northwest, Yusuf Usman, Northeast, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas(NLNG), who represents North Central’ Onanuga said.

 President Tinubu , he noted, has also appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the Southwest, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the Southeast.

‘Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ he said.

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Invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, President Tinubu emphasised that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialization and diversification.

The president  has also given 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 maximization 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 statement added.The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State while the CEO , Engineer Bashir Ojulari is from , Kwara State..

President Tinubu commended Kyari, Akinyelure and other members of the dissolved board for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that President Bola Tinubu allowed Mele Kyari to serve out his term because of the role he played ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Kyari became NNPCL boss in June 2019.

After the emergence of Tinubu as president-elect, powerful people in the country had begun to seek support for their’ boys’  who wanted to get appointed as heads of NNPCL, and CBN.

The president had however reportedly told them that NNPCL is a no-go-area submitting that he must keep his promise.

‘Tinubu did not really enjoy the support of the ‘cabal’ in control of Aso Rock and they had resolved not to stop him directly but however frustrate him.

  The then CBN  governor ,Mr Godwin Emefiele  had come up with a policy that caused naira scarcity and the then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam  Abdulrasheed Bawa had a few days before the Election Day refused to allow movement of ‘eru’  despite the fact that the then presidential candidate of the ruling party had gotten in touch with him, he remained adamant until  a ‘directive’ came from the top.

Kyari  was however one of the few people that saved the situation and he gave Tinubu ‘solid’ support.

The former NNPCL chief tackled Aliko Dangote with confidence and said he could go to hell and nothing happened! it was because he enjoyed the support of the president,’ said a source.

Recall that Abdulrasheed Bawa and Mr Godwin Emefiele were sent packing in October 2023 and June 2023 respectively-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you