In a major shake-up of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), President Bola Tinubu has dismissed Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari and Chairman Pius Akinyelure. He has appointed Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO, with Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman, effective April 2, 2025.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed the development in an official statement, citing the President’s decision to dissolve the entire NNPCL board appointed in November 2023. The new board, now an 11-member team, includes representatives from Nigeria’s geopolitical zones, as well as the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources.
The restructuring, carried out under Section 59 (2) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, is aimed at boosting operational efficiency, enhancing local content, and attracting more investment into the oil and gas sector. Tinubu has set ambitious targets for the new leadership, including raising daily oil production to three million barrels by 2030 and increasing Nigeria’s gas output to 10 billion cubic feet per day.
Bashir Ojulari, the newly appointed Group CEO, is a seasoned oil and gas executive with decades of experience in the sector. Until now, he was the Executive Vice President of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, leading a landmark $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.
As the new leadership assumes office, expectations are high for them to drive reforms, maximize value from NNPC assets, and elevate crude refining capacity to 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
