President Bola Tinubu has nominated former senator Magnus Abe and 20 other individuals for appointment to the boards of Nigeria’s key petroleum regulatory agencies, forwarding the nominations to the Senate for screening and confirmation.
In separate letters read at plenary on Monday, the President sought Senate approval for nominees to the boards of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
According to a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Abe was nominated as chairman of the NUPRC board. Other non-executive nominees to the commission include Paul Jezhi and Sunday Babalola. The President also named seven executive commissioners with portfolios covering finance, exploration, production, corporate services, health and safety, and legal and regulatory affairs.
For the NMDPRA board, Tinubu nominated energy lawyer Adegbite Adeniji as chairman. Kenneth Kobani and Asabe Ahmed were listed as non-executive members, alongside executive directors responsible for finance, hydrocarbons processing, gas infrastructure, corporate services, and distribution systems.
Some of the nominees are serving officials who were appointed under previous administrations, while others are new selections. The Senate recently confirmed Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC and Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA.
Both regulatory bodies were established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 as part of reforms aimed at restructuring governance, transparency, and oversight in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The nominations have drawn attention because Abe and Kobani are from Ogoniland in Rivers State, a region with long-standing environmental challenges linked to decades of oil exploration. Some Ogoni stakeholders welcomed the appointments but cautioned against reading broader policy shifts into them.
Environmental activist Celestine Akpobari said the nominations should not be interpreted as an indication that oil exploration would resume in Ogoniland, while Sir Joe Korka-Waadah reiterated long-standing Ogoni demands, including comprehensive environmental remediation and community inclusion.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, also commended the nominations, describing them as consistent with agreements reached with stakeholders.
Speculation in some quarters has suggested that the appointments could signal renewed oil activity in Ogoniland. However, no official announcement has been made by the Federal Government or the regulatory agencies to that effect.
The Senate is expected to begin screening the nominees in the coming weeks, after which a vote will be taken on their confirmation.