President Bola Tinubu has sacked the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) including its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and board chairman Pius Akinyelure.

The decision, effective April 2, 2025, was announced in a statement by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga.

President Tinubu cited the need for enhanced operational efficiency, restored investor confidence, and a more commercially viable NNPC as the driving forces behind the decision.Invoking his powers under Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, he reconstituted the board with new leadership aimed at repositioning NNPC Limited for greater productivity and alignment with global best practices.

Kyari was first appointed NNPC chief by former President Muhammadu Buhari but was reappointed in 2023 by President Tinubu.

As part of the overhaul, Bayo Ojulari takes over from Kyari as the new group CEO, while Ahmadu Musa Kida has been appointed as NNPC’s new non-executive chairman, replacing Pius Akinyelure.

Also, Adedapo Segun has been confirmed as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO).In line with the PIA, the president also appointed six non-executive directors from each geopolitical zone.

They include Bello Rabiu representing the north-west, Yusuf Usman from the north-east, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), for the north-central.

Others are Austin Avuru for the south-south, David Ige for the south-west, and Henry Obih for the south-east.

Meanwhile, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of finance, and Aminu Said Ahmed of the ministry of petroleum resources will represent their respective ministries on the new board.

President Bola Tinubu has sacked Mele Kyari as the group chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and dissolved the board.

Consequently, the President appointed Bashir Ojulari as the new CEO, effective from April 2, 2025.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed the development in a statement he signed in the early hours of Wednesday titled, ‘President Tinubu reconstitutes NNPC limited board, appoints new Chairman, Group CEO.’President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.

The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman,” the statement reads.Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board.

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

They are Bello Rabiu representing the North West, Yusuf Usman representing the North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas, who represents North Central.“

President Tinubu also appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.“Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources,” Onanuga stated.

All the appointments are effective today, April 2.

President Tinubu, 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.

He 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.Onanuga said that in 2024, NNPC reported $17bn in new investments within the sector.

“The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30bn by 2027 and $60bn 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,” he explained.

….Says Ekiti economy has improved significantly under his watch

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has revealed that efforts are in place to ensure the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport runs 24-hour operation, in a bid to make the route competitive.

The Governor also expressed delight that the economy of the state has recorded significant improvement in the past two-and-a-half years, promising to do more in order to ensure a more sustainable development of the state and better living standard for the people.

Governor Oyebanji who stated these on Monday night during the March edition of his monthly media chat, “Meet Your Governor”, said his government intends to make the Ekiti Airport a major hub, as well as a major driver of the economy, attracting more investors to the state and boosting the economic capacities of the citizens.

He explained that his administration has entered into discussions with three major airlines in the country to commence commercial flights at the airport, facilitate air travel, tourism development, more investment and transportation of cargoes and export of farm produce to local and international destinations.

While expressing optimism that at least two of the airlines would operate flights to and from the airport, Oyebanji said his administration also hopes to make the route competitive by working hard to install Instrument Landing System (ILS) that will enable the operation of 24-hour flights in the airport.

The Governor said: “The issue is to make the route profitable and competitive for airlines and if the route is profitable, they will bring their planes. Part of what we are doing is to make it an airport of choice and by next year, they will be able to run Hajj and (Christian) pilgrimage.

“To make it an airport of choice, we must put a structure that guarantees 24-hour landing.

There is what we call Instrument Landing System (ILS) which enables night operations and also enables planes to land in extreme weather.

ILS as at today will cost close to N4.6 billion but we are determined to get it done.

“We are determined that before the end of this year, we will install ILS at the Ado Airport.

If we are able to do that, it will be the second airport in Southwest after Lagos Airport that has such a facility so that aircraft can land at night. We are also talking to a vendor that will provide a hangar for airport services, so it’s a whole gamut of transaction that is going on.

“The Governor also disclosed that a cargo shed is being constructed at the airport to serve as storage facility for farm produce and cash crops. He commended the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele for facilitating its inclusion in the budget.

The Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport was given approval for non-scheduled flight operation for six months last December. Governor Oyebanji who said expressed optimism that the airport would be one of the most competitive by the time it commences commercial operations.

Speaking further, Governor Oyebanji identified some indices of economic growth witnessed under his administration to include springing up of more businesses in the state made possible by an enabling environment for them to flourish, improved internally generated revenue and receipts from the Federation Account, as well as adequate protection of lives and property.

The Governor who disclosed that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) have moved from about N600 million monthly to over N2 billion monthly, attributed the feat partly to the fact that more residents are now encouraged to pay their taxes, having seen evidence of the government’s effective utilization of proceeds of the taxes in every part of the state.

He explained that his administration has not restricted development strides to only Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, as it is being speculated in some quarters, noting that virtually all parts of the state including the rural areas have been touched.

He also expressed readiness to keep on working for the people of the state till his last day in office, stressing that he wont be distracted by on going politicking.

Speaking on the state of the treasury, Oyebanji said what the state government and local governments receive monthly are not hidden as they are published by the office of the Accountant General noting that they vary from one month to the other.

He emphasized that his administration does not tamper with the local government funds as the State House of Assembly has an enabling law with established the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) with the monies for the councils coming directly into the account from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

While noting that he does not get involved in how the funds are shared, the Governor pointed out that he only monitors the projects the council chairmen execute with the funds to ensure that they are in line with the needs of the people and they such projects are satisfactory.