Lagos — The Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, have resigned their positions.
It is not clear what led to the resignations, but Ahmed has come under allegation of corruption with business mogul Aliko Dangote this week asking for an investigation and prosecution of the NMDPRA Chief Executive Officer.
The two officials were appointed in 2021 by late President Muhammadu Buhari to head the regulatory agencies created by the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
A statement by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the President has already forwarded the names of their replacements to the Senate for approval.
The statement named the two names forwarded to the Senate for an expedited confirmation as Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan for NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed for the NMDPRA.
Eyesan is a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin. He spent nearly 33 years with the NNPC and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at NNPC from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. He was announced today as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
He was previously Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company, as well as Chair of the boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
