Tinubu Sacks Mele Kyari, Appoints Bayo Ojulari As NNPC Boss In Sweeping Shake-Up

President Bola Tinubu has sacked Mele Kyari as Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and appointed Bashir Bayo Ojulari as his replacement in a sweeping overhaul of the state-owned oil company. 

In a related move, Tinubu also dissolved the NNPC Limited Board, removing Chairman Pius Akinyelure and all board members who had been appointed in November 2023.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy) made this known in a statement made available on X (formerly Twitter) early Wednesday.

According to the statement, the new leadership appointments take effect on Wednesday, April 2.

The President has tasked the new leadership with ramping up NNPC’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.

According to him, the new 11-man board has  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.

He further explained that President Tinubu 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.

Onanuga said, “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.”

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.