Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has resigned.
This comes after Ahmed had a meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed the development on Wednesday.
Via a statement, he revealed that Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), also resigned.
According to the statement, Tinubu nominated Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan to replace Ahmed, and Saidu Mohammed to replace Komolafe.
The statement read in part, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve the nominations of two new chief executives for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
“The requests followed the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC. Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Buhari to lead the two regulatory agencies created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“To fill these positions, President Tinubu has written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.
“The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry.
“Eyesan, a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, 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.”
Earlier, Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, accused Ahmed of being involved in multimillion-dollar corruption.
He claimed that Ahmed spent $5 million to train his children in secondary school while earning a salary that should not have been able to cover such expenses.
Dangote Vs. Farouk Ahmed feud renewed:
Dangote: “Mallan Farouk has four of his children whom he educated in Switzerland at a cost of $5 million for their secondary school education alone, not university.
“When you look at his income, his income does not match paying this kind…
Following this claim, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) called on the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate Ahmed and the NMDPRA.
