By Uche Amunike
With the power vested in President Muhammadu Buhari, under section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which he signed on August 16 2021, he has just appointed the Board and Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Limited with Senator Margery Okadigbo as Chairman.
This was disclosed by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Wednesday in a statement which he titled, ‘President Buhari Appoints Board and Management of NNPC Limited’.
Adesina named the Board Chairman as Senator Margery Okadigbo (South East); Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya.
Other board members are Lami Ahmed (North Central), Constance Marshall (South South), Dr Tajudeen Umar (North East), Chief Pius Akinyelure (South West), Mohammed Lawal (North West) as well as Henry Obih (South East).
Executive Commissioners of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission were also appointed. They are: Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulations and Strategic Planning, Dr Kelechi Ofoegbu (Imo); Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration, Jide Adeola (Kogi); Executive Commissioner, Development and Production, Dr Nuhu Habib (Kano); Executive Commissioner, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Captain Tonlagha John (Delta).
The new members appointed at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority are Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing, Francis Ogaree (Rivers); Executive Director, Economic Regulations and Strategic Planning, Dr Zainab Gobir (Kwara); Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, Mansur Kuliya (Kano); Executive Director, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Mustapha Lamorde (Adamawa) and Executive Director, Corporate Services and Administration, Bashir Sadiq (Sokoto).
They are to join the Board Chairman, Executive Director, Downstream Systems Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, the CEO and Executive Director of Finance and Accounts who were early appointed.
The new Council members for Midstream and Downstream Infrastructure Fund are Bobboi Ahmed (Adamawa), Abdullahi Bukar (Katsina) and Effiong Abia (Akwa Ibom).
In September 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari wrote to the Senate regarding the administrative structure amendments to the Petroleum Industry Act which included the appointment of Non- Executive Board Members, removing of the Ministries of Petroleum and Finance from the board of the two new institutions and appointment of Executive Directors which took effect from the date of the corporation of the NNPC Limited on September 29 2021.
Senator Margery Okadigbo is the widow of Nigeria’s former Senate President, late Chuba Okadigbo. She is also a lawyer by profession.
She once represented the Anambra North Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly but however took a break from active politics after the death of her first son. In spite of that, however, she has remained very active behind the scenes, especially being in the forefront of seeing to the growth of APC in the Southeast.
Her appointment as the new Chairman of the NNPC board, as well as that of other board members has been met with applauds for the Muhammadu Buhari-led government as the general view from most people is that the selection was done without any bias.
