By Ayomide Otitoju
President Bola Tinubu has appointed Engineer Bashir Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, replacing Mele Kyari.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. Tinubu invoked Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasizing that the board restructuring aims to enhance operational efficiency, restore investor confidence, promote local content, drive economic growth, and advance gas commercialization and diversification.
Alongside Kyari, the President also dismissed the Chairman of the NNPC Board, Pius Akinyelure, and all other board members appointed in November 2023. The newly constituted 11-member board now has Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Kida as the Non-Executive Chairman.
Ojulari, an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, where he led a consortium in the landmark $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
With over three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector, Ojulari has held key roles at Elf Aquitaine and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. He has also worked in Europe and the Middle East as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.
In 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO). He is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council).
