Two of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s most senior appointees in Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory sector have resigned from office, prompting the President to immediately forward the names of their proposed successors to the Senate for confirmation.
In a statement issued on December 17, 2025, the Presidency announced the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The statement, signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed that both officials, who were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, have stepped down from the powerful agencies established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Following their exit, President Tinubu has written to the Senate seeking expedited confirmation of new nominees to lead the two regulators.
“The requests followed the resignation of Engineer Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC,” Onanuga stated.
To replace them, the President nominated Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA.
According to the Presidency, both nominees are seasoned professionals with decades of experience in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Eyesan, an Economics graduate of the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, covering the 2023–2024 period, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy from 2019 to 2023.
Engineer Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, obtained in 1981. He was also announced on the same day as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
His extensive career includes serving as Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, as well as chairman of the boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
He also previously served as Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major national gas initiatives and policy frameworks, including the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act.
The Presidency noted that Mohammed played key roles in the delivery of landmark projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train projects.
While the State House statement did not provide details surrounding the circumstances of the resignations, the sudden exit of both regulators has intensified public scrutiny of the petroleum sector amid ongoing allegations of corruption and governance failures within key institutions.
It could be recalled that the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had submitted a petition against the Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Ahmed Farouk, to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
In the petition, dated and submitted on December 16 through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, SAN, Dangote called on the ICPC to arrest, investigate and prosecute the NMDPRA boss for allegedly living far beyond his legitimate means as a public servant.
