President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Rivers South-East senator, Magnus Abe, as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) following the resignation of Gbenga Komolafe.

The announcement was made on Monday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who stated that Tinubu has written to the Senate seeking confirmation for 21 board nominees for both the NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Abe, a two-term senator and former board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, currently chairs the National Agency for the Great Green Wall.

Other NUPRC board nominees include:

• Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi – former Trade Union Congress chairman, Kaduna State
• Sunday Adebayo Babalola – former deputy director, Department of Petroleum Resources

Executive commissioner nominations cover areas such as finance, exploration, economic regulation, development and production, corporate services, and health, safety, and environment. Olayemi Adeboyejo was nominated as secretary and legal adviser.

Separately, Tinubu nominated Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer with over 30 years’ experience in the energy sector, as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji previously served as technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum and collaborated with the World Bank on Nigeria’s oil and gas reforms.

The president urged the Senate to approve the nominees quickly and charged them to discharge their duties professionally as regulators of the oil and gas sectors.