The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority(NMDPRA),
Farouk Ahmed has resigned.
Similarly, his counterpart at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission(NUPRC),
Gbenga Komolafe has also stepped down.
Based on the development, President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm new chief executives for the two agencies.
The President’s request was contained in separate letters to the Senate on Wednesday,December 17,2025.
The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President,Bayo Onanuga, announced these in a statement.
Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari after the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act.
According to the statement, 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 statement noted that Eyesan, an economist and oil industry veteran, spent nearly 33 years at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries.
She retired in 2024 as Executive Vice President, Upstream, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy.
Mohammed, a chemical engineer and former Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, has also served on several energy sector boards.
He recently emerged as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
“The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry,” the statement noted.
Hours before his resignation, the former NMDPRA chief visited Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
Dressed in traditional attire, the Bauchi-born spent less than 30 minutes before he left the premises.
While the reason for the visit was unclear, he also declined to speak with journalists, saying, “It’s already late for an interview. It is past 5 p.m. Work has closed.”
His visit came in the wake of the brawl between him and Dangote, which saw the latter petitioning the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), accusing Ahmed of corruption and financial impropriety.
In the petition submitted through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, Dangote asked the anti-graft agency to arrest, investigate, and prosecute the former NMDPRA chief.
Africa’s richest man accused him of living beyond his means, claiming four of his children had attended secondary schools in Switzerland, with costs running into several millions of dollars.
He claimed approximately $5 million had been spent on secondary education and upkeep over six years, plus an additional $2 million on tertiary education, including an alleged $210,000 for a 2025 Harvard MBA programme for one of Ahmed’s children.
The reputed industrialist listed the children’s names and schools they attend, asking the ICPC to prosecute Ahmed in line with the laws of the land.
“We have no reservation that, being a matter that is in the public domain, the Commission will not close its eyes to it but act decisively to ensure that justice is done and the good image of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is protected,” part of the petition read.
The ICPC acknowledged receipt of the petition, promising to probe the matter.
“The petition is against the CEO of the NMDPRA, Alhaji Farouk Ahmed. The ICPC wishes to state that the petition will be duly investigated,” it said.
On Sunday, the industrialist accused the NMDPRA leadership, under Ahmed, of economic sabotage, claiming that certain regulatory actions were undermining local refining capacity.
At a press conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Dangote alleged that the continued issuance of import licences for petroleum products was frustrating domestic refiners and perpetuating reliance on imports.
In his reaction,
Ahmed described the allegations as wild and spurious,alleging that the regulator was colluding with international traders and oil importers to the disadvantage of local operators.
“While I am aware of the wild and spurious allegations made against me and my family and the frenzy it has generated, as a regulator of a sensitive industry, I have opted not to engage in public brickbat,” he said.
“Thankfully, the person behind the allegations has taken it to a formal investigative institution. I believe that would provide an opportunity to dispassionately distill the issues and to clear my name.”
