President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, appointed Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, tasking him with driving a portfolio review and maximising value.
In a statement released by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, titled ‘President Tinubu Reconstitutes NNPC Limited Board, Appoints New Chairman and Group CEO’, it was noted that Tinubu, exercising his authority under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, has dismissed Mele Kyari from his role as NNPCL GMD.
The President also dissolved the company’s board, including Chairman Pius Akinyelure, and reconstituted it into an 11-member assembly.
According to Onanuga, Ojulari’s appointment takes effect on April 2, 2025.
In appointing Ojulari, the President outlined an immediate action plan for the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.
Ojulari, a native of Kwara State, is a seasoned Nigerian engineer with expertise in petroleum, process, and production engineering.
He began his career at Shell in November 1991 as an Associate Production Technologist at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) after leaving Elf Petroleum Nigeria, where he worked as a Fields and Process Engineer from September 1989 to October 1991, shortly after graduating from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Since joining Shell in 1991, Ojulari advanced through various roles, becoming a member of the Integrated Studies Team at Shell headquarters in the Netherlands from June 1994 to October 1995.
Between April 1997 and November 1999, he served as the Head of Planning Economics and Budgeting at SPDC Nigeria before taking on the roles of Asset Leader and Head Production Technologist at Shell in Oman from December 1999 to September 2003.
In October 2003, he assumed the position of Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Planner at Shell headquarters, holding this role until December 2004.
From January 2005 to October 2008, he was the Manager of Corporate Planning and Strategy at SPDC Nigeria, during which time he briefly served as Asset Production Technologist from November 2006 to March 2007.
Following that, he remained in Nigeria, becoming the Manager of Asset Development (Onshore and Shallow Water) at SPDC Nigeria from October 2008 to October 2010.
From January 2010 to October 2015, he was the Development Director at SPDC Nigeria, before rising to the position of Managing Director of SNEPCo from November 2015 to July 2021.
After leaving Shell, he established BAT Advisory and Energy Company Nigeria Ltd in September 2021, serving as its board chairman, where he focused on providing consultancy services to firms in the oil and gas/energy sector.
In January 2024, he was appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, a position he held until his recent appointment as the NNPC chief. Only a week ago, he announced his new role at Renaissance Africa on LinkedIn, stating, “It’s been a while since I started my role at Renaissance Africa Energy Company as an Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, but I wanted to share this update with everyone.”
He joined Renaissance during the conclusion of the company’s acquisition of a Shell asset in Nigeria.
“Renaissance now controls SPDC’s 30 per cent stake in the SPDC joint venture, an unincorporated partnership with the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd (10%), and Agip Energy and Natural Resources (Nigeria) Limited (5%),” Shell announced.
