- Safiu Kehinde
President Bola Tinubu has, on Wednesday, sacked the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL), Mallam Mele Kyari, while reshuffling the company’s management board.
NPO Reported that Kyari’s sacking ended his six years of managing the affairs of the country’s petroleum company.
His exit paved way for Tinubu’s new appointee Bayo Bashir Ojulari, an Engineer and until his appointment, Chief Executive Officer of the Renaissance Africa Energy Company Energy Limited which led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.
An alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Ojulari graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector.
From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.
In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
Within this period, he also served as a member of the board of directors of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) responsible for Onshore and Offshore Petroleum Engineering, Technical Integration of Development, Well and Project Engineering.
He retired from his positions in Shell in July 2021.
Prior to his emergence as the new NNPCL boss, Ojulari served as chairman of BAT Advisory & Energy Company.