President Muhammadu Buhari has in a written communication asked the Senate to replace the nomination of Sarki Auwalu as the Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority Board with that of Farouk Ahmed.
Auwalu, who is the current Director/Chief Executive Officer of the soon be scrapped Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), was nominated alongside 3 other members as board members of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority on September 28, 2021, and awaiting Senate’s confirmation.
The request is contained in a letter dated September 28, 2021, sent by President Buhari and read during plenary session at the upper legislative chamber by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday. The President in the new request, sought for the replacement of Auwalu with Ahmed as the Chief Executive Officer of the agency, explaining that this was duly in accordance with the provision of Section 34(3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
Recall that over a week ago, President Buhari had written to the Senate seeking the confirmation of his nominees as board members of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and Upstream Regulatory Commission among others.
The President’s request is coming at the same time he had also written to the Senate seeking for an amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to expand the membership of the board of directors and to address the issue of geographical balance in its membership among other changes.
In the letter dated September 16, 2021, the nominees for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Board include Idaere Gogo Ogan (Chairman); Engr. Sarki Auwalu (Chief Executive); Abiodun A. Adeniji (Executive Director, Finance and Accounts); and Ogbugo Ukoha (Executive Director, Distributions Systems, Storage and Retail Infrastructure).
