President Bola Tinubu has appointed Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
Ojulari’s appointment came after President Tinubu sacked Mele Kyari as the GCEO of the NNPC.
However, here are some things that millions of Nigerians don’t know about the new NNPC boss:
- Ojulari hails from Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
- Until his appointment by Tinubu, Ojulari was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, the current owners of Shell Nigeria Limited.
- He started his professional career in the oil sector at Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer.
- Ojulari joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd from Elf in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
- Besides 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.
- Ojulari became the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) in 2015.
- During his career, he was Chairman and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
- Ojulari will work side by side with NNPC’s new board Chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, who also replaced Pius Akinyelure.
- He replaced Mele Kyari who was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2019.