Tinubu’s Energy Gamble Hits the Senate Floor: Nominees Pledge Production Surge, Gas Discipline End to Import Addiction
In a high-stakes parliamentary session, thick with urgency and expectation, the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) on Thursday subjected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s key energy nominees to an exhaustive screening that doubled as a referendum on Nigeria’s troubled oil and gas future.
At the centre of the hearing were Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan, nominee for Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, nominee for Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), two appointments widely seen as pivotal to reviving production, stabilising fuel supply and unlocking gas-led growth.
Presiding over the session, Senator Suleiman Abdurrahman Kawu, OFR, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and lead Co-chairs of the Joint Committee, opened proceedings with formal prayers and a blunt reminder of the moment.
“This screening,” Kawu said, “is not ceremonial. It is a constitutional duty under the Petroleum Industry Act. Nigeria is in an energy crisis, and this committee must be satisfied that these nominees are ready to confront it.”
He noted the compressed legislative calendar and the urgency imposed by President Tinubu’s imminent budget presentation, stressing that the Senate expected clarity, competence and candour from the nominees.
Introducing the nominees, Senator Bashir Lado, Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, left little doubt about the President’s confidence in his choices.
“These nominees were personally selected by Mr President,” Lado said. “Their CVs are impeccable so impeccable that one is tempted to say: let my people go.”
The Senate declined the shortcut.
“Let us hear from them,” the chairman ruled. “Nigeria must hear why they deserve this trust.”
Taking the floor first, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, a 33-year oil and gas industry veteran and former Executive Vice President, Upstream at NNPC, framed her nomination as a transition from builder to referee.
“I stand before you with over three decades of upstream experience,” Eyesan told senators, recounting her rise from a young procurement officer to senior leadership at NAPIMS and NNPC.
She detailed how, as General Manager for Planning, she helped resolve joint venture cash-call arrears that threatened massive IOC divestments, unlocking over $6 billion in upstream investment.
She highlighted her later role in settling over $10 billion in production sharing contract disputes, paving the way for deep offshore investments such as Bonga Southwest.
Eyesan also claimed a landmark achievement in gas development.
“Under my watch, Nigeria signed its first non-associated gas development contract,” she said, adding that the country’s gas ambition had long lagged execution.
Her most pointed statistic drew murmurs in the chamber.
“When I assumed office, production was about 1.3 million barrels per day. By the time I exited, we raised it to 1.8 million barrels per day.”
As a regulator, she pledged to deploy that operational experience to enforce discipline, maximise value and fully leverage the Petroleum Industry Act.
Next, Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, a career engineer who rose from pipeline supervision to Managing Director of the Nigerian Gas Company, delivered a technically grounded defence of his nomination.
“My entire career has been midstream and downstream,” Mohammed said. “From gas transmission to refinery operations, I have lived in this value chain.”
He recounted expanding gas infrastructure across Lagos, Ogun and the Niger Delta to rescue Nigerian Gas Company from chronic non-payment, particularly by power sector customers.
“You cannot run gas on goodwill,” he said. “Gas is sold before it is produced. Contracts must mean something.”
Mohammed highlighted his role in developing Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan, enforcing domestic gas obligations on producers, and extending gas pipelines beyond Nigeria through the West African Gas Pipeline, where he later served as board chairman.
On refineries, he was unapologetic.
“At one point, Nigeria’s refineries met domestic demand and exported products,” Mohammed said. “Our national interest must always come first—meet local demand, protect local investments, then export.”
The questioning phase was sharp and unsparing.
Senator Joel Onowakpo-Thomas (Delta South) praised the President’s choices but challenged Eyesan directly: “What will you do differently this time to justify the confidence placed in you?”
Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (Cross River North), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, pressed Mohammed on gas-to-power failures.
“How will you guarantee uninterrupted gas supply to power plants?”
Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South) interrogated Eyesan’s production gains.
“You raised output to 1.8 million barrels without heavy capital injection. How and can you repeat it as a regulator?”
Other Senators raised alarms over fuel import licences, refinery utilisation, gas flaring, host community obligations, and alleged non-compliance with the 3 percent Host Community Development Trust mandated by the PIA.
Responding, Eyesan zeroed in on governance failures.
“We are leaving value on the table,” she said. “The world is moving at jet speed while we remain manual.”
Her priorities: digitization, asset integrity, data-driven regulation and stakeholder collaboration, particularly with the National Assembly.
“It is unthinkable that Nigeria sits on over 200 trillion cubic feet of gas and still struggles with power,” she said.
Mohammed, for his part, promised tougher enforcement.
“If there is a supply deficit, importation may be necessary,” he said. “But our duty is to protect local refining and enforce contracts—especially in gas-to-power.”
He pledged to operationalise gas network codes, rebuild pipeline infrastructure, enforce product quality standards and invest in regulatory laboratories.
As the session wound down, Senator Kawu struck a confident note.
“We depend on you to help us reach 2.2 to 2.5 million barrels per day,” he said. “Nigeria needs hope, and your records give us reason to expect results.”
With applause echoing through the chamber, the committee released the nominees and adjourned, signaling that confirmation was no longer a question of if, but when.
For President Tinubu, the screening marked a critical step in his energy reset. For Nigeria, it raised the stakes on whether experience, discipline and regulation can finally turn resources into results.
