Omo-Agege Congratulates Austin Avuru on NNPC Board Appointment, Tasks the New Board
ABUJA/Nigeria: The Deputy Senate President of the 9th Assembly, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has congratulated Mr. Austin Avuru on his appointment as a non-executive director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited by President Bola Tinubu.
Omo-Agege also extended his congratulations to Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari, who was named the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), and Ahmadu Musa Kida, who was appointed the non-executive chairman.
In a statement signed by his media adviser, Sunny Areh, Omo-Agege urged the appointees to align with President Tinubu’s ambitious vision of transforming NNPC Limited into a global player in the oil and gas industry.
Addressing Avuru, who hails from Delta State and represents the South-South region in the new management team, Omo-Agege noted that his extensive experience in the petroleum sector places him in a strategic position to contribute meaningfully.
“Given President Tinubu’s vision of increasing investment in the oil industry to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030, your appointment is deliberate and anchored on your proven track record. Your expertise will be invaluable in achieving the President’s goals, and I am confident that your passion for the industry will reflect in your contributions,” Omo-Agege stated.
He emphasized that the new board has a crucial mandate to drive Tinubu’s agenda of increasing NNPC’s crude oil refining capacity to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
A trained geologist, Avuru has over 40 years of experience in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. He was the Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Limited and, in 2010, became the pioneer CEO of Seplat Ltd, a company he co-founded.
Under his leadership, Seplat was successfully listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Avuru is a fellow and past president of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
He is the author of Politics, Economics & the Nigerian Petroleum Industry and co-author of Nigerian Petroleum Business, A Handbook. In 2013, he won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Master Class Category for Nigeria and the West African Sub-region.
