By Joy Odor
Reportcircle News
Nigeria’s fragile energy economy was placed under the microscope on Thursday as the Senate subjected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s top oil and gas regulatory nominees to intense scrutiny in a hearing that exposed the scale of the country’s production decline, fuel dependency and gas-to-power failures.
The Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) made it clear from the outset: this was not a routine confirmation exercise, but a decisive test of whether Tinubu’s energy reset can arrest years of regulatory drift and lost investment.
Facing lawmakers were Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan, nominee to lead the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, nominated as Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA)—two agencies at the heart of Nigeria’s oil output, fuel supply and gas monetisation.
Opening the proceedings, Senator Suleiman Abdurrahman Kawu, OFR, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and co-chairs of the Joint Committee framed the session as a national reckoning.
“This committee is not rubber-stamping anyone,” Kawu said. “The Petroleum Industry Act places enormous responsibility on regulators. Nigeria’s energy sector is underperforming, and the cost is being paid by citizens and the economy.”
With the National Assembly operating under a tight calendar ahead of President Tinubu’s budget presentation, Kawu warned that lawmakers expected direct answers and measurable commitments.
Presenting the nominees, Senator Bashir Lado, Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, underscored the President’s personal involvement in the selections.
“These nominees were chosen directly by Mr President,” Lado said. “Their records speak loudly.”
But the Senate was unmoved.
“Credentials alone are not enough,” the chair responded. “Nigeria must hear the plan.”
Leading off, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan anchored her pitch on hard numbers and institutional memory, positioning herself as a regulator who understands industry incentives and bottlenecks.
With 33 years in the upstream sector, she traced her journey through NNPC, NAPIMS and senior executive roles, highlighting moments when regulatory certainty or its absence, reshaped investor behaviour.
As General Manager, Planning, she said, her team defused joint venture cash-call arrears that had pushed international oil companies toward exit, restoring confidence and unlocking over $6 billion in upstream investment.
Later, she said, she helped resolve more than $10 billion in production sharing contract disputes, clearing the path for deep offshore projects such as Bonga Southwest.
Eyesan also pointed to structural reforms in gas development.
“For the first time, Nigeria executed a non-associated gas development contract,” she said. “That was a shift from rhetoric to execution.”
Her strongest claim drew the chamber’s attention.
“When I assumed responsibility, production hovered around 1.3 million barrels per day. We raised it to 1.8 million barrels per day.”
As head of NUPRC, she pledged to convert operational experience into regulatory enforcement.
“The PIA gives us the tools,” she said. “What has been missing is consistency, data integrity and disciplined execution.”
Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed adopted a different tone, technical, direct and unapologetic, arguing that Nigeria’s midstream and downstream failures stem from weak enforcement, not lack of policy.
“I have spent my entire career in this segment,” he said. “Pipelines, depots, refineries, gas sales—this is my terrain.”
As former Managing Director of the Nigerian Gas Company, Mohammed described expanding gas networks across Lagos, Ogun and the Niger Delta at a time when power sector non-payment threatened the company’s survival.
“You cannot distribute gas on sentiment,” he said. “Gas is a commercial product. Contracts must be enforced.”
He cited his role in shaping the National Gas Master Plan, enforcing domestic supply obligations on producers and extending Nigeria’s gas footprint through the West African Gas Pipeline, where he later served as board chairman.
On refining, Mohammed rejected fatalism.
“Nigeria once refined enough to meet local demand and export,” he said. “Our responsibility is to protect domestic investment first. Imports are a fallback, not a strategy.”
Senators pushed beyond résumés to probe policy direction.
Senator Joel Onowakpo-Thomas (Delta South) challenged Eyesan to explain how her regulatory leadership would differ from past approaches.
Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (Cross River North) demanded solutions to persistent gas shortages crippling power generation.
Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South) questioned how Eyesan boosted output without major capital injections and whether such efficiency could be institutionalised.
Others raised red flags over fuel import licences, refinery capacity utilisation, gas flaring, host community entitlements, and compliance with the 3 percent Host Community Development Trust mandated by the PIA.
In response, Eyesan identified governance failures as the sector’s biggest liability.
“Nigeria is losing value daily,” she said. “While the world runs on real-time data, we still regulate manually.”
She promised full digitization, transparent metrics, and close legislative collaboration, warning that global energy markets will not wait for Nigeria to catch up.
Mohammed echoed the call for firmness.
“If domestic supply falls short, importation may be unavoidable,” he said. “But our priority is to make local refining viable and enforce gas contracts.”
He pledged to activate gas network codes, revive pipeline transportation, strengthen quality control and invest in regulatory laboratories.
Closing the session, Senator Kawu struck a cautiously optimistic note.
“This country needs results,” he said. “We are counting on you to push production beyond 2 million barrels per day and restore confidence.”
With applause filling the chamber, the nominees were released, and the session adjourned, sending a clear signal that the Senate sees Tinubu’s energy appointments not as political rewards, but as instruments of economic survival.
For Nigeria, the question now is whether regulation will finally translate into delivery.
