Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA), has been described as a "square peg in a square hole" for his role in running the three-in-one agency effectively, efficiently, and without blemish, in line with global best practices and the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021. President Bola Tinubu appointed Umar to steer the agency, which was formed from the merger of three oil regulatory bodies: the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEFMB), and the Midstream Downstream Divisions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). These entities, previously separate regulatory, supervisory, and technical bodies from the unbundled Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), are now housed together under one leadership.
When President Tinubu observed that the first two insider-CEOs were not effectively driving petroleum administration, regulation, and monitoring in line with his Renewed Hope Agenda, he decided to appoint an outsider-CEO to marshal the agency. That outsider is Rabiu Umar, a seasoned corporate executive with three decades of experience spanning oil, energy, production, and commodity business, both administratively and technically.
Contrary to reports that highlight only his career at Ashaka Cement and Dangote, Umar previously held three jobs over two decades with major companies before joining Ashaka and Dangote. He was groomed and nurtured at the privatised Unipetrol Nigeria Plc as a fresh accounting graduate from Bayero University, where he started as a Sales Representative. During the privatisation process, he transitioned from Unipetrol to Oando, where he rose through the ranks to become Chief Operating Officer. From Oando, he joined Lafarge as Energy and Strategy Director. He then moved to Ashaka Cement, leaving as Managing Director to join Dangote as Group Sales and Marketing Director. He resigned over a year ago to run his own private commodity and produce business, which allows him time for family and tennis at Ikoyi Club and 1004 courts.
This article not only showcases Umar's proven corporate track record beyond Ashaka and Dangote but also highlights his leadership traits, which help in understanding the connectivity between business and governance in line with President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda for all-round infrastructural development. The oil sector carries a significant load that intertwines with political economy.
Umar, whose father, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Snr, was a retired General Manager of Admin and HR at TotalOil Plc, now takes full charge of NMDPRA following Senate approval of his appointment last week. A new era beckons for the agency, free from man-made volatility, meddlesomeness, corruption, accusations, and lacklustre proactiveness.
With formal and informal training at Bayero University Kano, Harvard, Unipetrol, Oando, Lafarge, Ashaka, and Dangote, combined with his own entrepreneurial experience, Umar possesses a comprehensive range of administrative and technical know-how in oil, energy, and manufacturing. In these sectors, timeliness, proactiveness, competitiveness, and quality control are essential for success. Umar must be aware that he is not only under the watchful eye of President Tinubu but also of the corporate world, as he is the first product of the private sector to head this sensitive intergovernmental agency. This is especially important now that other large and medium petroleum refineries have emerged to compete with imported fuels, which are the engine room of most businesses.
Gbenga Gbadesire is a Lagos-based media and logistics entrepreneur.
