President Bola Tinubu has formally requested the Senate to approve new chief executives for Nigeria's two main petroleum regulatory agencies. This urgent move comes in the wake of the sudden resignation of the agencies' heads, Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe, following a dramatic public confrontation with billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote.
The Presidential Request and Immediate Resignations
On Wednesday, December 17, President Tinubu sent separate letters to the Nigerian Senate. The letters sought the confirmation of new leaders for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). This request was confirmed by a statement from Bayo Onanuga, the President's Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.
The development followed the immediate resignation of Farouk Ahmed as Chief Executive of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe as Chief Executive of the NUPRC. Both officials were originally appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, following the landmark enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Dangote's Explosive Allegations of Extravagant Spending
The catalyst for the high-level resignations was a detailed public accusation made by Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group. In a hard-hitting advertorial published in BusinessDay newspaper, Dangote directly accused Farouk Ahmed of spending approximately five million US dollars on the secondary school education of his children in Switzerland.
Dangote alleged that Ahmed paid this vast sum to educate four of his children—Faisal Farouk, Farouk Junior, Ashraf Farouk, and Farhana Farouk—over a six-year period. The children reportedly attended elite Swiss institutions including Montreux School, Aiglon College, Institut Le Rosey, and La Garenne International School.
"This action amounts to economic sabotage and corruption," Dangote declared in the publication on Monday, December 15. He broke down the estimated costs, stating that annual tuition, airfare, and upkeep per child was about $200,000, totaling $800,000 yearly for all four. Over six years, he claimed living expenses and travel alone cost $1.2 million per child, or $4.8 million in total, bringing the overall secondary education cost close to $5 million.
Questions Over Tertiary Education Funding
The allegations did not stop at secondary school. Dangote further raised probing questions about the funding of the children's university education. He stated that tertiary costs, including tuition and upkeep, averaged about $125,000 per child annually over four years, amounting to $2 million for all.
In a specific claim, Dangote said one of Ahmed's sons, Faisal, had just completed an MBA at Harvard University in 2025. "Faisal just finished the 2025 Harvard MBA at $150,000 and $60,000 for upkeep, tickets and other incidentals. Total equals $210,000 spent in 2025 for Faisal’s MBA," the advertorial read.
Public Outcry and Demands for Accountability
Dangote framed these expenditures in stark contrast to the economic realities faced by ordinary Nigerians. He pointedly noted that the spending was carried out by a public officer "while many parents in his home state of Sokoto cannot afford to pay N10,000 school fees for their children and wards."
He emphatically stated that Nigerians deserve full transparency regarding the source of the funds used for these expensive overseas educations. The public nature of the allegations, coming from a figure of Dangote's stature, created immense pressure, leading directly to the regulators' meeting with President Tinubu and their subsequent resignations.
The swift presidential action to replace the agency heads underscores the seriousness with which the allegations have been treated at the highest level of government. It also highlights the ongoing scrutiny and expected accountability for officials managing Nigeria's critical oil and gas sector under the new Petroleum Industry Act framework.
