X-raying the New NNPCL GCEO, Bashir Ojulari’s Appointment
By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo, anipr
The appointment of Engineer Bashir Ojulari as the new NNPCL GCEO by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is commendable. This is because Ojulari has been one of the major players in the oil industry within and outside Nigeria.
When the news broke out, many notable Kwarans were joyous including the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu Gambari; Governor of Kwara State, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Senator Ibrahim Yahya Oloriegbe; Saliu Mustapha, Senator Representing Kwara Central, and others. They all rolled out press statements to congratulate Engineer Bashir Ojulari.
The joy on our faces was so huge that on the day (2nd April,2025) the appointment was announced, the whole community was in euphoria.Ojulari is the first Kwaran to attain such a prestigious office of NNPCL GCEO so you shouldn’t expect less.
However, to my dismay, some people who are not from Kwara took over the social media by saying Tinubu has appointed another Yoruba man. They tend to form the opinion that he is from the South West, whereas he is a Northerner from North Central Nigeria, precisely Kwara state.
We are not unperturbed by the tantrums thrown at us as Kwarans, after all, mischief makers can’t be ruled out in any growing democracy. Sometimes the opposition and even the aggrieved party members who felt the government of the day has refused to reward them with appointments can be mischievous.
Ojulari’s family are well known in Ilorin even though they are from Oke-Ode under Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. One of the prominent members of the family was the late Alhaji Tunde Ojulari who was the President of Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YUSFON). May Allah grant him aljannah firdaus. He was a cousin to the new GCEO of NNPCL and the one many of us knew in the 80s and 90s because they live at Saboline in Ilorin, coincidentally the area from where I hailed.
My advice to the new GCEO is to live up to expectations of Nigerians and use his wealth of experience to take NNPCL to a new height.
Below is the background information on the career of Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga
“Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.
Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.”
Wishing Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari a successful tenure by praying that Allah guides him.
