Tinubu seeks Senate approval for Oyedele, Magnus Abe as minister, NUPRC chairman

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday formally requested the Nigerian Senate to screen and confirm Mr. Taiwo Oyedele as Minister of State for Finance.

If approved, Oyedele will replace Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite in the Federal Executive Council.

The President also asked the upper legislative chamber to confirm former senator representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe, as the new chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Both requests were conveyed in separate correspondences sent by the President and read during plenary by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.

In the communication concerning Oyedele, Tinubu explained that the nomination forms part of ongoing adjustments within the administration’s cabinet structure and asked lawmakers to review and approve the appointment.

Before being nominated, Oyedele, an indigene of Ikaram in Akoko area of Ondo State, served as chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms. In that role, he led efforts aimed at restructuring Nigeria’s tax framework and improving fiscal policy coordination.

The 50-year-old economist and chartered accountant spent more than two decades at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he joined in 2001 and rose through the ranks to become Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

In a separate letter to the Senate, the President sought the confirmation of Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission following the resignation of Gbenga Komolafe.

Tinubu also nominated two individuals for positions as non-executive commissioners in the regulatory body. They are Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress in Kaduna State, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, who previously served as a deputy director at the now-defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.

After reading the President’s letters on the Senate floor, Akpabio referred the nominations to the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) for legislative consideration and further action.