Board of Trustees

Mr Abdulrazaq Isa
Chairman

Abdulrazaq Isa is a Co-Founder and Chairman of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited an Indigenous Nigerian Independent oil and gas producing company which Operates the Ibigwe field in Oil Mining Lease 16 located in Imo State Nigeria. Under Abdulrazaq's leadership, WALTERSMITH commenced commercial export from the field in 2008 and in 2011 participated in the consortium that acquired Shell/Total/Agip 45% interest in OML 34. With over 30 years professional experience as a Banker and Entrepreneur, Abdulrazaq has interests in Financial services and the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. He is an Alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria and The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Abdulrazaq is a member of several professional organisations and he is currently engaged in philanthropic work in support of the development of science education.

Engr. Charles Odita
Board Secretary

Charles Odita holds a first class honours Bachelors of Engineering degree (1984) in Chemical Engineering and a Masters of Engineering (1987) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin, Benin-City, Nigeria. Thereafter, he worked as an industrial water technical sales engineer with Pinnacle Holdings Limited in Lagos. Between 1988 and 2007, he worked with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), with 41/2 years of cross-posting with Netherlands Aardoile Maatschappij (NAM) in Assen, Netherlands (the local Dutch oil producing company) and Shell Research in Rijswijk, Netherlands. In the 20 years with Shell in the upstream Oil and Gas production business,he worked in various capacities as Well Site Petroleum Engineer, DrillingOperations Engineer, Research Engineer, Project Engineer, Senior Well Engineer and finally as head of Corporate Well Planning for SPDC. In May 2007, He joined Notore Chemical Industries limited, which is the only producer of Nitrogenous Urea Fertilizer in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. He worked initially as Chief Technical Officer and later as the Group Chief Technical Officer and Group Chief Operating Officer.He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (FNSchE).He has written various technical papers in the area of Well Engineering and has attended different technical and management programmes in Nigeria, Netherlands, UK, and US. In July 2014, he joined Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer. Prior to becoming MD/CEO, he was a Non-Executive Director of Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited since 2005.

Ademola Adeyemi-Bero

As an E&P professional, Ademola Adeyemi Bero has over 25 years of E&P professional experience in thePetroleum Industry. Prior to taking up the role of Managing Director and CEO of FIRST E&P, he had a 5 year stint with BG Group Plc, UK as President/Managing Director for BG Nigeria’s business interests. He had previously spent some 20 years with Shell International, and before that had early working life with Ashland Oil Company. Over the years, Ademola has acquired deep knowledge and excellent understanding of various aspects of the oil and gas business in a variety of roles; Business Director of Shell’s Nigeria Joint Venture (SPDC JV) where he was responsible for the business growth and venture management functions of the company, VP New Business, Africa within Shell International E&P, responsible for portfolio growth in Africa as well as General & Asset Management and Chief Technical roles across a number of countries.He has a sound understanding of the Nigerian oil and gas business environment.

Dr.Layi Latona

Layi Fatona is a Petroleum Geologist with more than forty years of oil industry experience. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) in 1973 and obtained both the Masters of Science and Doctorate degrees in Petroleum Geology and Sedimentology from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London. He started his career as a Review Geologist responsible for regional geological studies in the Niger Delta with The Shell Petroleum Development Company, rising through the ranks in the seven years he was there. He left to join other like minds to start up Geotrex Systems Limited (Petroleum Exploration and Production Consultants) starting as a Senior Consultant and currently retaining the position of Chairman of the Company. He holds other board positions across the industry. He is currently the Managing Director of Niger Delta Exploration and Production Plc. He also sits on the board of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc. He is the chairman of the board of Skye Financial Services Limited. Layi is a staunch believer in the ability of indigenous minds to control the narrative of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He insists that Nigerians can and should increasingly play major roles in exploring, producing and creating additional value for the country and its people from our vast oil and gas reserves. He is a member of various professional bodies and has won several awards and recognitions over the years for his contributions to the general areas of Petroleum Engineering and Geology. He is a past President and Fellow of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), a Certified Petroleum Geologist of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist (AAPG), the 6th and 2010 recipient of the prestigious highest ranking "Aret Adams Award" of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, the 2012 recipient of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) NMGS/DPR/Chief M.O. Feyide Award, and a "Master Class Finalist" in the 2011 Ernst & Young – Entrepreneur of the Year Award series. As an explorer, he isn't resting on his oars and continues to seek means of creating awareness, growth and local participation in the industry. He is married with children. He enjoys playing golf.

Governance

IPPG Board of Trustees Profile

Mr Abdulrazaq IsaChairman

Engr. Charles OditaBoard Secretary

Ademola Adeyemi-Bero

Dr.Layi Latona

Mr Abdulrazaq Isa
Chairman

Engr. Charles Odita
Board Secretary