Umar Ajiya

NNPC Ltd.

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Ajiya is a seasoned Finance and Business Management Professional with practical experience in Corporate Financing, Business Strategy, Commercial and Stakeholder Management. He has over 33 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas Industry and is a fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and the Nigerian Institute of Management. He started his career in 1988 with Elf Petroleum (now TotalEnergies) and later joined the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited in 1991 where he contributed significantly to raising finance for the NLNG Vessels and Trains. He also made his mark in the marketing of LNG. He rose to occupy several positions including the Head of Treasury, Finance and Marketing & Business Development. In 2012, he joined NNPC as GM, Commercial in the LNG Division where he established LNG marketing JVs. Before his elevation to Chief Financial Officer of NNPC in July 2019, he was the Head of Corporate Planning & Strategy of the NNPC Group and later the Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC). As MD of PPMC, he championed the company’s transformation from a loss-making entity to a profitable one in 2018, for the first time in its 28 years history. Mr. Ajiya’s key achievements within NNPC include the development of new business models for NNPC Autonomous Business Units in 2016, transformation of PPMC to a profitable entity, and securing financing for key NNPC strategic projects across the upstream, midstream and downstream between 2019 and 2021. He also championed the restructuring of the NNPC Accounts in the wake of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) aimed at broader reforms including the full commercialization of NNPC. This resulted in the first declaration of profit in 2020 by the Corporation in its 44 years history. Following the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in August 2021, Mr. Ajiya was appointed the CFO and a member of the Board of NNPC Limited. The astute CFO supported the GCEO and other NNPC Senior Management Team in sustaining NNPC’s profitability trajectory with an increase of over 200% in the 2021 fiscal year. Mr. Ajiya also sits on the Boards of several subsidiaries of NNPC as well as other external organizations including the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). He is an advocate of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence. Mr. Ajiya has attended several courses at home and abroad including colleges and global business schools such as Cambridge, Insead, IESE and the Wharton Business School, amongst several others.