Our Governance Framework
Our Governance Framework ensures an engaged and collaborative board that adheres to rigorous and transparent decision-making processes to foster long-term stakeholder value.
Corporate Governance Framework Overview
The Foundation: Our Code of Conduct and Business Principles
The Code of Conduct serves as the bedrock of our company's governance structure. It establishes the ethical principles and expected behaviors that guide every employee's actions and decision-making. By adhering to these principles, we foster a culture of integrity, fairness, and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
The Guiding Hands: Our Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors acts as the guiding hand of our company. Comprised of experienced and independent individuals, the board offers invaluable oversight and strategic direction. They are responsible for setting the company's long-term vision and goals, ensuring sound financial management, and mitigating potential risks.
Leading the charge: Our Executive Management Team
Our Management Team translates the Board's strategic vision into actionable plans. They provide day-to-day leadership and oversee all departments and operational functions within the company. The Executive Management Team is responsible for implementing the Board's long-term vision and goals, fostering clear communication and collaboration across all departments, and ensuring the company operates efficiently and effectively to achieve its objectives.
The Backbone: Our People
Our people across various departments form the backbone of our company's operations. Each team possesses specialized skills and expertise in its respective functions be it Upstream Execution, Integrated Gas, Corporate Finance, Compliance and Services. Through collaboration and open communication, all departments work together seamlessly to achieve the company's common goals.
Our Leadership Team
Our board is fully engaged, collaborative and adopts a rigorous transparent decision-making process to create long-term stakeholder value.
Board of Directors
Henry Odein Ajumogobia
A senior partner in the leading corporate/commercial law firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke that he co-founded in January 1984 and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2003, having been called to the Nigerian Bar in 1979. He was also a member of the Paris based ICC International Court of Arbitration and ICC International Commission on Arbitration between 2001 and 2006.
Mr. Odein Ajumogobia entered public service, following his appointment as Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice between 2003 and 2007 and was appointed Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum) and Head of Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC from July 2007 to December 2008. He also served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources between January 2009 – April 2010 and as Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 6, 2010, until the dissolution of the Federal cabinet on May 29, 2011.Mr. Ajumogobia has received numerous honours and including the National award of Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR).
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero is a seasoned Oil & Gas professional with extensive experience in scenario and strategy development. As the Managing Director/CEO of FIRST E&P, he drives the company’s goal of creating a successful integrated oil and gas business in Nigeria.Before joining FIRST E&P, Ademola was the President of BG (British Gas)Nigeria, overseeing Integrated Gas, Exploration & Production. He spent nearly 20 years at Shell in various significant roles across Nigeria, the Netherlands, and the USA. His final role at Shell was as Business Director/Board Executive of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited, responsible for Corporate Strategy & Planning, Commercial, JV Management, IT, and Exploration. He also served as VP for New Business Development in Africa at Shell’s corporate headquarters, managing entry strategies for several African countries and expanding operations in Nigeria, Gabon, and Cameroon.
Ademola’s leadership has consistently focused on value creation and supporting business governance. He holds a BSc in Offshore Civil Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London, England. Ademola is married with two children.
Juliet Ehimuan
Juliet Ehimuan is Director of Google in West Africa. She was named by Forbes as one of the top 20 power women in Africa, by the London Business School as one of 30 people changing the world; and featured in the BBC Africa Power Women series, and on CNN Innovate Africa.
With over 25 years experience primarily in Technology, Oil & Gas, and New Media industries across Europe, Middle East and Africa; Juliet is a leading voice on Innovation, Transformation, and Leadership. She has received numerous awards for outstanding contribution to the digital landscape in Africa. Under her leadership, the Google team has made a significant impact on local content development, infrastructure deployment, and digital capacity building.
Juliet has degrees from the London Business School, University of Cambridge; and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
She was awarded IT Personality of the Year in 2012 by the Nigeria Computer Society, Digital Personality of the year 2016 by Marketing World; and received a 2015 Titans of Technology award from TechnologyAfrica.She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and recently published 30 Days of Excellence, a leadership and effectiveness guide.
Daniella Obiesie-Uijlenhoed
Daniella Obiesie-Uijlenhoed is a Director & Partner at Danicees FZ, an oil and gas service company in Nigeria and the UAE and serves on the Board of Directors for FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development Company Limited. Born in Nigeria, she holds an MBA and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the University of Calabar, and a BA in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
Daniella began her career in banking in 1997 with roles at Federal Mortgage Finance, New Nigeria Bank, and Zenith Bank PLC. In 2005, she joined Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company (SNEPCo) as a stakeholder management liaison, later leading the Contracting team's Office Services. In2009, she worked with Oman Oryx Construction Company in the UAE as Head Corporate Services before returning to Shell Nigeria in 2012, focusing on strategy and governance until 2015.
Since 2018, Daniella has been a Trustee and Director on the Board of the Duke of Edinburgh Award for young people in Nigeria. Passionate about youth development, she values external relationships as key to corporate success and is known for her energy and interpersonal skills. Daniella is dedicated to achieving both personal and organisational goals.
Casper Kaars Sijpesteijn
An E&P Oil and Gas professional with over 40 years’ experience in the industry, primarily with Shell International, during which period Casper occupied several key roles, including General Manager of Shell Companies in Colombia and Venezuela and General Manager Development for Shell in Nigeria.
Casper served as the pioneer Technical Director of FIRST E&P and spearheaded many innovations, before retiring from active duty in the Company in 2017, transiting to become a Non-Executive Director of the Board.
During his long career, Casper worked in many countries, including Brunei, The Netherlands, UK, Colombia, Venezuela, and in Nigeria. He has a wealth of industry experience and a track record in technical & operational delivery.
Emmanuel Etomi
Emmanuel Etomi earned his master's degree from the London School of Economics in 1982 after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Ibadan in 1979. He is the Executive Director of Corporate Services at FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited (FIRST E&P), responsible for Human Resources, Business Services, Security, Sustainable Development, Communication, and ESG.
Emmanuel's leadership spans the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, including roles at Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Shell Brunei, British Gas, OK-LNG, and FIRST E&P. He began his career in HR at Shell Nigeria, holding positions such as Manager Industrial Relations and Corporate HR Strategy and Planning Manager, and later served as Senior Personnel Planning Adviser for Brunei Shell Petroleum Company.
He led Shell Nigeria’s Business Transformation for Sustainable Community Development, focusing on management systems and community engagement. After leaving Shell in 2008, he joined BG Nigeria as Vice President of Social Performance and later served as General Manager for Sustainable Development and External Relations at OKLNG in 2010. Emmanuel's extensive experience in HR, sustainable development, and social performance has significantly impacted the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
Fola Adeola
Mr Fola Adeola is a seasoned finance professional with years of vast experience. Mr Fola Adeola is the Founder and Chairman of FATE Foundation. He is a Co-founder of the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he also served as a Pioneer MD, Chief Executive and Chairman for 12 years. Previously, he served as the Group MD and CEO at the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc from 2005 to 2006 and served as a Member of the Advisory Board of Advanced Finance & Investment Group LLC.
Fola acted in public service when he served as the Chairman of the National Pension Commission from 2004 to 2006 and also as a Commissioner on the Commission for Africa established by the former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair from 2004 – 2005.
Fola has degrees from the London School of Accountancy, the International Institute for Management Development, the Lagos Business School, and the Harvard Business School.
Ibrahim Waziri
Ibrahim has over 38 years post-graduation professional experience in the public sector, banking, oil and gas industries. With educational background spanning Accounting, Finance, Petroleum and Gas Economics, his work experience includes: Chairman of the Board of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN); Group Executive Director at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Deputy MD/CEO Nigeria LNG Ltd; Executive Director, Nigeria Gas Company Ltd; and Executive Director the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company. His earlier work experiences included Financial and Credit Analyst, Lecturer, and a former Member of the Nigerian House of Representatives.
Presently, he is the Managing Partner, Gulf of Guinea Petroleum Consulting Limited and serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of several companies. He is a Fellow, Institute of Directors (IOD) and his extensive experience across industries is brought to bear on his Board contributions.
Management Team
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero is a seasoned Oil & Gas professional with extensive experience in scenario and strategy development. As the Managing Director/CEO of FIRST E&P, he drives the company’s goal of creating a successful integrated oil and gas business in Nigeria.Before joining FIRST E&P, Ademola was the President of BG (British Gas)Nigeria, overseeing Integrated Gas, Exploration & Production. He spent nearly 20 years at Shell in various significant roles across Nigeria, the Netherlands, and the USA. His final role at Shell was as Business Director/Board Executive of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited, responsible for Corporate Strategy & Planning, Commercial, JV Management, IT, and Exploration. He also served as VP for New Business Development in Africa at Shell’s corporate headquarters, managing entry strategies for several African countries and expanding operations in Nigeria, Gabon, and Cameroon.
Ademola’s leadership has consistently focused on value creation and supporting business governance. He holds a BSc in Offshore Civil Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London, England. Ademola is married with two children.
Emmanuel Etomi
Emmanuel Etomi earned his master's degree from the London School of Economics in 1982 after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Ibadan in 1979. He is the Executive Director of Corporate Services at FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited (FIRST E&P), responsible for Human Resources, Business Services, Security, Sustainable Development, Communication, and ESG.
Emmanuel's leadership spans the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, including roles at Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Shell Brunei, British Gas, OK-LNG, and FIRST E&P. He began his career in HR at Shell Nigeria, holding positions such as Manager Industrial Relations and Corporate HR Strategy and Planning Manager, and later served as Senior Personnel Planning Adviser for Brunei Shell Petroleum Company.
He led Shell Nigeria’s Business Transformation for Sustainable Community Development, focusing on management systems and community engagement. After leaving Shell in 2008, he joined BG Nigeria as Vice President of Social Performance and later served as General Manager for Sustainable Development and External Relations at OKLNG in 2010. Emmanuel's extensive experience in HR, sustainable development, and social performance has significantly impacted the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
Yetunde Taiwo
Yetunde is a Chartered Engineer and an Oil & Gas leader with over 30 years inter- functional experience. She has worked with top multi-national, independent, indigenous and state companies like Chevron, BG, Seplat and NNPC, respectively, in dynamic and complex transactions, executing strategies to deliver business outcomes. She has demonstrable breadth and depth of experience in the Gas business having led the Seplat/NGC JV multi-million-dollar ANOH project to final investment decision in 2019.
Prior to joining FIRST E&P in Jan 2023 as the General Manager, Integrated Gas Development, Yetunde was the Managing Director of Seplat East Onshore Ltd (a fully owned subsidiary of Seplat Energy, Plc) and member of Seplat Energy Senior Leadership team. In her 7 years at Seplat, Yetunde was the General Manager, Gas from 2015 – 2018, Managing Director of ANOH Gas Processing Company from 2018 -2020, and Director New Energy from Jan 2021 to July 2022. As General Manager, Gas, Yetunde developed a commercial gas business that grew Seplat’s operated gas production capacity from 300MMscf/d to 525MMscf/d, and today supplies enough gas to underpin one third of Nigeria’s domestic on-grid power generation.
Yetunde’s passion lies in developing and leading young talents for career advancement and leadership.
Segun Owolabi
Segun is a seasoned upstream oil and gas Business leader and a competent E&P professional with over 31 years’ experience covering both onshore and offshore areas including deepwater.
Prior to joining FIRST E&P, he was the Shell Share Representative and Business Opportunity Manager for Non-Operated Ventures and OML 135. Segun had several roles in both Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd including Asset Lead, Development Delivery Manager, Front-End Development Manager, Business Opportunity Manager for Deepwater and Shallow water assets.
Segun is skilled in asset maturation in diverse technical environments, managing operation performance, setting up improvement plans to achieve top quartile results and building a strong partnership with stakeholders.
Defolu Olufon
Defolu has over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer. Defolu’s experience in several legal roles covers dispute resolution, corporate & commercial law and energy law whilst working as an Associate and Senior Associate at Aluko & Oyebode and as the Legal Counsel/Company Secretary of BG Nigeria (Nigerian branch of BG Group Plc, UK).
Since inception of the Company in July 2012, Defolu has been the General Counsel, where he has led the legal team to support the Company’s bids for numerous oil and gas assets in divestment rounds involving International Oil Companies, from which the Company has been successful in acquiring interests in five (5) Oil Mining Leases.
Defolu has worked in challenging environments such as China and Nigeria and also worked in Singapore and the United Kingdom. His expertise is focused on upstream matters relating to Production Sharing Contracts, Joint Operating Agreements, Farm-In and Farm-Out Agreements, Drilling Services Agreement, Shareholders Agreement relating to LNG projects as well as Corporate Governance issues.
He is an expert on anti-corruption matters in challenging environments and has a very good understanding of the UK Bribery Act, U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Nigerian Anti-Corruption legislation. He holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Lagos and a Master of Laws Degree from the University College London.
Darlington Okougha
Darlington’s Finance Management experience of over two decades cuts across Downstream, Service, Power and the Upstream sectors of the Oil and Gas industry gained at Texaco Nigeria; Schlumberger Nigeria as Treasurer, and Divisional Controller, AES Corporation as Country Financial Controller; and until recently BG Nigeria.
His most recent career at BG Group in Nigeria commenced in 2006 as Chief Accountant, and in 2009 he took up the role of Finance Manager at BG Group’s significant North Sea portfolio based in Aberdeen Scotland, a position he held until his return to Nigeria in late 2011 for the position of Head, Finance, and Information Technology.
Olatunbosun Oni
Olatunbosun has over 30 years of E&P professional experience in the Petroleum Industry. Prior to taking up the role of General Manager Operations in FIRST E&P, he had a 28-year stint with Shell Nigeria in various roles running Maintenance, Engineering and Operations. The last half of his time with Shell was spent in SNEPCO Deepwater Operations in various roles as OIM, Production Superintendent and Operations Manager.
John Alamu
John is an accomplished engineering and project management professional, with over 34 years post-graduation experience,30 of which have been in the Petroleum Industry.
He worked for Shell both locally in Nigeria and overseas for a cumulative of about 17 years, with his experience spanning major appraisal/concept studies, front-end engineering, detailed engineering, installation/construction, and commissioning of major oil & gas production assets, including pipelines.
During Q4 2007, John joined Oando Plc, a leading indigenous integrated energy company, where he worked for about 7 years, his last position being the Chief Engineering and Technology Officer for the Oando Group and a member of the Group Leadership Council. While in Oando, John successfully managed and delivered major projects, including the 18-inch x 128km East Horizon Gas Pipeline, 12-inch x 38km Greater Lagos III Gas Pipeline, two power plants at Akute, Ogun State and Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State. He also delivered a 5MMscf/d Compressed Natural Gas Plant, sited at Ilasamaja/Itire, Lagos State.
John joined FIRST E&P in September 2014 as Chief Engineer and he is currently the General Manager, Engineering & Capital Projects.
Abimbola Ayinde
Abimbola has over 20 years experience spanning Energy and Corporate finance, Investment Banking, Strategic Business Planning and Organizational Development. Abimbola joined FIRST E&P as a Corporate Planning and Business Performance Manager and has held several roles within the Company with responsibility for Corporate Finance, Petroleum Economics and M&A Activities.
Prior to joining FIRST E&P, Abimbola was Vice President, Investment Banking at FCMB Capital Markets Limited. Over her work experience, Abimbola has been responsible for leading various capital raising, public listings and mergers and acquisition efforts on behalf of private and public companies across various industries in Nigeria with a more recent focus on oil and gas sector.
She has a master’s degree in business administration from Manchester Business School, UK and a first degree in Biochemistry from University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Abimbola is committed to supporting the education and wellbeing of children with absent or underprivileged parents and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Special Foundation, a charity focused on educating Nigerian children.