The Board of Directors of Seplat Energy Plc has announced the appointment of Mr. Christopher John Okeke, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma and Mr. Babs Omotowa, as independent non-executive directors of the company.
A statement issued in Lagos by Edith Onwuchekwa, Director Legal/Company Secretary of Seplat, said that Okeke and Udoma will join Seplat board with effect from December 1, 2023, while Omotowa will join the board on April 1, 2024.
This comes as Mr. Basil Omiyi and Dr. Charles Okeahalam, will step down from the board March 1, 2024 after the 2023 Annual Report and Accounts have been finalised and approved by the board. The election for the next chairman of the company will take place thereafter.
Okeke is a Nigerian corporate commercial lawyer, diplomat, and agribusiness expert. He graduated from Georgetown Law School with an LLM in 1979 and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1980. He co-founded a major Nigerian commercial law firm, Ajumogobia & Okeke, in 1984, where he served as the managing partner until his retirement in 2009. While in active legal practice, Okeke led his firm’s project financing and privatisation group, representing investors and banks over many years.
With several years of board experience, Okeke has served as nominee director for several international companies, including Philip Morris, where he also served as chairman. He has served on several boards including Cadbury Nigeria Plc, SO & U Saatchi & Saatchi, Indorama Petrochemicals Nigeria Limited, Asset and Resource Management Limited, ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Limited.
Okeke was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay 2017-2020.
Udoma CON, is an accomplished lawyer and seasoned board administrator. He attended St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, England where he obtained a B.A. (Law) degree and a B.C.L. degree in Jurisprudence. He was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. He founded the Law Firm Udo-Udoma & Belo Osagie in 1983 and retired from active legal practice in early 2020. Whilst in practice, Udoma specialized in advising on Nigerian investment laws and the investment environment, particularly in the petroleum, energy, and natural resources sectors. He advised Nigerian and international companies on company law, corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and the raising of financing in the capital and money markets, as well as on major construction and engineering contracts.
Mr. Udoma has served on a number of large size company boards. He was Chairman of UAC Nigeria Plc and Union Bank Plc and served on the boards of companies such as Unilever Nigeria Plc., Linkage Assurance Plc and First Hydrocarbon Nigeria Limited. He has also held a number of public sector appointments. He was the first Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and has also served as the Chairman of the Nigerian Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). He was the Special Adviser to the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources from September 1993 to March 1994 and served as Minister of Budget & National Planning from 2015 to 2019. He was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 1999 and served for two terms from 1999 to 2007.
Omotowa is an international leader in the Energy industry across Europe, Africa, the United States of America, Asia, and the Middle East, in organisation leadership, commercial, strategy and operational roles spanning over 26 years. He holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry, Masters degree in Business Administration, specialising in operations research and supply chain management. He is also an Honorary Doctor of Science.
Omotowa was Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited (“NLNG”) for about five years from December 2011 to September 2016. Prior to joining Nigeria LNG, he served in different capacities including as a Vice-President Shell Sub-Saharan Africa, Director at Shell Petroleum Development Company, a Non-Executive Director of West Africa Gas Pipeline Company, amongst others. After his role as MD, NLNG, he served as a Vice President of Shell Global Upstream E&P and later as Special Adviser to the Shell Global Upstream Director. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Montserrado Oil and Gas B.V, an Independent Director on the Boards of Pearlhill Technology USA, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc, and CAP Plc, and Founding President of the Nigerian University of Technology and Management.