Our Leadership

MD/Chief Executive Officer

Chikezie Nwosu

Mr. Chikezie Nwosu is an experienced senior executive with over 29 years local and international experience in the oil & gas industry vis-a-viz management of oil & gas projects, new business development and divestments and acquisitions.

Mr.  Nwosu is a strong energy professional with a proven track record of excellence in managing technical and non-technical business and project risks and opportunities, having worked with leading international oil and gas companies including Shell International E&P B.V.  as a Global Principal Technical Expert and Asset/ Subsurface Development Manager (New Business Development), Qatar CO2/EOR, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Shell Nigeria Exploration and Development Company (SNEPCo) as Regional Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa in Petroleum Engineering and Senior Front-End Project Manager.

Mr. Nwosu held Senior Executive positions in SINOPEC-Addax Petroleum Nigeria Limited, as Deputy Managing Director (Technical) and a member of the Board of Directors of both Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Limited (APDNL) and Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Limited (APENL) and for Tolea Energy B.V. the Netherlands as Executive Vice-President for Business Development and Africa.

He is a first class graduate of Nuclear Engineering Science, holds an M.Sc with distinction, majoring in Theoretical Nuclear Physics, and is a member of several professional organizations including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (2017/2018 SPE Nigeria Council Chairman and member Board of Trustees), Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) and currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Nelson Mandela Institute’s African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja.

Effective November 21, 2019 Mr. Nwosu became a Director on the Board of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited and Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company.

Chief Financial Officer

Alex Osho

Alex Osho joined Waltersmith in December 2019 as Chief Financial Officer and has over 14 years’ experience in buy- and sell-side M&A, capital raising, restructuring, project financing and private equity advisory. Prior to joining Waltersmith, Alex served as Associate Director & Head of Advisory & Equity Capital Markets at FBNQuest Merchant Bank where he led the US$1billion restructuring of a large commercial bank and also advised the Nigerian government on the privatization of key power assets. Alex also previously worked at Barclays where he was Vice President (Africa Investment Banking, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities and Emerging Markets M&A) and advised a Nigerian upstream oil company on a key asset acquisition. He was instrumental to deepening Barclays’ oil & gas and power & utilities coverage in West Africa.

Alex also previously worked as Vice President (Investment Banking) at FBN Capital, as Corporate Finance Manager at Oando Plc and as financial advisory Senior Associate at KPMG where he started his career. Over the course of his career, he has advised several private and public sector clients across multiple industries including oil & gas, power, financial services, consumer, financial services and infrastructure. Some of his key transaction experience include: Aiteo’s US$2.65billion acquisition of OML 29; Green Energy’s farm-out of a 40% interest in the Otakikpo field to Lekoil Limited; Oando’s US$1.5billion acquisition of ConocoPhilips assets in Nigeria; Oando’s US$100million financing of the Apapa single point mooring (SPM) and midstream jetty project.

Alex holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting (first class honours) from the University of Benin, Nigeria, graduating as the best student in the department and faculty. He also holds an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD where he graduated on the Dean’s List. He is also a CFA charter holder, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a winner of several ICAN national merit awards.

Chief Commercial Officer

Lanre Odusote

Lanre Odusote is responsible for new business opportunities in upstream and energy, development of power plant, and gas monetization in oil and gas assets. She is actively engaged in growing the business inorganically, analysing and reviewing M&A opportunities.

She has 25 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, spanning the entire hydrocarbon value chain, and has held various technical, business, and commercial leadership roles in Nigeria, US and the Netherlands. Her experience spans field operations, asset management, project management in green and brown oilfield assets, financial analysis, business planning and strategy, commercial and business development and power project development in oil producing and servicing multinational organizations. She has been responsible for production targets, growth targets and cost performance management.

Her experience working with Shell and Schlumberger in Nigeria and US includes project management roles in onshore and multi-billion-dollar deep water projects, development of production, facilities and drilling portfolio strategies, management of global support and commercialization of engineering applications. She also has experience operating and managing integrated oil and gas production assets, and has been responsible for field development planning, commissioning, and start-up and operations of gas gathering & processing plants.

In Exterran US, she developed business plans and budgets for Middle-East and Africa (MEA), conducted qualitative and economic analysis for company-wide initiatives, and participated in the execution. In her leadership capacity in Nigeria, she developed the Exterran Nigeria growth strategy, and led development and implementation of new business opportunities, including provision of gas solutions to indigenous and international oil companies.

Lanre holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA. She also holds an MSc and DIC Computing Science from Imperial College, UK and a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a member of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

General Manager Operations

Rowland Ogundu

He has 30 years working experience in the Oil & Gas Industry in Nigeria, having worked with Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited for 19 years, Waltersmith 7 years and Western Geophysical 4 years in different capacities from Project Engineer/Interface Coordinator, Lead Pipeline, Survey Engineer & Project Surveyor.

In his early days after graduation, he worked in the exploration industry with Western Geophysical between 1989 and 1993, before joining SPDC in 2004. While in SPDC, he successfully participated in the engineering design work and construction of a 300km pipelines, flowline, remote manifolds and a central processing facility for SPDC – Gbaran Integrated Oil and Gas Project in Bayelsa State.

In Waltersmith, he is the manager in charge of operations and also the Project Manager Waltersmith‘s 5000/day Modular Refinery. He is an asset to the exploration and production industry in Nigeria. He graduated from Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt in 1987 and he is a member of International Facility Management Association and several professional bodies.

General Manager-Asset Development

Idowu Odumboni

Idowu Odumboni joined Waltersmith in April 2020 as General Manager-Asset Development with 22 years post-graduation experience. He has both local and international experience in reservoir management and field development in various oil & gas basins of the world including the North Sea, Gulf of Gabes, Caspian and Niger Delta.

Prior to joining Waltersmith, Idowu worked in Addax Petroleum Nigeria (subsidiary of Sinopec) both in the corporate head office in Switzerland and in Lagos. He held different technical and leadership positions in various capacities as Senior Manager Development/Studies, Manager Reservoir Engineering and Head of Petroleum Engineering. He helped in the delivery of various upstream projects with value in excess of $1billion in onshore, shallow-water and deep-water both brown and greenfield developments.  

During his sojourn in BG Group Plc, he worked in various international locations including the United Kingdom, Tunisia and Kazakhstan and he was also involved in the preparation for the bidding rounds of the prolific Brazilian Assets. While in BG Kazakhstan, Idowu supported in the production optimisation and further re-development of the giant Karachaganak Gas-Condensate/Oil Carbonate field with projects value in excess of $2billion.

Idowu also contributed to the growth of BG Tunisia through timely delivery of Miskar Integrated Terrace Development and Hasdrubal Development projects (Gas-Condensate, Oil, Carbonates with over $600Million value).  His contribution led to the unlocking of more than 300bscf gas and 15MMstb of condensates/oil reserves.

As part of the Aberdeen team, he supported in the delivery and management of various BG UK oil and gas assets in the North Sea. These included Armada Hub, Everest/Lomond, Maria, Blake and Varge (the cross-border asset with Norway). He contributed towards improving Blake field uptime through proactive management of the difficult calcium naphthenate scaling issues.

Idowu is a graduate of Civil Engineering (Second Class Upper) from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and he also holds an M.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from the prestigious Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He was the Co-Chair of SPE Technical Paper Committee 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 sessions.

General Manager Subsurface Studies

Oluwagbemiga Ipinyemi

Oluwagbemiga has successfully worked in a multidisciplinary environment and acquired diversified working experience in Formation Evaluation, Seismic Interpretation, reservoir characterization, reservoir management and field development.

He has held different technical position in various capacities as a Petrophysicist, 3D Earth Modeler, Reservoir Geologist and Head Subsurface. He started his career as a Geologist with Jamsa Nigeria Limited before joining Laser Engineering as a Reservoir Geologist and was seconded to Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd as a Consultant Reservoir Geologist & 3D-Geomodeller supporting the OML 100 & 99 Asset Team.

During his short stay in Mart Resources, he was the Lead Geologist responsible for the evaluation and implementation of the field development plan of Umusadege field, Qua Ibo field and Ke- field.

As part of the technical team in Waltersmith, he played a key role in Ibigwe field development which resulted in production ramp up from an average of 1,200 bopd to 7,500 bopd. As a team lead, he represented the company in data room review for asset acquisition in Nigeria, Uganda, and Equatorial Guinea.

Oluwagbemiga Ipinyemi is a graduate of Geology from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and he also holds an M.Sc. in Applied Geosciences and Management from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

General Manager Refinery

Abdul Isa

Mr. Abdul Isa is a Chemical Engineering graduate with a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Management from Coventry University, United Kingdom. He has over 10 years Oil & Gas, Health Safety and Environmental operational experience working in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Over his years working in the industry, he has delivered on the key projects in NNPC where he worked for the Port-Harcourt refinery as a process engineer. He set up a comprehensive Health Safety and Environment Risk Compliance Department in Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited. Abdul also obtained the necessary operating licenses and developed the regulatory and compliance framework to establish a 5,000bopd topping plant for US$ 50miilion and implemented the Crude Export Offtake Framework for all Waltersmith entities.

Mr. Isa’s specific competence areas include amongst others crude transfer and pre-process operations in refinery operations, in depth knowledge of blending refined products to specification, strong analytical abilities and the depth of knowledge to lead complex projects.

He has handled external negotiations with partners and governmental agencies ensuring smooth delivery on all Companywide transactions and has played a critical role in the on-going refinery project for the Company.

General Manager Human Resources & Corporate Services

Tari Akhibi

Tari is a seasoned professional with over 18 years’ experience gained in human resource management, stakeholder management and business planning in the Upstream oil/gas sector.

She has an educational background in Law with Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) degree and a B.L on being called to the Nigerian Bar. She is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), United Kingdom and member Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Nigeria (CIPMN).

She started her career as a Lawyer in Ntephe, Smith and Wills in Port Harcourt before joining the Human Resources Department of the Shell Petroleum Development Company first as a Recruiter. She then spent the next 18 years in gaining experience in various aspects of HR Management and Strategy in Shell Nigeria.

Her Competencies and skills are general HR Management, HR Business Planning, Recruitment, Change Management and Leadership development. For most of her career she remained a resource for Change Management, Recruiting and Leadership Development for the Shell Group.

She joined Waltersmith in June, 2019 as the Human Resources and Corporate Services Manager.

Head Legal

Olukemi Adeniji

Kemi has a background in law with an LLB and Masters in International Law and Diplomacy (M.I.L.D) from the University of Lagos. She has over 19 years Legal and Human Resource experience in various roles mostly in Oil and Gas Upstream but also in Aviation, Information Technology, Marketing Communications and Consulting among others. She has worked in the United Nations System in Nigeria under United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Development Programme UNDP.

She participated in different activities in the area of sustainable development monitoring, evaluation and aid coordination through dialogue, advocacy, networking with key stakeholders and partners in the development area such as the World Bank, IMF, IFC, ADB, EU and other UN agencies, while working with both UNIFEM and UNDP.

She worked in DDB Lagos and Virgin Atlantic/ALML in a dual capacity as Head of Human Resources and Legal where she oversaw the GSA and was responsible for developing the legal and tax framework that Virgin uses in Nigeria. She also developed the framework for the First and Business Class Lounge for Virgin Atlantic in Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Additionally, she also implemented several projects in HR Policy and Procedure Development, Reward Management, Organization Development and Business Process Re-Engineering.

In her current role as Head, Legal, she was responsible for setting up the Legal Department in Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited; Obtaining the necessary operating licenses, developing the regulatory and compliance framework to establish a 5,000bopd topping plant for US$ 58miilion. She was the in-house transaction Counsel in Waltersmith’s acquisition of OML 34 for US $ 600 million and the eventual refinancing of the Bloc’s acquisition for US $760 Million; She engineered the successful defence of the Company against the host communities claiming in excess of NGN 4billion for the Ibigwe Well 2 blowout incident of April 2011; and was instrumental in the successful purchase of an additional 40 hectares of land in Ibigwe Field OML 16 for the development of 4 new wells and the refinery for NGN 400million.

External Affairs & Government Relations Manager

Eriye Onagoruwa

Eriye is a multi-skilled professional with over fifteen years post-graduation experience in the oil and gas industry.

Eriye is skilled in Gas and Power multi party contract negotiations and has proven commercial acumen in concluding complex Gas and Power projects and development frameworks, refinery commercial transactions and complex stakeholder management. She represented Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) as the commercial lead in the SPDC JV commercial negotiations covering multi-million dollar projects, worked on several NAOC JV commercial initiatives including NAOC’s first IPP Power plant and led the company’s refinery expansion project with NNPC.

Eriye is a thought leader and industry advocate on gas to power; a key participant in the policy and legislative development of the National Domestic Gas Supply and Pricing policy for Nigeria. She served as vice-chairman of the Gas sub-committee of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Eriye Onagoruwa holds a Masters of Law in International Law and Policy from University of Ottawa, Canada. She is a Member, Chartered institute of Arbitrators England (Nigerian Branch).

She is also an author and a feature columnist for the Guardian newspaper.

Eriye brings her wealth of experience to Waltersmith as the External affairs and Government Relations manager.