Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi is a Nigerian energy expert, public servant and current Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).
Appointed to the position by President Bola Tinubu on October 24, 2023, Abdullahi assumed office the following day as the fourth helmsman of the commission since it began operation in 1989, and the youngest.
On Dr Abdullahi’s first day at ECN, he reeled his plans for the agency and left no one in doubt about his readiness to boost the profile of a commission he described as important but underrated. And since then, he has been up and doing including representing Nigeria at a global cooling pledge initiative at the recent UN Climate Change Conference COP 28 in Dubai, UAE.
Born in 1985 in Kano, Dr Mustapha Abdullahi has over a decade of public service experience from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), now Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), with a significant background in the energy and space technology sectors.
The ECN DG obtained his first degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Kano state University of Science and Technology (now Aliko Dangote University) and subsequently received his Masters and PhD degrees also in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious University of Manchester in the UK.
Following this achievement, he pursued a Post-Doctoral Fellowship as a Research Associate at the University of Manchester’s School of Engineering.
Outside of his academic pursuit, he is an active member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) where he held some significant positions including the Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress United Kingdom chapter (APC UK) and has been an executive member of the chapter since February 2014.
He mobilized for the party in 2019 and was appointed as a member in the strategic communication committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
He was also a member of the APC National Convention sub-Committee, 2022.
Ahead of the 2023 election, Dr Abdullahi was the convener of the popular support group called The Asiwaju Group (TAG) which actively mobilized for the successful election of President Tinubu.
He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng)and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (MIMechE) with proven leadership and management abilities in the areas of Energy, Hybrid Wind and Solar Energy harvesting systems, Oil Spills Management, Engineering Management, Structural Health Monitoring, Oil and Gas engineering, Strategic Planning and Research. He is also member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
His background in solar energy and related field will certainly be useful in his role as the Chief Executive of Nigeria’s lead agency in renewable energy development at a time the country is moving ahead with its Energy Transition Plan towards attaining a 2060 net zero target.
Until his appointment as the ECN DG, nearly 100 days ago,he was the Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of Innovation Science and Technology Uche Gregory Nnaji.
By Dapo Okubanjo
