NLNG Board Appoints Falade MD As Mshelbila Concludes Tenure, Takes Up GECF Secretary-General Role

Kathy Kyari

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) on Friday in Abuja formally marked the end of the tenure of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Philip Mshelbila, capping more than four years of leadership defined by supply diversification, sustainability reforms and resilience amid global energy shocks.

The Company announced that, following approval by the NLNG Board of Directors, Engr. Adeleye Falade has been appointed as the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and will assume office in April 2026. Falade is expected to join NLNG from Brunei LNG, where he currently serves as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.

Mshelbila will leave NLNG on 31 December 2025 to assume office as Secretary-General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha, Qatar.

The symbolic sendoff ceremony, held in Abuja, drew NLNG Directors, executives from shareholder companies, senior public-sector and energy industry stakeholders, members of NLNG management, and representatives of staff groups.

Delivering remarks at the event, NLNG’s Deputy Managing Director, Olakunle Osobu, described Mshelbila as “a man of distinction, an accomplished professional whose expertise spans medicine, environmental health, strategic business leadership, and global gas diplomacy.”

Osobu said Mshelbila assumed leadership at a time of extraordinary disruption, including the aftermath of COVID-19, widespread flooding that damaged gas pipelines, vandalism and force majeure declarations by gas suppliers, compounded by global energy market instability following the Russia–Ukraine war.

Despite the challenges, Osobu said the outgoing CEO maintained a clear strategic focus on sustainability, diversification and safety.

“Understanding that NLNG needed multiple supply sources, especially with current challenges, Mshelbila championed a bold and strategic pivot to expand NLNG’s feed-gas base beyond the shareholder joint-venture supply chain,” Osobu said.

He disclosed that under Mshelbila’s leadership, NLNG negotiated and signed long-term Gas Supply Agreements (GSAs) with six third-party gas suppliers in August 2025.

“These GSAs commit to delivering an estimated 1,290 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of feed-gas to NLNG, a historic step for the Company, marking a seismic shift,” Osobu added.

According to him, Mshelbila also drove innovation and cultural change within the organisation, strengthening commitments to emissions control and environmental stewardship, while repositioning NLNG through a comprehensive transformation programme to support long-term value creation.

In another tribute, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, praised Mshelbila’s leadership style and foresight.

“Thank you for your selflessness, for the steadiness of your leadership, for the clarity of your vision, and for the values that guided your every step,” Horsfall said. “You led with humility, yet you inspired greatness. You carried the weight of challenges with calm resolve. You charted a path toward sustainability long before it became fashionable.”

Responding, Mshelbila expressed gratitude to NLNG’s shareholders, Board, staff and industry partners for their support throughout his tenure. He said the Company’s culture of innovation and excellence would continue to shape his approach in his new international role.

He affirmed that, as Secretary-General of the GECF, he would work to promote natural gas as a reliable and sustainable energy source, while strengthening dialogue between gas-producing and gas-consuming nations to support stability in the global gas market.