NLNG appoints Adeleye Falade as next Managing Director as Philip Mshelbila takes a bow

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) on Friday held a symbolic send-off ceremony in Abuja to mark the end of the tenure of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Philip Mshelbila, concluding more than four years of what the company described as transformative leadership.

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

Mshelbila is scheduled to leave NLNG on 31 December 2025 to take up his new role as Secretary-General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha, Qatar.

The send-off ceremony in Abuja attracted NLNG directors, executives from shareholder companies, dignitaries from Nigeria’s public sector and energy industry, members of NLNG management, and representatives of various staff groups.

In his remarks, NLNG’s Deputy Managing Director, Olakunle Osobu, described Mshelbila as a man of distinction and an accomplished professional with expertise spanning medicine, environmental health, strategic business leadership and global gas diplomacy.

Osobu said Mshelbila’s leadership was defined by a clear focus on business sustainability, operational diversification and emissions control, with safety as a core priority. He recalled that the outgoing Managing Director assumed office during an exceptionally challenging period marked by the aftermath of COVID-19, severe flooding that disrupted gas pipelines, vandalism, and force majeure declarations by gas suppliers. According to him, the global energy instability triggered by the Russia–Ukraine war further compounded these pressures.

Despite these challenges, Osobu noted that NLNG, under Mshelbila’s leadership, pursued its sustainability objectives with resilience and innovation.

“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. Under his 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 that Mshelbila promoted innovation through a forward-looking approach that strengthened the workforce’s commitment to emissions control and environmental stewardship. He said the outgoing Managing Director also redefined NLNG’s business model through a comprehensive transformation programme, laying the groundwork for long-term sustainability and value creation.

Also paying tribute, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, praised Mshelbila’s leadership and personal values.

“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. 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,” she said.

Responding, Mshelbila expressed deep appreciation to NLNG’s shareholders, Board of Directors, staff and industry partners for their support throughout his tenure. He commended the company’s enduring culture of innovation and excellence, noting that these values would guide him in his new international role.

As Secretary-General of the GECF, Mshelbila is expected to strengthen engagement between gas-producing and gas-consuming nations while promoting natural gas as a sustainable and reliable energy source and advancing stability in the global gas market.