Mr Abdulrazaq Isa

Chairman, Waltersmith Group & Chairman, Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG)

Abdulrazaq Isa is a seasoned entrepreneur and astute international businessman with over 30 years of experience in the financial services and energy industries.

He started his career in banking, with over 15 years with African International Bank Nigeria Ltd, then Chartered Bank Nigeria Plc (now Stanbic IBTC) and co-founded Safetrust Savings & Loan Ltd (which became a subsidiary of Sterling Bank plc).

In 1990, he co-founded Waltersmith as an investment company which now has interest in several sectors of the economy including Oil and Gas Upstream, Domestic Petroleum Refining, Industrial Park development, Infrastructure and Real Estate and Hospitality.

Waltersmith Petroman, the flagship company of the group was awarded the Ibigwe field through a competitive bid in 2004 and was declared Operator of the field. The company successfully commenced commercial exports from the Ibigwe field in 2008 and grew peak production to 7,000bpd. In 2012, Waltersmith, as part of the ND Western consortium acquired 45% participating interest in the OML 34 from the SPDC JV. The company also participated in a competitive bidding process in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea 2019 Oil &Gas Licensing round and was awarded 80% stake in an Oil Block (EG-23).

Waltersmith’s 5,000bpd Modular Refinery, which was commissioned by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari GCFR in 2020 contributes about 271million liters of refined products annually. In 2021, the President also awarded Waltersmith the Assa Marginal Field as a source of additional feedstock to the refinery. The company is in the process of expanding refinery capacity to 40,000bpd.

Over the years, Abdulrazaq has consistently pursued his vision to transform Waltersmith from an integrated energy company to a diversified Nigerian Industrial Conglomerate. The company has a 300MW power generation license and is currently developing an Industrial & Innovation Park with technical support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Under his leadership, Waltersmith has won several awards including the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) 2020, “Refinery Project of the Year” and “Future Industry Leader”; NIPS 2021 “Project of the Year”; National Oil & Gas (NOG) 2021 “Indigenous Company of the Year”.

Abdulrazaq was recently conferred with the National Honors of the Order of the Federal Republic – OFR by the President in recognition of his landmark achievements and game-changing contributions to the development of Nigeria’s economy, and in particular the energy sector.

In the Public Sector, Abdulrazaq has served on the board of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN).

He is also the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group of Nigeria (IPPG), the association of indigenous Exploration and Production (E&P) companies in Nigeria established in 2015 with its primary goal to maximize the contribution of the domestic oil and gas industry to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. He previously served as the Second Vice Chairman of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and is also a member of several professional bodies including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Energy Institute (EI) and the Institute of Directors (IOD). He serves on the board of a number of companies and is involved in philanthropic activities aimed at supporting the improvement of science education in Nigeria. He is a 1982 graduate of Sociology from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an Alumnus of the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He has attended several international courses and programs in leading institutions around the world. He is married with two (2) children.