Shell names Elohor Aiboni first Nigerian and first woman to lead its Nigeria business

Shell has appointed Elohor Aiboni as Executive Vice President and Country Chair for Nigeria, making her the first Nigerian and the first woman to hold the combined role in the company's more than six decades of operations in the country. The appointment takes effect on 1 August 2026.

Aiboni succeeds Marno de Jong, who is leaving Shell after more than six years leading its Nigerian operations and a 34-year career with the company. De Jong joined Shell in 1992 as a project engineer and held roles across project delivery, engineering, commercial operations and upstream development in several countries before being appointed Senior Vice President Nigeria in 2020 and later taking the combined

Executive Vice President and Country Chair role. ZAWYAStockAnalysis

Aiboni brings more than 24 years of experience within Shell, having worked across the company's offshore, shallow-water and onshore businesses in Nigeria, as well as international assignments in Kazakhstan and Brunei.

In 2021 she became the first woman to be appointed Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Shell's deepwater business in the country, and she currently serves as Asset Director at Brunei Shell Petroleum, a role she took up in 2024. Under her leadership of SNEPCo, the Bonga deepwater field produced its one-billionth barrel of oil in 2023.

The leadership change lands at a point of renewed Shell commitment to Nigeria. Aiboni's appointment comes about six months after Shell signalled plans to deepen its Nigerian investments, citing improvements in policy consistency, political stability and government leadership; during a January visit to President Bola Tinubu, Shell chief executive Wael Sawan said the company was increasingly optimistic about opportunities in Nigeria's energy sector.

Under de Jong, Shell advanced major investment decisions including the HI offshore gas project and the Bonga North development, both expected to contribute to Nigeria's future production, while the company has also been reshaping its footprint through a renewed focus on deepwater and the transition of some onshore assets.

That onshore transition is the strategic backdrop to the appointment. Shell has been concentrating on its deepwater and gas position in Nigeria while divesting from the onshore and shallow-water joint-venture assets long associated with production disru485tion and community disputes in the Niger Delta. Placing an executive whose career was built in SNEPCo's deepwater business at the head of the country operation aligns leadership with where Shell now sees its Nigerian future.