Chief Of Staff to the CEO (Strategic Advisor)

Job Title:

Chief Of Staff to the CEO

Department: Office of the Chief Executive Officer

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Direct Reports: CEO Office Team (Business Support Specialist, Executive Assistant, Technical Assistants, Program Managers)

Industry: Energy

Location: Lagos, Nigeria (with periodic travel to operational sites and stakeholder locations)

Role Summary

The Chief of Staff to the CEO at the Company serves as the CEO’s principal strategic and operational partner responsible for translating the CEO’s vision into executable plans, driving disciplined follow-through across the organization, and optimizing the overall effectiveness of the Office of the CEO in a fast-paced gas and energy infrastructure environment.

Operating as a senior advisor, the Chief of Staff works closely with the CEO’s direct reports

(CTO, CFO, GM Commercial, GM Strategy, GM Risk & Audit, Head Legal & Regulatory,

Business Unit Heads and Head HR & Admin) to ensure enterprise alignment across the Company’s gas distribution network, pipeline infrastructure assets, LPG trading and terminal operations, and emerging growth platforms.

The Chief of Staff brings strong industry insight, analytical rigor, and cross-functional leadership to ensure effective execution of corporate priorities across the upstream and midstream gas value chain. The role integrates decision-making, leads special strategic projects, enhances executive communication, and strengthens organizational coordination to ensure leadership decisions translate into operational results.

Role Purpose

The purpose of the Chief of Staff role is to maximize the CEO’s impact by coordinating strategic initiatives, aligning executive priorities, and serving as the central integrator between the CEO, the executive leadership team, the Board, and key external stakeholders.

The Chief of Staff enhances strategic clarity and execution discipline across the Company by providing structured problem-solving, ensuring timely follow-up on critical actions, and elevating issues that require CEO attention. Acting as a trusted advisor and force-multiplier, the Chief of Staff brings structure, analytical rigor, and operational oversight to initiatives across the Company’s gas distribution, midstream infrastructure, and expansionary growth agenda.

Key Deliverables

1. Strategy development and execution

• Partner closely with the CEO and Executive Management Team (EMT) to shape, refine, and continuously evolve Company’s medium- to long-term corporate strategy covering portfolio optimization, upstream/midstream growth pathways, infrastructure expansion, commercial positioning, capital allocation priorities, and overall enterprise risk posture.
• Translate high-level strategic direction into actionable, measurable, and fully resourced plans, including annual business plans, multi-year roadmaps, and transformation programs with clearly defined goals, KPIs, milestones, timelines, financial implications, and accountable owners across all business units and functions.
• Identify, evaluate, and communicate strategic risks, dependencies, and value opportunities, proactively coordinating cross-functional teams to address bottlenecks, mitigate risks, and close performance gaps that could impact execution of the Company’s upstream/midstream priorities.
• Provide executive-level guidance and strategic analytics, including scenario modelling, economic assessments, competitive intelligence, market outlooks, policy/regulatory impacts, and other insights needed to support CEO/EMT decision-making.
• Ensure disciplined tracking, reporting, and communication of strategic progress to the CEO, EMT, Board, and key stakeholders through high-quality strategy reports, dashboards, and executive briefings that highlight performance trends and decision requirements.

2. CEO advisory and decision support

• Act as a trusted strategic advisor and thought partner to the CEO, providing independent, data-driven insights and constructive challenge on strategic direction, operational performance, organizational effectiveness, commercial priorities, and people-related decisions.
• Deliver rigorous analysis and structured problem-solving on complex business issues, integrating technical, financial, operational, regulatory, commercial, and stakeholder considerations to generate actionable recommendations aligned with the Company’s enterprise strategy.

3) Office of the CEO management

• Provide overall leadership and operational oversight for the Office of the CEO, including the coordination of executive assistants, analysts, project officers, and administrative support. Establish and enforce high standards of professionalism, confidentiality, analytical rigor, and timely execution across all activities supporting the CEO.
• Design, implement, and manage a disciplined CEO operating rhythm that optimizes the CEO’s productivity and strategic focus. This includes planning and coordinating daily schedules, weekly alignment sessions, monthly leadership forums, quarterly strategy reviews, site and asset visits, investor/regulator engagements, community interactions, and uninterrupted strategic work blocks.
• Serve as the primary gatekeeper for the CEO, triaging, prioritizing, and filtering incoming information, issues, requests, proposals, and external/internal correspondence. Ensure that routine matters are handled independently or delegated appropriately while elevating only the most material and time-sensitive issues requiring CEO attention.

4) Executive governance and business rhythm

• Design, coordinate, and continually optimize the enterprise-wide executive governance calendar, ensuring that Executive Committee (EXCO) meetings, management reviews, strategic dialogues, and other executive forums operate with clear purpose, disciplined structure, and high-quality outcomes aligned with the Company’s strategic and operational priorities.
• Lead end-to-end preparation for all CEO- and EMT-level forums, including shaping agendas, defining decision requirements, aligning contributions from business units, and ensuring the quality, accuracy, and strategic relevance of prereads, presentations, dashboards, and analytical materials.
• Work in close partnership with the Company Secretary/Board Secretariat to ensure seamless preparation for Board and Board Committee meetings. Support the development of CEO reports, Board papers, strategy session materials, deepdive presentations, and business performance updates, upholding the highest standards of clarity, governance, and strategic coherence.

5) Cross-functional project and initiative leadership

• Lead, oversee, and drive execution of high-impact, cross-functional initiatives on behalf of the CEO, including major gas infrastructure projects, strategic partnerships and joint ventures, commercial growth initiatives, operational excellence programs, digital transformation efforts, organizational redesign, and other enterprise-critical priorities.
• Define and formalize project foundations with rigor, including development of project charters, clear scope definitions, success metrics, delivery milestones, governance structures, risk frameworks, and comprehensive stakeholder maps that establish accountability across all participating teams.
• Establish strong governance and performance management mechanisms for each initiative, ensuring disciplined planning, structured workstreams, transparent reporting, and fact-based executive updates to the CEO, EXCO, and relevant governance committees.

6) Performance management and analytics

• Collaborate closely with all the business teams to design, maintain, and continuously improve an integrated enterprise performance dashboard for the CEO. Ensure the dashboard provides a holistic, real-time view of operational reliability, production metrics, gas throughput, financial performance, HSSE outcomes, customer commitments, talent/people indicators, and strategic initiative progress.
• Drive rigorous performance analytics by monitoring trends, conducting root-cause analyses, identifying variance drivers, and performing forward-looking assessments across operational, commercial, financial, and organizational performance dimensions. Distil complex data into executive-ready insights that highlight underlying issues, value leakage, performance risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Provide early warning signals to the CEO and Executive Management Team, flagging emerging risks such as production shortfalls, cost overruns, regulatory noncompliance, partner/JV misalignment, or capability gaps—and recommend targeted interventions backed by data, scenarios, and impact estimates.

Academic Qualifications, Experience and Attributes:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, Engineering, Economics, Finance, or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification (MBA or equivalent) is strongly preferred and adds significant advantage.
• Experience: A total of 15–20 years of progressive experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, project/portfolio management, or senior operations roles ideally within the gas, power, or broader energy infrastructure sectors. Experience operating within multi-asset, multi-entity environments (e.g., core operating company with downstream/retail subsidiaries) is highly desirable.
• Execution Track Record: Proven ability to design, lead, and deliver complex, cross functional programs in capital-intensive, highly regulated industries. Demonstrated experience working effectively with senior technical, commercial, financial, legal, and regulatory stakeholders.
• Leadership & Communication: Exceptional analytical, communication, and influencing skills, with the executive presence to engage credibly with the Board, regulators, industry partners, and the company’s senior leadership team.

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