Nigeria’s leading energy company, Seplat Energy Plc, has appointed Tony Elumelu as a non-executive director on its board, with effect from January 22, 2026. The company announced the appointment in a statement last week by its director of Legal and Company Secretary, Mrs Edith Onwuchekwa. The board also announced the resignation of Mr Olivier Cleret De Langavant as a nonexecutive director effective January 22.
Seplat Energy expressed appreciation for Langavant’s contributions and welcomed Elumelu to the Board. A statement by the chairman of Seplat Energy, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, said “On behalf of the board and management, I wish to express our profound appreciation to Mr Langavant for his outstanding contribution to Seplat Energy over the past six years. “His expertise and commitment have been instrumental in driving our strategic initiatives.
“We warmly welcome Mr Elumelu to the board and look forward to leveraging his wealth of experience and leadership as we continue to pursue sustainable growth and value creation for all stakeholders.” Elumelu, a renowned African investor and philanthropist, widely recognised for his contributions to Africa’s economic transformation, is the founder and chairman of Heirs Holdings, a diversified investment company with interests spanning energy, power, banking, insurance, technology, real estate, hospitality and healthcare.
Elumelu also serves as chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group, Heirs Energies and Transcorp Group, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power and Transcorp Hotels Plc. In 2010, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a leading philanthropy focused on empowering African entrepreneurs across the continent’s 54 countries.
The investor and business guru’s achievements have earned him global recognition, including being named among TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2020 and receiving the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2022.
