President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday, August 18, 2025, commissioned a 40,000 cubic metres Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier, MT Iyaloja (Lagos), owned by WAGL Energy Limited, a joint venture between NNPC Limited and Sahara Group.
President Tinubu, who was represented at the ceremony which took place in Ulsan, South Korea, by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, described the development as a milestone in Nigeria’s efforts towards expanding access to clean and sustainable energy both within the country and across Africa.
This was as the Chairman of WAGL and Sahara Group Executive Director, Temitope Shonubi, announced the naming of the new vessel as Iyaloja (Lagos) in honour of the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, the mother of President Tinubu.
Accordingly, the naming ceremony concluded with the symbolic ribbon-cutting performed by the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, Alhaja Folasade Mujidat Tinubu-Ojo, granddaughter of the late Alhaja Mogaji, mother of President Tinubu.
The President commended WAGL, NNPC Limited and Sahara Group for what he described as their “strategic foresight, technical excellence and unwavering dedication” to boosting Africa’s role in the global clean energy value chain.
The MT Iyaloja (Lagos) is a dual-fuel, fully refrigerated LPG vessel, bringing WAGL’s total fleet capacity to 162,000 CBM. Other ships in the company’s fleet include MT Africa Gas, MT Sahara Gas, MT BaruMK, and MT Sapet.
In his remarks at the event, Mr Bashir Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), who was represented by the Executive Vice President for Gas, Power and New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, said the vessel will play a key role in deepening Nigeria’s gas development and ensuring nationwide availability and affordability of LPG.
The NNPC Ltd GCEO said that WAGL has delivered more than six million metric tonnes of LPG across West Africa in the past five years and positioned to do more with its growing fleet.
Speaking in turn, Chairman of WAGL and Sahara Group Executive Director, Temitope Shonubi, said the new vessel underlined the company’s vision of bridging Africa’s energy infrastructure gap.
In his own speech, WAGL’s Managing Director, Mohammed Sani Bello, said that there are plans to further expand the fleet within two years with the addition of a Small Gas Carrier and a Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC).
