Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo: The 28th Secretary-General of OPEC
His Excellency, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo (20 April 1959 – 5 July 2022) was the immediate past Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria. He was also an illustrious graduate of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
Mr. Barkindo was first appointed to the post for a three-year term at OPEC’s 169th Meeting of the Conference on 2 June 2016 in Vienna. And was subsequently reappointed for another second tenure due to his excellent leadership.
He took over from HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri who led the Organization since 1 January 2007 to August 2016
An accomplished oil technocrat and veteran of OPEC, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo had a vast wealth of experience in the oil and gas industry, both in Nigeria and internationally.
From 2009 to 2010, he was Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Previous to that, he served as Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, a joint venture between NNPC, Shell, Total, and Eni. Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to former Minister of Petroleum Resources and OPEC Secretary-General, HE Dr. Rilwanu Lukman.
Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo also worked in several key roles at OPEC between 1986 and 2010. In 1986, he was appointed to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 2008, served as Nigeria’s National Representative on the Organization’s Economic Commission Board.
In 2006, he served as Acting Secretary General of OPEC, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Board of Governors from 2009 to 2010.
He has also helped produce the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto protocol as the leader of Nigeria’s technical delegation to the UN negotiations since 1991. He also served as Vice President of COP15 in 2010, when he chaired the opening session in Copenhagen attended by more than 100 heads of state and government.
He was the longest-serving member of the country’s delegation to the UNFCCC. He also served as Chairman of the OPEC Task Force of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development for the 15th session.
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After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo went on to achieve a postgraduate diploma in petroleum economics and management from the College of Petroleum Studies at Oxford University and a master’s degree in business administration from Southeastern University in Washington, DC.
He was also a holder of an Honorable Doctorate Degree in Science from Modibbo Adama University and the Federal University of Technology, Yola.
He is a fellow member of various international petroleum institutions such as the Institute of Petroleum, London.
Death
Mohammad Barkindo died at about 11pm on 5th July 2022. The news was announced by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari on his verified Twitter handle.
The circumstances surrounding Mr. Barkindo’s death remained unclear as of the time of filing this report. Just on Tuesday, he held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari during which he announced that his six-year tenure as OPEC scribe was coming to an end.
At that event, President Buhari thanked him for being a worthy ambassador of the country.
The President even directed the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to mobilize the oil and gas industry to organize a befitting welcome reception in his honor when he finally returns home.
In his remark during the visit, Mr. Barkindo attributed his success to the tremendous guidance, charisma, and international gravitas of President Buhari; support from the OPEC secretariat in Vienna; and cooperation by members of the organization.
Apart from visiting Aso Rock, Mr. Barkindo also on Tuesday delivered a speech at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja.
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