Following the death of the former Secretary General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Adekunle Biodun explores his profile and his roles in making Nigeria a frontline member of the organisation.
Mohammed Bakindo, a former Secretary General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) who vigorously helped to create the OPEC+ alliance between OPEC members and other oil-producing countries died on July 5 after delivering a keynote address at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, which runs from July 4 to 7 to mark the country’s 51st Anniversary in OPEC since joining in 1971.
Born on 20th April 1959 in Yola where he completed Barkindo completed his bachelor’s degree in political science from Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria, Nigeria) in 1981 and his Master of Business Administration degree from Southeastern University (Washington, D.C.) in 1991. Prior to his MBA, Barkindo earned a postgraduate diploma in Petroleum Economics from Oxford University in 1988.
His death came as a shock to Nigerians when the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari announced his demise through his verified Twitter handle, @MKKyari, tweeting, “We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo. He died at about 11 pm yesterday, July 5 2022. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly.”
A day to his demise, Barkindo met President Muhammadu Buhari along with the OPEC delegation in Abuja. According to a statement by OPEC, the meeting took place partly to honour Barkindo’s two-term tenure as secretary-general of OPEC.
During the meeting, Mr Buhari said, “Welcome back home!” asserting, “We are proud of your distinguished achievements at OPEC. You were able to successfully navigate the Organization through turbulent challenges.”
In his response, Barkindo had said, “I and my colleagues from the OPEC Secretariat are deeply honoured by your audience, Mr President, as well as of the honourable Minister Sylva and other senior officials of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.”
He briefed Mr Buhari on the oil market developments and the vital role the Declaration of Cooperation played in stabilising the global oil market over the past six years.
Barkindo’s stellar career
Barkindo started his career pursuit in 1982 at the Nigerian Mining Corporation (NMC), which he left in 1986 with the degree of principal administrative officer. He stayed there until 1989, during which he was likewise at the top of the Office of the Chairman of the Board at the state-possessed Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Subsequent to finishing his MBA, Barkindo proceeded to spend a lot of his career in the NNPC. He was director of various divisions, including General Manager of the London Office. In 2007, he was named the facilitator of unique undertakings, which included oversight of all the organization’s central government projects. He filled in as Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC from January 2009 to April 2010.
He succeeded as the only Nigerian delegate to attend all the United Nations Climate Change conference meetings from 1995 to 2010. He was elected Vice President of the Conference of Parties in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
In 2010, Barkindo moved to Washington, D.C. He was a research fellow at George Mason University from 2014 to 2016.
Life in OPEC and limitless achievements
Barkindo originally became one of Nigeria’s representatives to OPEC ministerial meetings in 1986. In 1993, he was named as Nigeria’s agent on the OPEC financial commission board (ECB). He stayed on the board until 2008, and as a representative until 2010. From 2009 to 2010, he was the Nigerian Governor on the OPEC Board of Governors.
In 2006, Barkindo filled in as the Acting Secretary General of OPEC. In this limit, he led the ECB. In the next year’s gathering of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Barkindo was appointed chairman of the OPEC Task Force.
Toward the start of June 2016, Barkindo was elected Secretary General of the OPEC for a term of three years. He would get down to business on 1 August 2016, succeeding the Libyan Abdallah Salem el-Badri, who had been Secretary General since 2007. Barkindo was viewed as an unbiased decision. Nigeria was not calling for the creation of guidelines to raise costs and was not straightforwardly engaged with existing pressures between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.
In his most memorable comments about the arrangement, Barkindo recognized the discretionary idea of the position, trusting that the individuals might want to “plunk down and talk” over approach differences. To this end, he expected to foster individual affinity with the heads of state in OPEC part nations, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Through conversations with Russia and nine other non-OPEC nations, Barkindo worked with the development of a casual coalition called OPEC+. This new collusion, which controlled near a portion of the worldwide oil creation, started aggregate activities in 2017. Barkindo likewise created associations with leaders from U.S. oil makers, who generally saw OPEC as a rival. He was designated a brief term in 2019, and OPEC+ was formalized that equivalent year.
Barkindo kept on going to the UN environmental change meetings, which he would address for OPEC. He likewise drove culminations with the European Union in 2020 and 2022. Barkindo turned down offers of a drawn-out term, so Haitham al-Ghais of Kuwait was picked by praise as his successor.
Mr Barkindo’s term as secretary-general was supposed to end on July 31 but his death short-lived his stay in the office.
Written by Adekunle Biodun