Key contributions of late Mohammed Barkindo to Nigeria’s Environment, Petroleum sector

By Nneka Nwogwugwu 

Mohammad Barkindo, secretary-general of Organisation of Petroleum and Economic Council (OPEC), has died at the age of 63, just days before he was set to finish his term at the organization.

The head of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, announced the news in a tweet Wednesday, which was later confirmed by OPEC.

“He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC, and the global energy community,” Kyari wrote.

The news of his demise has attracted many condolence messages to the family of the deceased.

Nigeria’ s president, Muhammadu Buhari, who had earlier on Tuesday met with Barkindo in Abuja, to honour him for his significant works at OPEC, described him as a worthy ambassador.

Describing his contributions to Nigeria’s environment and Petroleum sectors, Buhari said, “ We are proud of your achievements before and during your appointment at OPEC and the proud legacies you will leave behind.

“Your time in charge of the affairs of OPEC has been a very challenging one for the global oil industry. Oil producers were finding it difficult to come together to address challenges that were crippling the oil market.”

“Not long after, the world was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic that sent crude prices spiralling down at an alarming rate. You showed incredible leadership to rally industry players and pushed through the turbulent times.

“There is no doubt about your efforts in putting together the Declaration of Cooperation which is the largest in the history of OPEC and the global oil industry and also the longest in duration in the history of the organization. This was a herculean task.”

OPEC JOURNEY

Over the years, Barkindo worked in several key roles at OPEC. In 1986, he became a Nigerian delegate to OPEC ministerial conferences and by 1993, he had risen to the position of Nigeria’s representative on OPEC’s economic commission board (ECB).
Advertisement

In 2006, he got his first taste of OPEC leadership and was named the acting secretary-general of the organisation. Barkindo left the post after a year and continued as Nigeria’s representative on OPEC’s board of governors.

He was then elected as the secretary-general of OPEC on August 1, 2016, replacing Libya’s Abdullah al-Badri. His tenure at OPEC coincided with tumultuous times for oil-producing nations as they contended with market volatility, due to unstable oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

IMPACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE MOVEMENT
Barkindo had been the leader of Nigeria’s technical delegation to the United Nations climate change negotiations since 1991. He was part of the discussion that produced the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC.

He was the only Nigerian delegate to attend all 15 conferences of the parties to the UNFCCC until 2010 — COP1 in Berlin 1995 to COP15 in Copenhagen.

He was the elected vice-president of the conference of the parties thrice — COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007; COP 14 in Poznan, Poland, in December 2008; and COP 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.

HIS LAST WORDS

Hours before his demise, Barkindo spoke at the oil and gas conference in Abuja, where he warned that efforts to discourage oil exploration and development are bound to cause energy crises and undermine its security.

He added that geopolitics and regional alignments are hampering cooperation toward a connected global energy system. This, he said, was regrettable.

“Regrettably, we are seeing global energy cooperation becoming more fragmented. New regional alignments are threatening to reverse years of progress toward creating a more stable and interconnected energy system,” he said.

“We cannot afford to allow multilateral energy cooperation and global energy security to become collateral damage of geopolitics.”

Barkindo — who leaves behind a legacy of helping to stabilise the global oil market during uncertain times — is the third ex-NNPC GMD to meet his maker in the last two years.