Buhari set to be named Opec chairman following his decision to head oil ministry

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari looks set to become the next chairman of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) following his decision to appoint himself as oil minister.

 

Nigeria currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Opec and former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke held the position up until she left office last Friday. With President Buhari set to name himself as oil minister as part of a drive to limit fraud and corruption in the sector, he will automatically become the Opec chairman.

 

According to one Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) official, the chairmanship of Opec is given to a country and not an individual and the petroleum minister automatically assumes the position. He added that the former minister Ms Diezani-Madueke, was elected at Opec's 166th general meeting, not in her own capacity but to represent Nigeria.

 

Ms Alison-Madueke was elected Opec president on November 27, 2014 but started to function in the office in January 2015. Opec's president serves for a period of one year and presides over its meetings during the course of that presidency.

 

However, Opec has an alternate chairman who exercises the responsibilities of the chair during an absence, or when the incumbent is unable to carry out the responsibilities attached to the office. Should President Buhari be unable to attend any Opec meetings, it will then be down to the alternative chairman to take over.

 

Accounting for over 80% of Nigeria's export earnings, the country's crude oil industry has been the subject of all sorts of allegations recently, with Ms Alison-Madueke accused of being unable to account for large sums. President Buhari, who was elected on a promise to end corruption and restore discipline to public life, is said to be mulling a plan to have the sector report directly to him.

 

In the past, this has been tried with former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo not appointing a petroleum minister during his tenure in office. Sources close to President Buhari said Nigeria’s oil sector was so dirty that he did not believe anybody's hands were clean enough to provide the surgical changes required. 

 

President Buhari has extensive knowledge of the oil sector, having been head of the Petroleum Trust Fund under an ex-military ruler General Sani Abacha in the 1990s and oil minister in the 1970s under General Olusegun Obasanjo. He was also the first ever NNPC chairman.