Things you may not know about Barkindo, late OPEC Secretary General

Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo died Tuesday night at 63.

He died hours after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari at State House, Abuja.

Daily Trust takes a look at some life and time of the former NNPC GMD which many may not be aware of.

Birth

Barkindo was born on April 20, 1959 in Yola, Adamawa State. He died at the age of 63.

• Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General, dies hours after meeting Buhari
• Abuja-Kaduna train: Ansaru threatens to slaughter captives

Education

He studied Political Science for his bachelor’s degree at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, before bagging a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1991 from Washington University, and a postgraduate diploma in Petroleum Economics from Oxford University in 1988.

Career

From 2009 to 2010, he was Group Managing Director and CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Before then, he had served as Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas. Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to former Minister of Petroleum Resources and OPEC Secretary General, Dr Rilwanu Lukman.

International role

Over the years, Barkindo also worked in several key roles at OPEC. In 1986, he was appointed to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 2008, he served as Nigeria’s National Representative on the Organization’s Economic Commission Board. In 2006, he was Acting OPEC Secretary General, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Board of Governors from 2009 to 2010.

Barkindo began his tenure as Secretary General of the OPEC on 1 August 2016, a role he sustained until his death on June 5, 2022.