– Nigeria’s petroleum minister Ibe Kachikwu met with the the secretary general of OPEC Mohammad Barkindo
– Kachikwu said he nominated Barkindo for the position because he possessed the ‘madness’ to work there
– Barkindo disclosed that he had not met the minister before he nominated him to be the secretary general of OPEC
The minister of petroleum resources Ibe Kachikwu received the secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), H. E. Mohammad Barkindo, on Monday, February 27.
Kachikwu welcomes the OPEC Secretary General, H. E. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, to Nigeria
Speaking during a meeting to welcome Barkindo at the headquarters of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja, Kachikwu said the achievements of OPEC under him, within a short time showed he was the right man for the job, The Cable reports.
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He said he nominated Barkindo for the job because he has the “intellectual insanity” to work there.
According to him, when the campaign for the job was heating up, he met with a prince of Saudi Arabia, who is the country’s petroleum minister, to convince him to support Barkindo for the position as he possessed the necessary qualities.
Kachikwu said he nominated Barkindo for OPEC job because he believed in his qualities
Kachikwu said: “I met with the prince, and I told him I have a candidate who has seven qualities that an OPEC SG must possess. He asked me to list them, and I said: ‘1, Barkindo has the intellectual insanity to work there’. At that time, OPEC was in a rough rumble that only a mad man will take the job. I also said he is humble and that he is a master statistician.”
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In response, Barkindo thanked Kachikwu for nominating him for the job.
He said: “For all my years at the NNPC …in this industry, I have not met Ibeh Kachikwu. But this gentleman decided on his own wisdom to ask his staff to look for someone named Mohammad Barkindo.
“I got to know through the governor of OPEC that Kachikwu decided to nominate me for this job to his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari.
“From day one he became my campaign manager. I saw the commitment of the son of Nigeria to make the country proud. He said don’t worry we will make it.
“He did all he could and forced the hand of these other countries to drop their candidates.”
Barkindo said this was his first visit home since he left for Vienna and he was overwhelmed by the reception he got from friends and colleagues.
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He disclosed that OPEC countries had lost about $1trn so far while adding that the oil industry needed more investments.
Barkindo was officially appointed to the post for a three-year term at OPEC’s 169th Meeting of the Conference on June 2, 2016 in Vienna, Austria.
He replaced HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri who led the Organization from January 1, 2007 to 2016 when he handed over.
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