Jonathan nominates Diezani to head OPEC

The Nigerian government has nominated minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, for the office of secretary-general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which will be vacant at the end of the year, according to Reuters.

Alison-Madueke became Nigeria’s minister of transportation on July 26, 2007, but she was moved to Mines and Steel Development in 2008.

In April 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed her the minister of petroleum resources.

Jonathan had nominated minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the post of World Bank president in 2012 to replace then president, Robert Zoellick, at the end of his term. However, the bid proved unsuccessful, as Okonjo-Iweala lost to US candidate, Jim Yong Kim.

Should Alison-Madueke’s bid succeed, she would become OPEC’s first female secretary-general, succeeding long-serving incumbent, Abdullah al-Badri, Iraq’s oil minister whose term ends in December.

The proposal is intended to capitalise on the deadlock over the post, created by opposing candidates from Saudi Arabia and Iran, as both countries continue to press for their candidate.

Nigeria, the most populous country within OPEC and a big player in the oil market with daily production of 1,954 barrels, is likely to receive support from fellow African countries in OPEC.

OPEC holds its 165th Ordinary Meeting in Vienna, Austria, on June 11, 2014 to agree on policy for the second half of the year.

Some of the discussions at the meeting would centre on the nominees, as well as the decision of oil ministers of OPEC to leave the output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) unchanged, because the market is well-supplied.