Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan to become Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), when the tenure of incumbent Abdullah al-Badri of Iraq expires in December 2014.
If the move sails through, Alison-Madueke will become the first female Secretary-General of OPEC.
Seventy-four-year-old al-Badri has been Secretary-General of OPEC since 2007. He was also Libyan Minister for Oil and Electricity between 1990 and 2000.
Alison-Madueke, who like al-Badri, is a long-serving government official, was appointed Minister of Transportation by then President Olusegun Obasanjo on 26th July, 2007.
In a cabinet reshuffle in 2008, she was moved to the Mines and Steel Development ministry. In 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed her as Minister of Petroleum Resources.
