NIGERIA - Goodluck Jonathan.

Elected Vice-President in April 2007, Jonathan was previously the governor of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa. His elevation along-side Yar'Adua by the ruling PDP was aimed at rallying support from voters and local civil rights groups in the southern states of Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa, which together account for most of Nigeria's 3m b/d oil production capacity.

Jonathan belongs to the Christian Ijaw ethnic community. His choice as vice-president secured for Yar'Adua, a Muslim northerner, the backing of the Ijaw National Congress (INC). In return, Yar'Adua and Jonathan in April committed themselves to revitalising the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The NDDC had been heavily criticized for its failure to tackle the region's poverty, environmental disaster and local government corruption. Now Jonathan is overseeing NDDC's work.

Jonathan, however, has twice been attacked by delta militants, including Ijaw rebels and the MEND, since being elected. These militants have blown up oil pipelines, burned down police stations and dared the new government to go after them. Under Obasanjo, the central government never quite figured how to effectively deal with the militants who have recorded huge successes in disrupting oil production and scaring foreign workers out of the region. But Yar'Adua and Jonathan have worked out a new plan for the region.

In his inaugural speech, Yar'Adua said: "The crisis in the Niger Delta commands our urgent attention. Ending it is a matter of strategic importance to our country. We are all in this together, and we will find a way to achieve peace and justice".

Abubakar Yar'Adua: No relation to the new president, Abubakar Yar'Adua was on Aug. 9 made group managing director of NNPC, succeeding Funso Kupolokun who was dismissed by President Yar'Adua. The Daily Sun on Aug. 10 reported that Kupolokun had been under fire over a scam involving 71 recent contracts said to have been executed at the twilight of the Obasanjo regime. It was alleged that the board of the NNPC had awarded the contracts as Obasanjo was about to leave office without due process as they did not carry the necessary work scopes to ensure transparency. It was also reported that the director general of the state security services had also been asked to step down.

Engeneer Kupolokun used to be close to Obasanjo. Before becoming NNPC's group managing director, he used to be one of Obasanjo's key advisers for the petroleum sector (see his background in down8NigrWhoAug22-05).

Abubakar Yar'Adua used to be Kupolokun's deputy. A Muslim northerner like the new president, he built up his career in the NNPC system.

Rilwanu Lukman: An ex-oil minister, diplomat and former OPEC secretary-general, Lukman now is the most powerful man in the petroleum sector next to President Yar'Adua. But as a presidential adviser, he is only a "part-timer", not always available in dealing with matters pertaining to this sector. This is mainly because he is involved in his own petroleum E&P businesses in Africa. To avoid a conflict of interests, an APS source in Abuja says, Lukman will keep a distance from IOCs operating in Nigeria and will only answer to President Yar'Adua. He spends most of his time in his London office.

Lukman is the founder and non-executive chairman of Afren, a London-listed petroleum E&P company active in Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville) and Angola.

Lukman was made top energy adviser to President Obasanjo in June 1999. Until end-2000 he was also OPEC secretary general. Lukman's advisory office was in the presidency at Abuja, a federal capital built by the military in the early 1990s. Lukman resigned in October 2003 because of a dispute with then NNPC group managing director Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki as the latter had sacked 28 company directors in August of that year without consulting him. Now Gaius-Obaseki is the chairman of Brass LNG Ltd which is having a venture on Brass island to export LNG (see gmt7NigrGasExpAug13-07).

However, the main reason for Lukman's quitting in 2003 was his objection to Obasanjo's occasionally corrupt practices and lack of transparency in the country's petroleum industry. (See Obasanjo's profile in omt8NigrWhoAug22-05).

Lukman was born in February 1938 at Zaria in the northern state of Kaduna. He received higher education in mining at the University of London from 1959 to 1962. He got a higher degree as a mining engineer from the University of Mining and Metallurgy in Loeber, Austria (1967-68).

In the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Lukman served as minister of mines, power and steel from 1984 to 1985. In February 1986, he was made petroleum minister and held that post until February 1990. From 1986 he served eight consecutive terms as OPEC president.

In March 1990 Lukman became foreign minister. He lost that post after Babangida quit in 1993. But Lukman has since kept close to Babangida, who remains a powerful figure in the background and who has long been a source of support for Obasanjo. It is said that even President Yar'Adua depends to some extent on support from Babangida.

Lukman was elected as OPEC secretary-general on Nov. 22, 1994. He succeeded Dr. Subroto of Indonesia, whose three-year term had ended on June 30. Lukman was a compromise figure for that post, between candidates from Iran and Venezuela. Lukman was re-elected to a second term as OPEC boss in 1997.

Later Lukman became a key force behind a price defence deal reached by Iran and Saudi Arabia in early 1999. This led to the March 1999 accord between OPEC and four non-OPEC states on oil production cuts which, eventually, helped world crude oil prices rise way above a $9/barrel reached in late 1998. Lukman remains an influential figure both within Nigeria and in OPEC circles.