NIGERIA - Rilwanu Lukman.

An ex-oil minister and diplomat, Lukman was made top energy advisor to President Obasanjo in June 1999. Until end-2000 he was also OPEC secretary general. A figure with a global profile, Lukman is the sort of well-connected global technocrat who can best advise Obasanjo on what is good for the Nigerian oil sector.

Lukman's advisory office is in the presidency at Abuja, a federal capital built by the military in the early 1990s. He is the one who brings the pressing petroleum issues to and prepares the main decisions for Obasanjo, though he is by no means equivalent to an oil minister. His powers are limited as Obasanjo retains the petroleum portfolio. Although Obasanjo often takes his advice, Lukman faces obstacles resulting from a continuing power struggle within the federal government.

In this position Lukman has succeeded Godwin Aret Adams. A respected technocrat and former head of NNPC, Adams was made top presidential advisor on energy in September 1998 by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who came to power as ruler after the death of military dictator Sani Abacha in June 1998. Gen. Abubakar then sacked the entire cabinet of Abacha, including petroleum minister Dan Etete. The petroleum portfolio was left vacant and the sector was taken over by the ruler's office. President Obasanjo simply did the same but changed technocrats from Adams to Lukman.

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. 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 he became minister of foreign affairs. He lost that post after Babangida resigned in 1993.

He was elected as OPEC secretary general on Nov. 22, 1994. He succeeded Dr. Subroto of Indonesia, whose term for three years had ended on June 30. Lukman was a compromise figure for that post, between two competing candidates - Hossein Kazempour Ardebili of Iran and Alirio Parra of Venezuela.

Lukman was re-elected to a second term as OPEC boss in 1997. Later he became a key force behind a price defence deal reached by Iran and Saudi Arabia in early 1999. This led to the March accord between OPEC and four non-OPEC states on oil production cuts which, eventually, helped world crude oil prices rise more than three-fold from $9/barrel in late 1998. Lukman keeps in touch with OPEC ministers to make sure crude oil prices are defended.

Like his predecessor Adams who favoured a complete overhaul of the petroleum industry, Lukman believes NNPC should be restructured and made a truly commercial enterprise. But he is not in agreement with Adams and others that NNPC should divest its controlling stake in the oil producing JVs. Nor is he keen on a rapid deregulation of the domestic fuels market. He also favours maximising gas production for export and the local market.

Lukman and President Obasanjo, together with Khelil and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and their Libyan counterparts played a key role in a plan to establish the African Energy Commission (AFREP) grouping 35 African states. The plan was first approved in April 2001 during a meeting of the 35 African energy ministers in Algiers.

An agreement on this was signed at the last summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) held in Lusaka on July 9-11, when the rulers formally began a year's transition into their planned African Union (AU). AFREP is to promote energy trade and integration among the member-states and set up an energy database. The AU came into effect on July 9, 2002 (see News Service No. 5 in the current volume).

In October 1987, Lukman became the first African recipient of the Imperial College of Science and Technology Fellowship Award. He also served as president of the African Petroleum Producers' Association, president of the Nigerian Mining and Geosiences Society and vice president of the Association of Geoscientists for International Development.