SPECIAL REPORT

By Udeme Akpan

Doctor Edmund Daukoru is a leading global oil and gas industry leader with royalty, who has made many lasting feats in the sands of time.

His career path was sharpened by the immediate environment, having been born on October 13, 1943, in the oil-rich Bayelsa State, a major petroleum-producing state in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

He obtained a PhD in Geology from Imperial College, London and was employed by Shell International Petroleum Company from 1970, where he rose from Chief Geologist to General Manager of Exploration in Nigeria.

It is on record that Daukoru and others were instrumental to the making of new oil and gas finds or discoveries, which culminated in increasing Shell and by extension Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves before and after the civil war.

The increased reserves were significant, especially as they assisted to position Nigeria not only as a major oil and gas producing nation but also as a frontline member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, which the nation joined in 1971.

It was, therefore, not surprising when he was appointed the Group Managing Director, GMD, of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in 1992.

This position created the platform, which enabled him to assist in the creation of relevant policies, including indigenisation that encouraged increased participation of indigenous companies in the industry, previously dominated by the International Oil Companies, IOCs.

He was also instrumental in the creation of incentives, projects and programmes, required to stimulate lasting growth and development in the nation’s oil and gas industry while nurturing lasting peace in the oil and gas-bearing communities.

In 2003, Daukoru became Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy, and in July 2005 was appointed Minister of State for Energy in the cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. As the nation’s Minister of State, Daukoru was directly involved in the making of policies, which enabled Nigeria to move from land to the swamp, offshore and deep offshore in search of commercial oil finds.

Daukoru worked hard to distinguish himself and was appointed Secretary-General of OPEC on January 1, 2006. It is also on record that as the chief administrator of the OPEC Secretariat then; he worked with several oil ministers from member states, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo to achieve the mission of the organisation, which ‘is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry’.

Vanguard News Nigeria