Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who replaced the immediate past minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, as the Conference President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been removed and replaced by Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada thus making him the shortest serving president of the body.

Nigeria’s Diezani Alison Madueke, the conference’s first female president was elected in 2014 and assumed office in 2015 under the Jonathan-led administration. According to the document titled Conference Presidents, OPEC’s president is elected by the conference and serves for a period of one year but Diezani automatically vacated the position after President Buhari was elected president in May 2015.

Diezani Alison Madueke and Mohammed Bin Al-Sada were appointed president and alternate president respectively in November 2014 and assumed office in 2015. Since the introduction of the office of the alternate president in 1978, the alternate president exercises the duty of the president in his absence or when he is unable to carry out his responsibilities. Mohammed Bin Al-Sada was expected to take responsibility in Diezani’s absence due to health and money laundering charges against her, but Kachikwu was elected as president in his stead.

At the 168th ordinary meeting of the organisation in Vienna, Austria, Mohammed Al-Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, was named as his successor after an election. Mohammed Bin Al-Sada is a graduate of Qatar University with an undergraduate degree in marine technology and geology. He started his career with Qatar Petroleum in August 1983 and has occupied a number of important positions since then. Within the energy sector, Al-Sada has successfully managed various corporate departments within his 30 years in the service of energy and industry sectors of Qatar.

His appointment will take effect from January 2016 alongside HE Ali I. Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as alternate president.

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