In this exclusive interview, Valuechain Energy Magazine’s William Emmanuel Ukpoju engages H.E. Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, the esteemed Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO), in a thought-provoking conversation on the future of Africa’s energy landscape. Widely respected across the global petroleum community, Dr. Ibrahim has played a pivotal role in shaping regional cooperation, policy reform and strategic positioning for Africa in the era of energy transition. With decades of experience spanning academia, journalism, diplomacy and high-level advisory roles within OPEC and Nigeria’s petroleum sector, he brings unmatched insight into the complex realities facing the continent’s oil and gas industry.
In this dialogue, Dr. Ibrahim discusses APPO’s institutional transformation, the rationale behind the creation of the Africa Energy Bank, the debate around a just energy transition, and the urgent need for regional collaboration and energy sovereignty. This conversation offers rare clarity at a defining moment for Africa’s development.
Your Excellency, it is a privilege to have you with us today. You are widely respected across the global energy community for your distinguished leadership, your decades of professional service spanning academia, journalism, and international energy diplomacy, and for guiding APPO during a transformative period marked by the global energy transition and rapidly shifting geopolitical realities. For the record, we would like you to begin with an introduction and tell us a bit about your background.
Thank you very much. My name is Umar Farooq Ibrahim. I am currently the Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers Organization. I hail from Kano.
I studied at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where I got my PhD. I got my second degree from Bayero University in Kano in 1983, and I got my first degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1980.
I went to Government College Kano, now Rumfa College, in 1975-76, and I was the head student there. I have worked since 1980, when I graduated, first doing National Service in Port Harcourt.
I worked at Bayero University as a graduate assistant, rising to a full lecturer. Then I moved to Lagos and worked with the Daily Times on the editorial board. I was an op-ed editor, handling editorials and letters.
I then became the Area Manager of the Daily Times for the northern states and Abuja. Between 1993 and 1995, I went back to Lagos as Group Controller of Administration at the Daily Times.
I was at one time also the General Manager of NigerPAC, the printing and publishing packaging company of the Daily Times. In 1999, I was appointed Managing Director of the New Nigerian Newspapers by President Obasanjo.
I was at the New Nigerian from June 4, 1999, until February 2003, when I was appointed head of the PR and Information Department at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna. I spent seven years there as head of department and member of senior management, during which I was also editor-in-chief of the OPEC Energy Review, the OPEC Review, OPEC Bulletin, and all other publications of the OPEC Secretariat.
In 2009, I was invited by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Lukman, to be his advisor. I worked with Lukman, Desani, Timipre Silva, and Kachukwu, four successive Ministers of Petroleum Resources, as advisor until 2020, when I became Secretary General of APPO.
While working with the four ministers, I was also the OPEC governor for Nigeria for five years, an executive board member of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha for another five years, and a member of the International Energy Forum. I headed the technical team that worked on the reform from APPA to APPO. I believe that experience informed my appointment as Secretary General to implement it in practice. I have now been in APPO for six years, coming to the end of my second term.
Looking at your background, which you have just told us, from academia into journalism, and then into the oil and gas industry, what informed your transition from academia to journalism, then to the oil and gas sector?
To be honest, most of these things were not planned. At the university at ABU, when I was writing my dissertation for my first degree in political science, I wrote on the Nigerian press and political partisanship. This was 1979, and I was looking at the elections that brought President Shehu Shagari to office. I examined newspapers like the Standard Newspaper, New Nigerian and the Daily Times to see how objective they were in reporting political events.
After graduation, I returned to the university as a graduate assistant while completing my master’s and PhD. I returned with my PhD in 1988. In 1990, Babangida appointed a new Managing Director for the Daily Times, Dr. Yemi Ogumbiyi, to make it truly national. So Ogumbiyi had sent requests to several northern universities (six universities) to provide someone academically sound to be on the editorial board of the Daily Times. At that time, there was only Farouk Mohammed, who was the first and I think only northern editor in Daily Times, and they didn’t have any other person from the north. Some universities sent people on sabbatical, but somehow, the Daily Times didn’t take them.
I have a good friend who is currently the Emir of Karshi; he was at the Daily Times, and he was appointed the GM of Standard Newspaper. He came to Kano, met my wife, whom he knew very well, and he said, “Look, I can’t believe that northern universities cannot give us somebody that we will say is good”. She said, “What do you mean?” And she told him, “I know, if Farouk goes there, he will be taken”. Suddenly, I got a letter from Daily Times. I took it to the Vice Chancellor; initially, he was not happy to let me go, but eventually he did. After some back-and-forth with the university, I went for an “interview” that never really formally happened.
I went to the Daily Times office expecting that I would be interviewed. I met the chairman of the Editorial Board, we sat down, and he asked me questions. He said they had an editorial board meeting that day, and he invited me to join them. I attended the editorial board meeting. The Managing Director, Ogunbiyi, came with a big issue: a complaint about an editorial against Option A4 two months prior, which Babangida considered unacceptable. After about 30 minutes into the meeting, he saw me sitting in one corner, a strange face, and he said, “Who’s this gentleman?” And the Chairman of the Editorial Board said, “That’s Dr Omar Farouk, he came from Kano for an interview,” and Ogumbiyi said, “Fine, you’ve been listening to us for the last 20 minutes, what do you have to say concerning this matter?”
I listened, assessed the situation, and suggested they conduct a public opinion survey on Option A4 by Friday. The results would guide the Sunday newspaper, balancing intellectual integrity with public opinion. This unconventional approach impressed the management, and that was the “interview” that never really formally happened; I got the position.
I worked at the Daily Times from 1990 until 1999, rising to Area Manager for the Northern States and Abuja, General Manager, Group Controller for Administration, and eventually almost Deputy Managing Director of the New Nigerian under Enahoro, before Obasanjo appointed me as Managing Director of the New Nigerian.
That’s wonderful, Sir. I would have loved to ask follow-up questions on your journalism experience, but I don’t want to keep you. Moving on, let’s look at your experience, ranging from serving at the OPEC Secretariat to holding senior advisory roles within the Nigerian Petroleum Ministry and NNPC. How did those roles prepare you for your current mission as Secretary General of APPO?
When I went to OPEC, I was interviewed for the position of Head of Information and Public Relations. At that time, I knew next to nothing about oil. I didn’t know the difference between midstream, downstream, and upstream. My interview was strictly on communications, public relations, and editorial matters, which I excelled in.
OPEC’s biggest challenge then was misperception. People in Europe and America believed OPEC was responsible for high prices and was a cartel. They asked me how I would handle this, and I impressed them, so I got the job.
I told myself that as OPEC spokesperson, I could not be effective without understanding the industry. Within two years, I became an authority on oil and gas. OPEC provided training, and I attended Oxford and other institutions. I participated in research meetings, challenged findings, and became confident enough to guide publications.
I also oversaw editorial decisions on the OPEC Energy Review and Bulletin, ensuring technical accuracy and credibility. Over three months, the citations on publications I edited surpassed all other journals combined. This experience transitioned me from journalism into oil and gas expertise, which informed my later work.
We were willing to do all the work. But I wanted to get that respectability, not even within OPEC. That also helped raise the profile of that publication. We did that until 2019, when Dr. Lukman approached me and said, “Please, I want you to come and help. We have some challenges in Nigeria and in the ministry. I need you here.”
Of course, you can’t compare the package in OPEC and here, but I also felt, look, my primary school, my secondary school, my university, my PhD were all at public expense. Any day Nigeria asks me to come back to work, that’s exactly what I’ll do, and that’s exactly what I did. The only condition I gave was that you are a political appointee. I don’t want to come and work with you as a PO or TO or advisor or whatever. Get one of the parastatals working under you, employ me, and then deploy me to your office. Because I can come and start work today. Tomorrow you’re sacked. I’ve lost my job in OPEC.
He agreed to that. The following week, Barkindo, may God bless his soul, who was then Group Managing Director, called me. He was in Nigeria. He called me in Vienna. “Farouk, the honourable minister, said I should call and thank you that you have accepted to come and work with him”. I said yes. They gave me the job, and I said my only condition is to give me a permanent job, not a contract job. I stayed with them until I retired in 2017.
I was then an advisor to Dr. Kachikwu. He said, “Farouk, you cannot go. We still need you.” And I said, “Get my employers, that’s the NNPC, to give me a contract appointment and I’ll continue to work with you.” I did that. Kachikwu left. Sylva came. He also retained me. I was working with Sylva when the position of APPO Secretary General came up, and I was sent there.
That’s amazing, sir. Let’s look at the role you played in APPO, especially when it was APPA. And what were the reasons behind the reform, and what results have you observed since it transitioned from APPA to APPO?
When I was advisor to Dr. Lukman, Diezani, Kachikwu, and eventually Sylva, I wasn’t really focused on APPA; I was more into OPEC, GCF, and IEF. APPO was then the ministry’s concern over costs and processes.
But in 2015, following the global paradigm shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energies, our leaders went to Paris and signed the climate agreement. They realised that our economies are dependent on fossil fuels. Having signed this agreement, we needed to look at how to save our economies.
A German firm, Fischner, was hired by APPA at that time to do a reform. They started in 2014. In 2018, Kachikwu became president of the APPA Ministerial Council and was tasked with leading the reform. He said, “Farouk, you’ve been in international energy relations. I will handle policy; you handle the technical.”
We sat with the consultants, but we weren’t satisfied with their output, so we asked them to leave. A team of six was set up with me as chair to conduct the reform. The ministers were clear; they wanted APPA to be like OPEC. We did what we could.
When I was elected Secretary General of APPO, one of the first things I told them was: APPO is not OPEC and should not aim to be OPEC. The challenges facing OPEC are different from those facing African oil and gas-producing countries. OPEC stabilises the global oil market. APPO member countries together don’t contribute up to 10% of global production. Not all of us are in OPEC. You can’t go to OPEC saying finance is a challenge; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, they would laugh. Their problem is stabilising the global market; ours is different.
In my first six months as Secretary General, COVID struck. Two ministers, from Congo and Equatorial Guinea, wrote asking for a study on COVID’s impact on their national economies. I immediately called the president of APPA, then the minister of Niger, and requested an extraordinary meeting with the ministers. At the meeting, I told them these were the requests I had received, but in my opinion, COVID was a temporary challenge.
The biggest challenge facing the industry is the energy transition. Instead of conducting a major study on COVID, I suggested we conduct a major study on the future of the oil and gas industry in Africa in light of the energy transition. The ministers accepted. We hired consultants, and the study identified three imminent challenges: funding, technology, and markets.
Funding: In nearly 100 years of production, even with windfalls, Africa was spending money rather than investing it in the industry.
Technology: All technology we use in Africa is imported; there are no local research or innovation centres.
Markets: 75% of oil and 45% of gas are exported, even more if you exclude North Africa.
These findings led to partnering with Afrexim Bank to establish the Africa Energy Bank. We also planned regional centres of excellence. It made no sense for each country to try to excel in upstream, midstream, and downstream individually. By collaborating, we can create world-class institutions and reduce reliance on foreign technology.
Some of the best institutions for oil and gas, like Imperial College London, are closing faculties in oil and gas, focusing on renewables. What happens to Africa’s 125 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of gas? We cannot abandon them when nearly a billion people lack energy access. These were the challenges that APPO addressed during my time as Secretary General, and I am glad to say that the Africa Energy Bank headquarters is ready; it is now a legal entity, ratified by the required number of countries. By the end of November, the Nigerian government will hand it over to the promoters. We are as at today, looking to raise only $100 million to top up what we need to get the bank started.
One thing that stands tall when we discuss your achievements in APPO is the Africa Energy Bank. I would like you to share with us the brains behind this project.
Funding was the biggest challenge. APPA had the APPA Fund for Technical Cooperation. When APPA was reformed to APPO, the APPA Fund became I-Corp, the Africa Energy Investment Corporation, with seed capital of $1 billion. Each member country was supposed to pay $18 million; Nigeria paid $10 million. No other country paid.
We realised $1 billion wasn’t enough for one country, let alone Africa. Governments were not ready to invest in I-Corp. We approached Afrexim Bank for support and consultancy to help us raise funds. They agreed, though they were under pressure to divest from funding oil and gas.
I insisted on meeting Afrexim Bank’s CEO, Professor Oramah, to ensure alignment. We met in Côte d’Ivoire, and within an hour, I was convinced of his pan-Africanist vision. I then approached the APPO Ministerial Council. I called the president of the APPO Ministerial Council, Angola’s Minister Dr. Diamantino, for his blessing. I flew to Luanda, we sat down, and I said, “Look, the funding challenge needs to be addressed. We cannot do it alone; we are not bankers, and our countries will not be ready to put money in I-Corp. When they know that we have partnered with Afrexim Bank, because of their experience and pedigree, they will buy the idea. We have discussed with the President of Afrexim Bank, and I want us to float our own bank”.
He said, “Great idea, I love that, what do you need?” I said we need your blessing for us to go in and start negotiating. He said, “Go ahead,” and I said, “No, Sir, you don’t have the power. You have to go to the Ministerial Council to decide”. He said, “Go and start it; I will call an emergency meeting; I have given you anticipatory approval”. And within two weeks, he called an extraordinary meeting in Luanda, and he involved his President, and they made a very powerful speech on the need for this collaboration with Afrexim Bank and at that meeting, I was mandated to sign an MoU with Afrexim Bank for the establishment of Africa Energy Bank.
So, between 2022, May and 2024, June, we had series of meetings where we developed the establishment agreement and the charter and also developed a draft headquarters agreement for whichever country that was going to be the host country. It took us about two years of intense negotiations, of course they are bankers, they didn’t have to rely too much on consultants, but in APPO, we are oil and gas, so we had to rely a lot on consultants, they advised us, we negotiated and by June 3rd, 2024, we had signed the establishment agreement and by the end of the year, we had two of our member countries ratifying the agreement and the charter and by the regulation, only two countries need to sign and ratify for it to become a treaty. So, by the end of 2024, we will already have a treaty and from late 2024 to date, we have been raising the funds. And I think it was on July 4th, 2024, that Nigeria got the hosting rights. It was a very tough competition, starting with seven countries, it came down to four, and eventually, Nigeria got it.
Let’s look at your vision for APPO over the next 10 years. What is your vision, especially as it relates to energy governance in the world?
I believe that Africa has great potential. We have what it takes to master the industry technologically, in terms of expertise, markets, and even finance. And as I mentioned, we are already addressing the financial challenge.
For as long as each country decides to go solo, it will take us forever to truly master this industry. I always give examples of multinational oil companies: Chevron, Total, Eni, and BP. You may call one Italian or French, but if you check their books, there is nothing purely Italian, French, or American about them. Their shareholders come from everywhere.
Our problem in Africa is that we establish companies and run them like family businesses; “me and my children.” We need to partner so we can build real strength. When you share power, you are compelled to run an organisation better, because you cannot simply wake up and make decisions alone. Even someone with 1% can challenge you. These checks and balances help us grow.
Another issue is our colonial mentality: “This is our territory; stay away.” In Europe, yes, they have countries, but there are almost no boundaries economically. That is the kind of integration we need. I sincerely hope AfCFTA will be strengthened and given real authority so we can move the continent forward together.
Our salvation in this industry lies in unity. Individually, none of our member countries has all it takes to fully master the industry. Some have made progress: Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, Angola, but they are not pace-setters; they are simply moving along. If these countries brought their companies together, upstream, downstream, foundries, etc., believe me, in 25 years, Africa would not need to import tools and equipment.
Right now, if something breaks during production, you import it; sometimes, you even place an order for it to be manufactured. It shouldn’t be so. A big part of this is that we’ve lost confidence in our abilities. This affects academics, technicians, and everyone. We see ourselves as second-class, that without the West, we can’t move.
Sometimes, I honestly say I wish our countries would face sanctions for a long period. That would force us to look inward and unlock our true potential. Today, we are too relaxed. And that, to me, is Africa’s biggest challenge, not just Nigeria, the whole continent.
Your time at APPO is gradually coming to an end. How would you like to be remembered? What will be your greatest legacy?
When I came to APPO, the first thing I said was that I wanted to build a professional institution. And without blowing my trumpet, I believe that in the last six years, we’ve achieved that. We now have a very professional Secretariat. I have invested heavily in training, not just technical, but also in building a culture.
We now have an APPO culture: what is acceptable and what is not. When I became Secretary General, everyone else was asked to leave. I was the only staff member retained. My first decision was to call the President of APPA, the Minister of Niger at the time, and I said, “I cannot do this work alone. Please allow the outgoing staff to return for at least one month so we can do a proper handover.”
Within that month, I decided the outgoing Secretary General would go, and one of his assistants would go. I retained one person. Nigeria gave us two local staff. We worked like that until after COVID, when we moved to Brazzaville.
I told the Executive Board and the Ministerial Council that I would recruit in phases: first, the directors, then after six to nine months, the heads of departments, then another six to twelve months later, the analysts. The idea was to work with each group long enough to establish non-negotiables, our culture, our standards, so that when their subordinates joined, they fit naturally into that system.
If I had hired 36 people at once, it would have been chaos. So for nearly three years, we did not have a full staff complement, and it was intentional. I wanted to build culture.
In the past, joining APPO almost guaranteed that you would spend five to seven years automatically. I changed that. I said no, you are hired for a three-year term, renewable only if you perform technically and socially. If you are technically weak but sociable and willing to learn, I will retain you. But if you are technically brilliant but cannot be a team player, no. Possibly in 10 to 15 years, APPO will be strong enough to tolerate that, but not now. We are building a team culture, and I believe we have succeeded.
In terms of achievements:
The Africa Energy Bank is a major milestone.
Regional Centres of Excellence are another.
On infrastructure, we partnered with CABEF, the Central Africa Business Energy Forum, and now we are at the final stages of securing approval from the presidents of the CEMAC countries for the Central Africa Pipeline System (CAPS). This will be the biggest and most ambitious pipeline project in the region, with crude oil, products, and natural gas pipelines running across 11 Central African states.
We have passed all pre-CEMAC hurdles, and before the end of the year, it should reach the presidents for approval. Once that happens, it will open markets across the continent.
In West Africa, you already have some progress with WAGP, AKK, and the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, but Central Africa lacks that infrastructure; without energy infrastructure, Africa cannot have energy security. Without energy security, we cannot develop. We cannot power our economies.
Your Excellency, thank you for your time, your valuable insights, and your leadership voice at a moment when Africa’s energy future is being fiercely debated. We appreciate your vision and the direction you provide to the continent’s petroleum industry.
We wish you success in the journey ahead.
Thank you once again for joining The Valuechain Energy Magazine.