President Jonathan Mourns Alhaji Rilwan Lukman.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said he received with much sadness and a feeling of great national loss, news of the passing away of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alhaji Rilwan Lukman. 

According to statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati in Abuja, the President commiserated with the former minister’s family, the government and people of his home state, Kaduna, as well as his friends, associates and all those he mentored over the years in the domestic and global oil industry.

The statement reads that the nation  “shares their sorrow as they mourn the brilliant engineer, technocrat and administrator who spent almost all of his working life serving his country and the global community in various capacities including minister, special adviser, secretary-general and president of the Organisation of Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“As Alhaji Lukman’s soul returns to its Maker, President Jonathan joins all who knew him in giving thanks to God Almighty for bestowing him on the nation and for the great intelligence, integrity, competence and humility with which he distinguished himself in all his national and international assignments.

“Nigeria, the President firmly believes, will always owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late petroleum minister for his very significant contributions to the development of the country’s oil and gas industry, and for serving with acclaimed distinction as the nation’s representative at the helm of OPEC affairs over many years.”

The President prayed that the Almighty God will receive Lukman’s gentle soul and grant him eternal rest in Paradise.

In 1986, he was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources and Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation till February 1990.

He was Minister of Foreign Affairs between January and September 1990 and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Electric Power Authority (1993–1994).

From 1986, he served eight consecutive terms as OPEC president and was elected OPEC secretary general on November 22, 1994. He was secretary of OPEC between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2000.

Dr Lukman, was also the Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Industry Law Reform Committee, which later metamorphosed into the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, currently before the National Assembly.

He was a petroleum engineer who held several ministerial positions in both civilian and military administrations in the country.

In his last tour of duty as minister, Dr Lukman was, on December 18, 2008, appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, a position he held until March 2010.

He was aged 76