Barkindo dies fews hours after Buhari’s honour

The outgoing Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Muhammad Barkindo, is dead.

Barkindo died at the age of 63 late Tuesday few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari honoured him for his meritorious service at OPEC.

Late Barkindo also received the highest civilian award of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. HE Nicolas Maduro Moros, at presented the Secretary General with the highest civilian honour in Venezuela, the Order of General Francisco de Miranda, first class. The award recognized the Secretary General’s outstanding stewardship of OPEC for the last six years. The ceremony was televised live by the Venezuelan national broadcaster and attended by high level Venezuelan dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corp

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, announced Barkindo’s death in a tweeted posted to his verified Twitter handle, @MKKyari, in the early hours of Wednesday.

“We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo. He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly,” Kyari tweeted.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had, on Tuesday, honoured Barkindo, describing him as a worthy ambassador of the country, at the State House, Abuja

Reacting to Barkindo’s death, a former lawmaker in the eighth Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, tweeted to his Twitter page, “Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo, former GMD NNPC and until recently, @OPECSecretariat scribe, was honoured yesterday. He died 11pm yesternight. May Allah grant him Aljanna firdausi. Amin. That is the ephemerality and transience of life.”