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.
It said Jonathan “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).
“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.
WORDS will fail mortals, even the eulogies of the prolific poets will not adequately convey the sorrows by which the hearts of many have been broken in grief. It is true that Rilwan Lukman has transited from mortality, into a realm that is eternal. This transition was reported to have taken place at the wee hours of Monday, 21 July, 2014 at an undisclosed hospital in Austria.
While the nation mourns a gem of inestimable value that has, sans any tinge of dissention made an indelible mark in the sands of time, it is important that we also remind ourselves collectively of the humble beginnings. Rilwan Lukman was born in Zaria, Kaduna State on August 26, 1938. In Zaria, he trained as a mining engineer at the College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria which would later be called the Ahmadu Bello University. There, Lukman got the knowledge that would prepare for a greater task in years to come. He didn’t stop at that, he went further to get some more tutoring at the Imperial College London and like providence was calling out to him, he decided to get a higher degree in mining engineering from the University of Mining and Metallurgy in Leoben Austria from 1967-1968. This would later form an integral part of his service to his nation and the world ultimately.
In 1978, he bagged another degree from the University of McGill, Montreal, in mineral economics and later an honorary doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bologna in Italy.
All of this culminated into a chance to serve the nation in a field that he has been prepared for all his life, this opportunity Lukman engaged productivity between 1984 – 1985, when he was appointed Minister of Mines, Power and Steel by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
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.
So, it was a heart wrenching news for his family, the entire nation and OPEC when news of his demise was reported on Monday, 21 July, 2014. He was said to have suffered from the proverbial long time illness and plans of his burial are yet to be announced.
However, the source at OPEC said Mr Lukman remains would have to undergo a formal documentation by the hospital in line with the Austrian law before being released and brought back to Nigeria.
