13th August, 2010
A head of the 50th anniversary of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has flagged off the in-country celebration with the launch of commemorative postage stamps.
Alison-Madueke while flagging off the celebration in Abuja on Thursday said the commemorative stamp is one of the events mapped out by the OPEC Secretariat for all member countries for the golden jubilee anniversary which will come to a climax in September in Vienna, Austria.
The minister who gave a brief history of OPEC, said the organization was worth celebrating for living up to its mandate of stabilizing prices in the international oil market, adding that the objectives of forming the organization are still as relevant today as they were half a century ago.
She said the organization was formed in Baghdad, Iraq, in September 1960, by five countries, with Nigeria joining on July 10, 1971, as its 11th member.
“The principal aim of the organization when it was conceptualized was to co-ordinate and unify the petroleum policies of member countries and determine the best means for safeguarding their interests individually and collectively. It was also to devise ways and means of ensuring stabilization of prices in the international oil markets,†she stated.
Alison-Madueke listed other activities lined up for the OPEC anniversary celebration in Nigeria to include a workshop on Energy Reporting for media practitioners, a novelty football match between Oil and Gas industry Executives and Energy Editors and a concert to showcase contemporary folk, classical and neo-classical Nigerian music in keeping with OPEC’s agenda of promoting the rich cultural diversity of member countries.
Other dignitaries at the launch included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Engr. Sheikh Gumi, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Engr. Austen Oniwon, the Post-Master General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) represented by the Deputy Post-Master General (Operations) Mr P. Z. Omhodia, the Area Postal Manager of NIPOST, Abuja, Alhaji A. B. Mahmud, Directors in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as Executive Directors of the NNPC.