The Regional Chair for Africa, World Energy Council,Dr. Farouk Omar Ibrahim will deliver the Realnews 14th Anniversary Lecture.
The Management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited disclosed this in a statement signed by its Publisher/Editor, Maureen Chigbo, PhD, on Friday in Lagos.
According to Chigbo, the lecture on “Geopolitical Turbulence and Energy Security: Forging Strategic Opportunities for Africa” will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, November 19, 2026, and will be chaired by Engr. Debo Fagbami, Managing Director, NEDO Gas Development Company Limited (NEDOGAS).
She said Dr. Ibrahim’s acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in an email on April 13, 2026, stating: “I am pleased to inform you that I have accepted the invitation to speak at the 2026 Realnews Annual Lecture. I’ve been part of Realnews from the founding and so have a duty to honour its invitation. …Proud of where you have taken Realnews to. Keep doing well.”
Chigbo said Dr. Ibrahim, who has been the Regional Chair for Africa of the World Energy Council since 2022, is also a member of the pioneer Board of Directors of the newly established Africa Energy Bank, a project he midwifed in his position as APPO Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization, APPO, between January 2020 and January 2026.
Before becoming APPO Secretary General, she said Dr. Ibrahim was Adviser on International Energy Relations to four successive Ministers for Petroleum Resources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In that position, he represented Nigeria on the boards of several intergovernmental energy organizations. He was Nigeria’s Governor to the Vienna-based Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, 2015-2020, and Executive Board Member at the Doha-based Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum, GECF, 2015-2020. At the same time, he coordinated Nigeria’s affairs at the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum, IEF, and later the African Petroleum Producers’ Association, APPA.
Chigbo added that Dr. Ibrahim was, between 2010 and 2014, General Manager and later Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, at the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Before joining NNPC, she said Dr. Ibrahim spent seven years, February 2003 – February 2010, as Head of the PR and Information Department and Member of Senior Management at the OPEC Secretariat, in Vienna. During that period, he served as Executive Editor of the OPEC Energy Review and Editor-in-Chief of the OPEC Bulletin.
Before entering the oil and gas sector in 2003, Chigbo said Dr. Ibrahim worked in the media, where he served at various times as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Federal Government-owned media house, New Nigerian Newspapers Limited, between 1999 and 2003. He was also the chairman of the Board of Directors of Newpack Printing and Packaging Company Limited. Before coming to the New Nigerian, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim had spent nine years in various positions at the Daily Times of Nigeria, ranging from Member of the Editorial Board to a weekly columnist and Op-Ed Editor, General Manager, Nigerpack Press Limited, and Group Controller of Administration.
She noted that Ibrahim joined Bayero University Kano as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Political Science in 1981 after his National Service at the School of Basic Studies, Port Harcourt, and rose to the rank of Lecturer by the time he left academia for journalism in 1990.
As APPO Secretary General, Chigbo said Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim played a central role in the establishment of the Africa Energy Bank, an institution that aims to address some of the funding challenges that the energy transition poses to the African oil and gas industry.
She said Dr. Ibrahim holds a PhD in Political Science from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, a Masters Degree from Bayero University, Kano, and a Bachelor’s degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Dr. Ibrahim has written many books and articles on the oil and gas industry.
Chigbo explained that Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism, with expertise in reporting on the oil and gas sector with its attendant environmental challenges.
She said the Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in our society and to tap into them to enrich the discourse in our national development.
