By Bisi Bamishe
Guest Lecturer: Dr. Farouk Omar Ibrahim, Regional Chair, World Energy Council
Theme: “Geopolitical Turbulence and Energy Security: Forging Strategic Opportunities for Africa”
Date: Thursday, the 19th of November, 2025
Venue: Radisson Blu, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
Time: 10 am
The Management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, publishers of Realnews Magazine Online, has announced that Dr. Farouk Omar Ibrahim, Regional Chair for Africa, World Energy Council, will deliver the Realnews 14th Anniversary Lecture.
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).
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.”
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, 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.
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, 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, 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.
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, 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 tra
