Diezani Alison-Madueke to Become OPEC Secretary General?

Nigeria’s delegation at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is petitioning for Nigeria’s minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to become its Secretary General. If Alison-Madueke is appointed, she would be the first woman to ever lead the organization, Vanguard reports. It would also mean that she will quit her current position as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum, because the OPEC position is a full-time job with its office in Vienna, Austria. Nigeria is proposing to put her nomination as secretary-general on the agenda of OPEC’s semiannual meeting, which is scheduled to take place today. Recently, Alison-Madueke has reportedly met with oil ministers from Libya, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. Abdalla Salem el-Badri is OPEC’s current secretary general. He was supposed to retire in 2012, however; OPEC’s delegates are yet to agree on who should replace him. As a result, he has continued to serve in the post.