Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar Adamu has been appointed the General Counsel of ExxonMobil-affiliated companies in Nigeria, the multinational oil conglomerate.
He has also been appointed executive director, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited; executive director, Esso Exploration & Producing Nigeria Ltd and executive director, Esso Exploration & Producing (Offshore East) Ltd.
Born on October 5, 1963, the legal luminary attended Bayero University, Kano (BUK) where he obtained his first degree in law with honours in 1986 and was called to the Nigerian Bar as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1987.
Having obtained a Master of Law degree from Harvard University Law School in the United States, Adamu attended Oxford University College of Petroleum and Energy Resources for a postgraduate certificate in advanced negotiation.
He participated in the Enterprise Leadership Programme organized by the INSEAD in France, and also attended the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies for a postgraduate certificate in advanced Legal Drafting, in addition to several in-house training in management and executive functions.
Sadiq started his legal career as a public prosecutor with the Plateau State Ministry of Justice from where he proceeded to private law practice with the law office of R. O. Yussuf and Co.
He held the position of Associate Counsel with the firm of Miskom Puepet & Co., the firm he left to establish the Law Firm of Sadiq & Co as managing partner. He joined Mobil Oil Corporation in Virginia, USA, after graduating from Harvard in 1992.
The oil magnate has since then worked for the ExxonMobil chain in different affiliates in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates before returning home to Nigeria.
His experience in the hydrocarbon development industry over the last 23 years spans general management and legal support for upstream, midstream (natural gas monetization – domestic and international planning development and sales) and downstream businesses with emphasis on the negotiation and finalization of development agreements, financing, human resource management, dispute resolution, project agreements, regulatory compliance, legislation advocacy and general joint venture relations management.
A pioneer member of the multi-billion dollar RasGas and QatarGas Natural Gas Development team in Qatar, Adamu led the committee that structured and developed the Qatar Condensate Refinery.
He has negotiated and finalized many multibillion dollar financing for ExxonMobil projects in seven countries, as well as provided legal support for the procurement of more than $15 billion for ExxonMobil projects in Nigeria alone from 2005 to date.
Sadiq is a recipient of the federal government’s Nigeria National Merit Award for academic excellence, the Justice Mohammed Bello award for Excellence in Jurisprudence and Justice Buba Hardo prize for Best Graduating Student in International Law.
He is described by his contemporaries as a man of artistic imagination and a poet whose poem, a sonnet, “Muffle the Nightingale,” was published in the contemporary edition of the English Pageant of Longer Poems.
With many poems to his credit, such as “Walking between Raindrops” which received literary acclaim, Adamu has also authored many literary works, including novels like “The Man Alone” and “The Way of the Mustard Seed.” He also has acclaimed drama presentations, like “Were I to surrender”.
He is a polyglot who is fluent in five Nigerian and foreign languages.
He is also keenly interested in debating topical legal and political issues, even as he has actively invested in and has contributed immensely in the development and social networking activities of associations and clubs like the Harvard Club of New York, the International Bar Association, the Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos, Court of International Arbitration and the Harvard Alumni Association of Nigeria.
A guest lecturer at the Lagos Business School, Sadiq has presented papers on topical management and legal issues in national and international fora under the auspices of the NBA, IBA and various alumni associations.
Adamu who is also the director, Lagos Court of International Arbitration, was recently invited by the governments of Kenya and Uganda to share Nigerian and international experiences in shaping legislation for their fledgling oil and gas industries.
-Leadership
