NJ Ayuk - CEO - Centurion Law Group
                     NJ Ayuk
CEO of Centurion Law Group
NJ Ayuk is founder and CEO of Pan-African 
corporate law conglomerate, Centurion Law 
Group; Founder and Executive Chair-man of the 
African Energy Chamber; and author of Billions at 
Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing 
Deals and co-au-thor of Big Barrels: African Oil 
and Gas and the Quest for Prosperity. He is 
recognized as one of the foremost figures in 
African business today.
A Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, 
one of Forbes’ Top 10 Most Influential Men in 
Africa in 2015, and a well-known dealmaker in 
the petroleum and power sectors, NJ is dedicating 
his career to helping entrepreneurs find success 
and to building the careers of young African 
lawyers. NJ strives through his work to ensure 
that business, and especially oil and gas, impacts 
African societies in a positive way and drives 
local content development.
NJ Ayuk
CEO of Centurion Law Group
NJ graduated from the University of Maryland 
College Park and earned a Juris Doctor from 
William Mitchell College of Law and an MBA from 
the New York Institute of Technology.
Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria, Secretary 
General of the Organization of the Petroleum 
Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the OPEC Secretariat 
in Vienna, Austria. An accomplished oil technocrat 
and veteran of OPEC, Mr Barkindo brings with him a 
wealth of experience in the oil and gas industry, 
both in Nigeria and internationally.
From 2009 to 2010, he was Group Managing Director 
of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation 
(NNPC). Previous to that, he served as Deputy 
Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, 
a joint venture between NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni. 
Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to 
former Minister of Petroleum Resources and OPEC 
Secretary General, HE Dr Rilwanu Lukman.
NJ Ayuk
CEO of Centurion Law Group
Mr Barkindo also worked in several key roles at OPEC 
between 1986 and 2010. In 1986, he was appointed 
to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 
2008, served as Nigeria’s National Representative on 
the Organization’s Economic Commission Board. In 
2006, he served as Acting Secretary General of 
OPEC, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Board of 
Governors from 2009 to 2010.
He has also helped produce the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 
and the Kyoto protocol as the leader of Nigeria’s 
technical delegation to the UN negotiations since 
1991. He also served as Vice President of COP15 in 
2010, when he chaired the opening session in 
Copenhagen attended by more than 100 heads of 
state and government. He is the longest serving 
member of the country’s delegation to the UNFCCC. 
He also served as Chairman of the OPEC Task Force 
of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable 
Development for the 15th session.
NJ Ayuk
CEO of Centurion Law Group
After earning a bachelor’s degree in political 
science from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, 
Mr Barkindo went on to achieve a postgraduate 
diploma in petroleum economics and 
management from the College of Petroleum 
Studies at Oxford University and a master’s 
degree in business administration from 
Southeastern University in Washington, DC. He is 
also a holder of an Honorable Doctorate Degree 
in Science from Modibbo Adama, Federal 
University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria. He is a 
fellow member of various international petroleum 
institutions such as the Institute of Petroleum, 
London.
NJ Ayuk
NJ Ayuk
NJ Ayuk
Websites –
http://njayuk.co.za/
http://nj-ayuk.co.za/
Blogs –
https://njayuk.blogspot.com/
https://njayukblog.wordpress.com/
https://nj-ayuk.tumblr.com/