Business journalist Hudheifa Aden has been appointed as a presidential advisor on oil and gas in Puntland State of Somalia.
Announcing his new role on his socials, Hudheifa said his work is cut out:
“I’m happy to announce that I have been appointed as a presidential advisor on oil and gas by H.E Said Abdullahi Deni of Puntland State of Somalia. I am excited to join the president’s team of advisors and work more closely with state and federal-level O&G experts in Somalia, one of the last major unexplored frontiers”.
His appointment is dated 17th December 2022.
Hudheifa’s international experience working for the BBC will come in handy in his new role. He is a pioneer business journalist for various BBC Africa news programs.
He was a broadcast journalist at the BBC, producing and reporting on the flagship business show Money Daily and the Swahili show Mitikasi Leo.
“He is fantastic in everything he does, dependable at the BBC, and I’m fully convinced that he’ll apply himself fully in his new role,” a former colleague told Presshub Africa.
Hudheifa’s knack for news started at NTV in 2015, where he presented prime-time business news for three years.
Part of his role as a presidential advisor will require him to link the government and various players in and out of government to ensure that the necessary plans and policies in oil and gas are put in place and implemented.
According to Spectrum Geo, a company that conducted a seismic study of Somalia’s offshore basins in 2014-2015, the country’s offshore waters may contain at least 30 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Before the appointment, he was a senior external and partner relations advisor for the Federal Government of Somalia, a role he took up immediately after leaving BBC.
The Bloomberg Financial journalism Fellow studied law at Mount Kenya University.
Puntland, also known as the Puntland State of Somalia, is a Federal Member State in northeastern Somalia. The territory’s authorities proclaimed it an autonomous state in 1998, with the city of Garoowe in the Nugal region serving as the capital.
