Special topics
Ishmael is an Energy Economist with experience that spans public service, civil society and academia. He worked as the Head of Policy Unit, at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, where he coordinated research and advocacy on accountability and transparency in sustainable energy management and petroleum revenue management. In addition, through a collaboration between the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG-OPM), and the Government of Ghana, he was recruited as a Technical Advisor on Energy and Petroleum Policies to the Minister for Planning. In this role, he was a leading member of the team that developed the energy and petroleum sections of the Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies (Ghana’s current national vision-2017 to 2024). In this role, he was part of the Infrastructure sub-Technical Team that developed the energy demand scenarios for the Ghana Integrated Bauxite Development Authority (GIBADA) in 2018 and initiated the Petroleum Revenue Information System, a decentralized monitoring tool for oil funded projects. Ishmael was selected as the Best Reviewer of the International Journal of Energy Sector Management (Emerald) as part of the 2019 Emerald Literati Awards. Ishmael was part of the expert panel that reviewed the Environmental Policy for the Oil and Gas Sector.
Ishmael is the first Coordinator of Local Content at the Ghana Energy Commission where he has initiated an industry wide baseline study before the full implementation of the Local Content Regulations. He has helped developed a Universal Qualification System for the implementation of the local content policy and initiated the Local Content Academy, a supplier development programme. Related to this role, he served on the technical Committee that is reviewing Ghana’s Energy Policy, a member of the technical committee working on the Energy Sector Recovery Program and the team working on Ghana’s Energy Outlook and the 2019 Strategic National Energy Plan (2020-2030).
He served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies, University of Cape Coast, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, GIMPA and the Department of Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and has supervised more than 15 masters thesis. He has consulted for the United Nations University, the National Accreditation Board, IHS Markit, GOGIG/OPM, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, SNV and SEND Ghana among others and has more than 25 peer-reviewed journal publications. Ishmael holds Ph.D in Energy Economics and Policy from the University of Portsmouth, UK and Msc in Energy Economics and Policy from the University of Surrey, UK.