Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, (Ph.D), the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), was born on 3rd March, 1967, and hails from Ekeremor Local Government Area in present-day Bayelsa State. He completed his Senior School Certificate at Government Secondary School Borokiri, Port Harcourt, and then pursued a Bachelor of Law degree (LL.B) at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt (Now Rivers State University).

After graduating, he attended the Nigerian Law School Victoria Island, Lagos, where he obtained his Qualifying Certificate and Certificate of Call to the Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Driven by a thirst for knowledge, he furthered his education at the Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, earning a Masters in Law (LLM) in 2012 and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in 2015.

Throughout his career, Senator Lokpobiri attended various seminars and courses, including The Oxford High-Performance Leadership Programme at the Said Business School, University of Oxford (November 2012), the Programme on the United States Election System at the International Law Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C (April 2014), and Executive-Legislature Relations and Effective Legislative Performance at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C (April 2014).

Senator Lokpobiri’s career spans both the private and public sectors. He served as a Pupil Counsel during his National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme at the Badagry Local Government Council in Lagos. From 1999 to 2003, he was a member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, representing Ekeremor Constituency II and serving as Speaker of the House from 1999 to 2001. Subsequently, he worked as the Principal Legal Director at Lokpobiri & Co (Legal Practitioners and Consultants) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from 2003 to 2007. Between 2007 and 2015, Senator Lokpobiri served as a member of the National Assembly, representing Bayelsa West in the 6th and 7th National Assembly. During his tenure in the Senate, he held the position of Chairman of the Committees on Water Resources, and Sports and Social Development; and was a member of various committees, including those on Niger Delta and Petroleum (Down Stream). He was also recognized for sponsoring several bills and motions during his time in the Senate.

In 2015, Senator Lokpobiri was appointed as the Honourable Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, a role he held until the dissolution of the cabinet in 2019. In August 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, appointed him as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil).

Senator Lokpobiri is the recipient of multiple awards and recognitions and has authored several publications during his career.