The news of the confirmation of appointment of Dr Halilu Ahmed Shaba’s as the new Director General, National Space Research And Developement Agency NASRDA by the Senate,after the recommendation by President Muhammadu Buhari was borne out of his dedication to duty and robust public service records.
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Dr Shaba whose experience in the civil service span for decades both in his new assignment strictly on his professional acumen and stint in other areas in the public service.
This is despite the internal altercations and external connivance both from the top echelon of government and other distractions to gag his appointment and confirmation.
But,President Buhari with his strong believe in hardwork, dilligence and loyalty as well as dedication to duty at any given assignments,went ahead to recommend the new Director General purely on merit.
No doubt , his confirmation by the Senate was one of the accelerated assignments carried out in recent time,not minding series of antics against the new appointment and myopic cynicisms.
This is coming few years after the exit of the former Director General of the agency whose template and pacesetter had charted a new course for a virile space developement in Nigeria particularly and the entire world.
With the synergy of the previous leadership and the new management led by Dr Shaba,no doubt,the rapid transformation of the space agency in Nigeria will be taken to another level.
With his new appointment,wealth of experience,it is round peg in a round hole as the continuous developement of space initiatives will be taken to the crescendo.
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Dr Halilu Shabba,
A graduate of Geography from Bayero University Kano with Masters Degree from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, he also obtained a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from the Federal University of Technology, Minna in 2000.
He started his career as a cartographer at the National Population Commission in 1989, before he returned to the Federal University of Technology, Minna where he was a lecturer and Deputy Dean.
He was also Deputy Director Planning and Research at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) before he was appointed Director of Strategic Space Applications at the National Space Research and Development Agency since 2009 before his current appointment.
An expert in Geosciences and Geomatics, specializing in Satellite Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems, Dr. Shaba has been a Member of Nigerian Delegation to United Nations Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS); Joint Expert Group (JEG8) on the implementation of an integrated AU-EU Joint Strategy under the 8th Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space; Extended Coordinating Team of Global Monitoring of the Environment & Africa (GMES & Africa); and Executive Committee Member & GEO Principal for Nigeria, Group on Earth Observation (GEO), Geneva, Switzerland.
He is also Member of Nigerian Delegation to United Nations Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS), Joint Expert Group (JEG8) on the implementation of an integrated AU-EU Joint Strategy under the 8th Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space, Extended Coordinating Team of Global Monitoring of the Environment & Africa (GMES & Africa), and Executive Committee Member & GEO Principal for Nigeria, Group on Earth Observation (GEO), Geneva, Switzerland.
With combination of professional experience and administrative wizardry,the stage is set for the promotion of more space technolgicy and inertia.
All hands must be on deck by the by the staffers and workers of the agency to take advantage of the new leadership to advance space developement and innovations.