24 April 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – A geologist and former vice-president of the Abuja Chambers of Commerce, Mr. Uba Malami, has been appointed chairman of the board of Solid Minerals Development Fund.
Malami, from Nasarawa State, heads the seven-member board constituted recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Mohammed Abbas, which announced the appointment, said President Buhari urged the board to carry out its duties diligently.
According to the statement, the establishment of the fund was aimed at supporting the ministry’s policy framework, developing the sector through provision of necessary administrative management in the area of human and physical capacity in the sector; and funding for geoscientific data gathering, storage and retrieval to meet the needs of the private sector.
Other functions of the fund included equipping the mining institutions to enable them perform their statutory functions, providing funds for extension services to small scale and artisanal mining operators as well as the provision of infrastructures in mining communities.
Members of the board are Demola Gbadegesin, a mining investor and electrical engineer from Oyo State and Theo Iseghohi, Managing Director of Nishan Industries Limited, who hails from Edo State.
Other members are Samuel Eze, an accountant and former banker from Ebonyi State; Fatima Shinkafi, a chemist from Zamfara State; Uwatt Bassey Uwatt from Akwa Ibom State, and Yinka Mubarak.