Former NGSA DG, Dr Garba, Receives Lifetime Achievement Award After Office
By ABAH ADAH, Abuja
The International Conference and Exhibitions for Energy, Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FAPSCON) has bestowed its most prestigious honour, ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, on the immediate past Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, who piloted the affairs of agency from 2019 to July 2024.
The accolade was conferred on Dr Garba on Friday October 18, 2024, at the 6th edition of the annual FAPSCON Conference which held at Chukwuemcka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (formerly Anambra State University), an event that attracted stakeholders from industry, academia, and government where they explored strategies for promoting Nigerian skills and capabilities in the highly dynamic tech era.
Discussing how Dr Garba earned the FAPSCON award of excellence, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. O. J. Chiaghanam said his nomination and selection for the honour was approved by the Board and Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the 6th Energy, Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibitions (ESTIE) after careful considerations.
Chiaghanam, who was the Chairman of the LOC, congratulated the conferee, saying, “FAPSCON is delighted to convey the decision to honour you with a Lifetime Achievement Award.”
He said: “This prestigious award is in recognition of the exemplary and highly effective leadership you brought to public service while in office as the Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA),” adding that Dr Garba’s “inspiring commitment to national economic development through responsible professional practice, passion for excellence and selfless contributions to the growth and development of geoscientists in Nigeria” earned him the award.
“On these metrics, you excel as a mentor and role model for many young professionals, taking advocacy for sustainable development of Nigeria’s mineral wealth and economic diversification to practical and goal-driven heights,” the professor said, adding that FAPSCON expects that the award would spur the recipient to continue giving his best to the profession and humanity as a whole.
Discussing the particularity of Dr Garba ‘s Award, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Professor K. K. Nwozor, said, “Dr Abdulrazaq Garba earned the Lifetime Achievement Award of FAPSCON; it was not bestowed to flatter him, it is an award well deserved.”
Professor Nwozor commended the commitment of Dr Garba to mentoring young Nigerian geoscientists through the dissemination of knowledge, saying: “Dr Garba has not physically met most of us, he doesn’t know most of us, but his judgments are always based on the merit of the appeal before him.”
According to the dean, Dr. Garba used his good office to advance the cause of the geoscience profession by honoring appeals for career development from people he never met physically.
Speaking further, Prof. Nwozor said, “We wish we could do more to appreciate Dr. Garba for the role he played while in office as Director-General. He honored written notes from universities sent through students to him, and welcomed and mentored geosciences students for the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), and he supported them.”
“He made our work easy because the students came back happy and fulfilled by virtue of the impact the reception had on them; they came back satisfied that they have acquired requisite knowledge they need to become geoscientists.”
“I wish to commend Dr Garba for ensuring that the NGSA structured SIWES in a way that provides for every student to pass through the technical departments of the Agency, thereby enabling them have holistic understanding of the profession.”
“As lecturers, when we interact with our students who undertook their SIWES at NGSA, we discovered that they were made to pass through the relevant departments of the Agency.”
“So, we regard Dr Garba as a mentor in whose care we continued to entrust young geoscientists, and we are happy that he gave them the best.”
“We wish we could do more to appreciate the role and support he gave the profession for many years; Silver or Gold we have not, but what we have we will give unto him, and it is for this reason that we bestowed the prestigious award on him.”