Senate confirms Shaba as NASRDA DG

THE Senate has confirmed the appointment of Dr. Halilu Shaba as the Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency.

Shaba’s confirmation as NASRDA’s DG came almost six weeks after President Buhari forwarded his name to the upper legislative chamber, on March 2, 2021, for confirmation.

In the letter, Buhari had urged the lawmakers to give his request an accelerated consideration.

The red chamber, however, ensured due diligence by confirming Shaba’s appointment alone after it had considered the report of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology at plenary in Abuja, chaired by Senator Uche Ekwunife.

Shaba had been in acting capacity as DG of the agency following the expiration of the two-term tenure of Professor Seidu Mohammed in June 2020.

The Agency had earlier, on July 2, 2019, announced the appointment of Jonathan Angulu as an acting Director-General to facilitate a seamless transition process between the outgone DG and an incoming one.

Jonathan handed over to Shaba two days earlier to continue in an acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive DG for the agency by the Federal Government.

Before his appointment as an acting Director-General of NASRDA, Shaba served in various leadership capacities since joining the agency in 2009.

He had served as the Director of Strategic Space Applications, in which capacity he led the department’s policy initiations and execution within the national space programmes framework.