Harvard trained women empowerment advocate and corporate chieftain, Dr. Namane Magau has joined the Advisory Board of NatureNews, Africa’s leading environment newspaper.
A statement signed by Publisher/CEO of NatureNews, Aliu Akoshile, said Dr. Magau brings to the board her decades of cognate experience in social investment and women economic empowerment having served in different capacities including as Executive Vice President of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The statement said Dr. Magau is currently the Board Chairman of the famous NTP and Bertha Gxowa Foundation, South Africa, and a trustee of the Nozala Trust and UCT Graduate School of Business.
He described Dr. Magau as a seasoned administrator and management specialist who served as President of Business Women’s Association (BWA), as well as President of International Women’s Forum, South Africa.
Mr. Akoshile noted that she was on the executive team of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), one of the largest public enterprises in Southern Africa, and later served as Divisional Director at the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and on the boards of Murray & Roberts, Merrill Lynch South Africa and Santa
He said Dr. Namane Magau has been involved in several studies to promote participation of Women Owned Enterprises in the South African adding that she was part of a women’s investment group, Tselane Energy, which invests in the South African energy sector.
The advisory Board which was inaugurated on Tuesday has the King (Emir) of Dutse in the north western Nigeria and Chancellor of Sokoto State University, Alhaji (Dr.) Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi, as chairman, with the Kenyan environmental activist and founder, Friends of Lake Turkana, a UNESCO heritage site in the East African Rift Valley, Ms. Ikal Angelei, as member.
Other members, according to the statement, includes the Chairman of Stanbic Bank of Tanzania and three-time Minister and member of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) International Resource Panel, Professor Mark Mwandosya; and the consummate conservationist and Environmental Hero awardee of DW German TV network who is also President of Lekki Urban Forest & Animal Sanctuary Initiative (LUFASI), Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi.
Akoshile said the board also has distinguished Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, a three-time Minister and former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General/Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa; and Ms. Hawe Hamman Bouba, Executive President of the African Indigenous Women’s Organisation – Central Africa Network, a social activist and Commissioner with Cameroon Human Rights Commission.
Other board members, according to NatureNews publisher, are Professor Salah Arafa, a foremost advocate of environmental protection who is widely acknowledged in Egypt and throughout the Arab world for his pioneering work with the utilization of renewable energies for rural community development and sustainable living; and the renowned environmental activist and laureate of the prestigious Thoroft Rafto Memorial prize, Architect Nnimmo Bassey who is Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
While inaugurating the Advisory Board, Aliu Akoshile said the choice of the members was to underscore the publisher’s vision of making NatureNews the authentic African voice on climate change and sustainable environment.
He thanked the members for accepting to lend their weights to the cause of development journalism which the newspaper, www.naturenews.africa, symbolises.
Akoshile said the board has the historic duty to help Africa overcome the challenges of climate change and create a sustainable living environment for 1.367 billion people in the continent.
