Loud joy erupted in Raw Materials and Research Development (RMRDC) as over 400 members of the it’s Sports Club elected Amina Abdulmalik as first female chairman to succeed Mr. Lapai Umar Batako whose tenure has ended. She is a trained engineer, to lead the 13-member council.
After an election that was widely seen as a true reflection of popular choice, checks revealed that the euphoria trailing her emergence still pervaded the agency located at its head office at No. 17, Aguiyi Ironsi Street in Maitama, Abuja.
The development has raised fresh hope that the new leaders will improve on the achievements of the Lapai-led team.
The new executive council has Engineer (Ms) Amina Abdulmalik, (Chairman), Mr. Olufemi Olubunmi, (Vice Chairman), Mr. Barde Idris Musa (Secretary General), Dr. A. Abubakar, Assistant Secretary General, Mr. Ujah Hassan (Financial Secretary) and Mr. Anyanwu Ugueze, (Supporters’ Club.
The others are Ms. Ngozi A. Eboh (Treasurer), Mr. Tony E.Uzoanya, (PRO I), Mr. Bulus Andarawus, (PRO II), Mr. N.T. Oladapo (Curator I), Mr. John Idenyi (Curator II), Mr. Ibrahim Danjuma, (Welfare I) and Mr. Madu O. Adline, (Welfare II).
It was gathered that the huge turnout for the election was traceable to the huge interest of members in the activities of the RMRDC Sports Club congress, a development which many members agreed was made possible by the leadership of the former executives which raised an unbiased electoral committee that was openly and transparently constituted at its last quarterly congress meeting on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Opinions are unanimous that the dogged efforts of the Lapai-led team since 2018 largely enhanced the image and prestige of the sports club. They urged them to rally round the new team by sustaining the current tempo of members’ interest in the sports club.
Many members believe that the former team raised the quality of the RMRDS Sports Club as a ranking flagship sports organization among leading sports clubs of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government in Abuja.
They particularly commended them for successfully hosting Abuja 2022 of the 17th edition of the Research Institutes Games Association of Nigeria (RIGAN) at which over 998 contingents drawn from 23 research institutes competed for medals and trophies in indoor and outdoor sporting events. The RMRDC defeated the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Benin in the soccer finals to win the coveted Gold medal.
The said that the new team has the advantage of building on the gains already made.
The new chairman, Amina Abdulmalik, has a huge support base among staff of the agency having worked at different sections.
Mr. Lapai Batako embarked on a solidarity campaign for his successor, urging the members to put the outcome of the elections behind and work for the new team.
At her inauguration, she thanked the members, promising to be fair to all. She urged them to be more committed and give more support to the management.
She said that the management had displayed tremendous interest in the success of the Sports Club for which she requested the continued cooperation and prayers of the members.
She thanked the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the RMRDC, Professor Hussaini Doko for his assistance and understanding especially for the success of the last RIGAN games and other laudable projects of the Sports Club.
Mr. Lapai urged the new executive to see their emergence as the will of God, advising Advising them to work for the members and the aspirations of the management.
“I wish to sincerely urge them to operate an inclusive, open-door policy”, Lapai said.
A commentator, Mr. Emeka Nwankpa yesterday noted that since the emergence of the Lapai Batako-led executive, RMRDC under Professor Hussain Doko Ibrahim has invested meaningfully in sports development in RMRDC to nurture and promote a mentally fit, physically healthy and highly motivated workforce for efficient and effective service delivery.
According to him, the RMRDC Sports Club has also maintained strict compliance with Federal Government’s monthly Walking/Jogging/Keep fit exercise for all public servants in the various MDA sports, describing it as a veritable tool for the promotion of mental alertness, physical fitness and motivated workforce.
“Today the average Nigerian public servant is a potential sportsman or woman arising from the opportunity to keep fit and interact across board. Also, the establishment of laudable tournaments such as RIGAN and FEPSGA is laudable. Of both events, RIGAN has greater acclaim particularly judging from the excellent hosting by RMRDC in Abuja’’, he noted.
