Engr. Sanusi Imran Abdullahi has been appointed as the new Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. The new Chief Executive Officer was born in Zakirai, Kano state- Nigeria in 1956. After graduating with a (B.Eng.) Civil Engineering Degree from the famous Ahmadu Bello University of Zaria - Nigeria in 1982, did his mandatory National Youth Service Corps as required by the Nigerian law, then worked for 6 years with Diyam Consultants, a Civil/Water Resources Engineering Consulting Company and then proceeded to further his studies in the University of Leeds – England in 1990, where he obtained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree in Tropical Public Health Engineering. On completion of this programme, Engr. Abdullahi joined the Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority - a Nigerian Federal Government Water Resources Development Agency and rose through the ranks from Senior Engineer to the highest position which is Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in December, 2005 for a four(4) year tenure. The Engineer was during this period, able to participate in the implementation of a number of laudable Water Resources, Erosion Control, Irrigation and related Civil Engineering projects from conception to completion stages. The amiable Engineer believes in professional ethics and transparency in all his dealings. For these reasons, he was opportuned to serve as the Head of the Anti Corruption Unit of the Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority (January,2000 to July 2005)– an assignment he successfully executed during the tenure. The humble personality was registered to practice Civil Engineering by the Council for The Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) as required by the Nigerian law. He was also elected as a FELLOW of the Nigerian Society of Engineers representing the highest Honour given to Nigerian Engineers that have made outstanding Engineering Contributions. Prior to his appointment to serve in this exalted position of Executive Secretary of LCBC on the 10th day of May 2011, Engr. Sanusi was on his Second Tenure as Managing Director/CEO of HJRBDA beginning from 7th January, 2011. He is happily married to Pharmacist Fatima S. Abdullahi and the union is blessed with nine (9) children. He considers farming and livestock rearing as a hobby. Engr. Sanusi was introduced to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on June 6th and to the Secretariat staff in Ndjamena on 7th June 2011.

Focal Points (FP) to LCBC Commissioners will be meeting in the LCBC Headquarters from the 22th to 24th June 2011 in N’Djamena with officials of the Executive Secretariat and Projects in a bid to update their knowledge and their practices on information and data sharing in the Lake Chad Basin. The overall objective is to enhance the circulation of information and supply of data bases of LCBC.

Specific objectives include:

• Enable FP to better master missions of various directorates of the Executive Secretariat and specificities of different projects and programmes;
• Provide all information on the progress of current programmes and projects ;
• Discuss the role of FP in the relations between Member States and the Executive Secretariat;
• Tell FP specific expectations of directorates for the fulfilment of their respective missions ; 
• Sensitise FP on the importance of their role in the collection and transmission of technical data and general information ;
• Present to FP existing data bases or those which are being developed and train them on their use ;
• Enable LCBC to better master output capacities of FP (equipment, expertise, staff) on information sharing and assess the support to bring in if need be ;
• Define together collaboration strategies which improve and strengthen communication and information sharing.

Expected results: the overall expected result is a continued improvement of information circulation between LCBC and Member States and between LCBC and development partners. Specific results include:

• A better personal output of each stakeholder in the information process ;
• A better mastery of roles and tools ;
•  A significant increase of information coming from Member States ;;
• An enhancement of the use of data bases of LCBC and/or applications to access them;
• A major catalog sample of LCBC by researchers and other information users on the Lake Chad Basin ecosystem.

The programme consists of:

• Brief presentations of LCBC departments ;
• Presentations of regional coordinations of Programmes and Projects such as :

  -PRODEBALT
  -LCBC-GIZ
  -LCB-BGR
  -LCBC-UE
  -IBLT

• Presentations on the technical and technological environment of FP ;
•  Presentations of information aids of the Executive Secretariat by the DCBIDM ;
• Presentations or technical presentations of existing data bases or those which are being developed at LCBC;
• Discussions on individual expectations for a mutual improvement of  performances ;
• Training on the use of existing platforms.