Colonel Bala Mohammed Mande is a former Military Administrator of Nasarawa State. He was later appointed Minister of Environment in the Cabinet of President

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pres ...

Early career

Bala Mande hails from Zamfara State. He was appointed Military Administrator of Nasarawa State from June 1998 to May 1999 during the transitional regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, handing over to the elected Governor

Abdullahi Adamu Abdullahi Adamu (born 23 July 1946) was governor of Nasarawa State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member and newly elected chairman of the ruling Party All progressives congress (APC). Background Abdullahi Adamu was born ...

on the return to democracy. He was a harsh critic of governor Ahmad Rufai Sani for his implementation of Sharia law in the 2000–2003 period, which he felt was being used to punish political opponents, with the spoils going to Sani's ANPP supporters. He was the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) *People's Democratic Party (Chile) * People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

candidate for governorship of Zamfara State in 2003, but lost to the incumbent Ahmad Sani of the

All Nigeria People's Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party (abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party w ...

(ANPP).

Minister of Environment

Mande was appointed Minister of the Environment in the Cabinet of President

in July 2003, holding office until June 2005. In September 2003, he signed an agreement with

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

's Minister of Environment and Forestry Chief Tanyi-Mbianyor Clarkson for a transboundary protected area combining the Takamanda and Okwangwo reserves to protect the Cross River gorilla, the world's rarest subspecies of gorilla with only 280 individuals throughout its entire range. In October 2003, he proposed a national conference on the environment as the only solution to the desperate and varied

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

which were compounded by years of neglect. The same month, he said the Lake Chad River Basin Commission would be rejuvenated to tackle the environmental problems of that region. The federal government would return the

Chad Basin The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Africa, centered on Lake Chad. It has no outlet to the sea and contains large areas of semi-arid desert and savanna. The drainage basin is roughly coterminous with the sedimentary basin of the sam ...

area to its past glory when it offered water for agricultural activities, as well as supporting tourism. He said his ministry would provide all the technical experts the commission might require executing the commission's projects. He announced approval by UN's Global Environment Fund (GEF) World Bank of a $10 million developmental fund. In Autumn 2003, Mande said the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation had collaborated with the Ministry "in the quest for sustainable management and conservation of our forest resources". The foundation had committed to provide 100,000 seedlings annually in a national tree planting exercise, and to provide materials and technical support to ensure best practices in environmental protection.

Later career

Mande failed to secure PDP's governorship nomination for Zamfara in the 2007 elections, but was appointed one of the campaign coordinators for the

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

ticket. In February 2010, as National Secretary of the Northern Union (NU), Mande declared that the union had never at any point in time advised ailing President

to hang on to power, even on wheel chair.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mande, Bala Living people 1958 births Governors of Nasarawa State Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Federal ministers of Nigeria