A former Minister of Petroleum, Prof Tam David West, passed on in the early hours of Monday.
He died at the age of 83.
Here are ten things you may not know about him:
· David-West was born in Buguma, Kalabari in what is now Rivers State.
· He received his higher education at the University of Ibadan (1956–1958).
· He earned a BSc degree at Michigan State University (1958–1960), an MSc degree at Yale University (1960–1962), and a PhD degree at McGill University (1964–1966).
· David-West was consultant virologist and senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1969 and was subsequently promoted to professor of virology in 1975.
· He served in Nigerian government as commissioner of education and a member of the Executive Council of Rivers State (1975–1979)
· He also served as a member of the fifty-person Constitution Drafting Committee for the Federal Military Government of General Murtala Muhammed (1979).
· He was also federal Minister of Petroleum and Energy under General Muhammadu Buhari (1984–1985)
· He was Minister of Mines, Power, and Steel under General Ibrahim Babangida (1986). He was eventually removed as minister and arrested by the Babangida regime for allegedly contributing to the economic adversity of the country.
· He was discharged and acquitted of these charges by Nigeria’s Special Appeal Court on 8 August 1991.
· He died on Monday, November 11, 2019 at the age of 83
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