By Oumie Mendy
Askia Muhammad Sillah, a global goodwill ambassador and philanthropist, has been appointed NMF – Naima Maruf Foundation country director. The Bangladesh-based foundation is a non-political, non-profit and non-government organization (NGO). It started operation in July 2004 with its own resources with a commitment to providing developmental support and humanitarian assistance to the most disadvantaged people. Mr Sillah’s appointment came a few weeks after The Standard interview which generated a lot of reactions online.
The young man, who made most of his wealth outside of The Gambia, is respected for his foresight in helping humanity.
According to his letter of appointment, Muhammad Sillah will be responsible of the NGO’s mission in The Gambia, program management, both development and implementation, operations/support management, finance, HR and Administration, supervision of staff and ensure NMF rules/regulations are follower and internal control of resources and accountable for all NMF resources.
Sillah will also be responsible for monitoring, evaluating and reporting to NMF management and all and undertake other tasks reasonably associated with this position but are not listed.
According to the letter, Mr Sillah has the full authority to execute all issues on behalf of NMF. He is also fully authorized to act and decide on behalf of NMF to perform all kinds of management roles such as signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), contracts and agreements between/among other/concern parties/authorities/ donors/ governments/ United Nations and as applicable.
Responding to his appointment in a Standard exclusive, Askia Muhammad Sillah said: “I am honoured to be appointed in such an honourary position especially being the first Gambian to hold such a prestigious and an honourary position from NMF.
“I thank Allah unlimitedly for the privilege bestowed and the CEO of NMF Prof Maruf Islam PhD and his able and noble team for the trust and confidence they have in me. As I own a nation to build, I am equally sending gratitude to my morale boosters who keep encouraging and motivating me at all times,” he said.
