Nujoma master’s supervisor remembers him as diligent student

By: Selma Taapopi

One of the supervisors of founding president, Sam Nujoma’s Geology master’s thesis, described him as a diligent student.

Dr. Gabi Schneider co-supervised Nujoma’s thesis titled Copper: Its Geology and Economic Impact on Development in Namibia, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The other two supervisors were Dr. Benjamin Mapani and Professor Fred Kamona.

Schneider, who is Namibian Uranium Institute executive director, recalls that Nujoma’s insisted on attending classes with other students instead of opting for private lessons. She said it was a privilege to work with Nujoma on many occasion in her capacity as director of the geological survey of Namibia, particularly given his interest in geology.

“It came as no surprise to me when he decided to study geology after stepping down as the first president of the Republic of Namibia. He was of course not a typical student, taking his age and status into consideration, however, he was extremely humble and when it was suggested to him to prepare special classes for him, he insisted on attending classes together with the other students. So, it was a mixture of geological, economic and political research. He very diligently studied all the documents and literature that me and the other two supervisors, Prof Fred Kamona and Mapani provided to him, and he extracted the relevant information,” said Schneider.

She said Nujoma conducted field visits and analysed not only in Namibia, but also in Zambia and the DRC – countries all known for copper exports. Nujoma examined the economic impacts-both positive and negative- and weighed the pros and cons of the private mining companies versus State-owned entities.

Schneider added that Nujoma’s keen interest in geology allowed him to grasp the subject with relative ease. Schneider said given Nujoma’s involvement in politics, his research work focused on the political aspect.

“After a long life of hard work including 15 years as a president, one would expect that a great challenge is provided by going back to school but Dr. Nujoma mastered this with ease and also a very good sense of humour” she noted.

Schneider said Nujoma’s thesis remains a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate on how a nation’s mineral resources should benefit the nation and economy.