By Nfor Nkfu
Oil and gas expert Tamfu Simon Fai has been appointed first ever Public Independent Conciliator of the North West Region. He was named to the position Thursday June 10,2021 following a decree signed by Paul Biya, president of the Republic of Cameroon.
Going by the General code for Regional and local authorities, he is to serve a non-renewable six year mandate.
The position of Public Independent Conciliator was created to spice the "Special Status" accorded the North West and South West Regions after the holding of a national dialogue some years back. He is charged with the responsibility to amicably settle disputes between users and regional/local councils, defend and protect rights and freedoms with regard to the relationship between citizens and councils, conduct investigations on the functioning of regional and local council public services, and equally prepares reports on the functioning of decentralized structures.
However the Conciliator has no jurisdiction over services placed under the direct or indirect control of the central government.
WHO IS TAMFU SIMON FAI?
He is a native of Taku, a village in the Wimbum tribe of Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region.He holds a Master of Science degree in petroleum Geology from the University of Ibadan-Nigeria.He started a career in the oil and gas industry in 1981 when he joined the Mobile Oil Exploration company as operation's geologist.He worked with the company in Cameroon,USA, and Canada until 1985 when he was recruited at the National Hydro-Carbons corporation (SNH) in Yaounde.He held several positions within the establishment.In 2007 he was made director of explorations in corporation,a position he held until 2017 when he was retired from the public service.
Upon retirement, he founded an oil and gas consultancy firm called STEP.
He is a staunch militant of the ruling CPDM. He has been resource person of the party to Donga Mantung for many years now.
Prior to his appointment as Public Independent Conciliator of the North West Region, he was Founding Chief Executive Officer of STEP consultancy and part time lecturer of petroleum geoscience at the University of Yaounde 1.