The IBB International Golf and Country Club is in mourning following the sudden death of one of its esteemed members, Engr. Mohammed Amate.

Amate passed away on Monday while playing golf at the Zuma Golf Club, part of the Zuma Rock Resort located near Zuma Rock in Niger State, just outside Abuja.

According to a reliable source, the former Pioneer Director-General of the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office collapsed on the 17th hole. Despite urgent efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2011 as the inaugural Director-General of the Mining Cadastre Office, Amate was tasked with redefining the agency’s mandate.

A mining engineer by profession and a reform-driven public servant, he played a pivotal role in reshaping Nigeria’s mining sector.

As Director of Mines at the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals, he had earlier identified key systemic flaws, including opaque licensing and practices that eroded investor confidence. Amate, a native of Kirawa in Borno state has since been buried according to Islamic rites.

His death comes just months after the club lost another member, retired Major General Christopher Jemitola, former Chief of Policy and Plans of the Nigerian Army, who also collapsed and died while playing golf on February 6, 2025.