Hadiza Bala Usman is a popular Nigerian politician who formerly served as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority. She has held several top positions in the past, including servings the chief of staff to the Governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2016. She was also one of the founding members of the ruling All Progressives Congress that put Nigeria in the current state.
Hadiza Bala Usman Profile
Parents: Yusufu Bala Usman
Political party: All Progressives Congress (APC)
Hadiza Bala Usman Biography and Educational Background
Hadiza Bala Usman was born on the 2nd of January, 1976 in Zaria. Her father, Yusufu Bala Usman was a prominent academic and historian and the grandson of Sarkin Katsina Muhammadu Katsina Dikko.Usman started her education at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Staff Primary School and went ahead to complete both her secondary and undergraduate studies at the Ahmadu Bello University campus, Zaria with a BSC in Business Administration. She also holds a Master's Degree in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
Career
In 1999, Hadiza Bala Usman started her career as a research assistant at the Centre for Democratic Development and Research Training, Zaria.She subsequently worked as an enterprise officer at the Bureau of Public Enterprises from July 2000 to August 2004. From October 2004 to January 2008, Hadiza was then hired by the UNDP for the Federal Capital Territory Administration as a special assistant to the Minister on project implementation.
In 2011, she joined politics and campaigned for the federal constituency of Musawa/Matazu as a candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change. She, however, lost the position.
Thereafter, she joined the Good Governance Group in Nigeria, a non-governmental organization, as the country director of strategy, serving from 2011 to July 2015.
In April 2014, Hadiza Bala Usman co-founded the global movement #BringBackOurGirls which has been demanding the rescue of the 219 young girls abducted by the terrorist group Boko Haram from Chibok Secondary School in Borno State, Nigeria.
In 2015, she got appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. She served in the capacity until her appointment as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in July 2016.
In May 6, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman from serving as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Personal Life
Hadiza Bala Usman was married to Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, an economic analyst who served under the (Late) President Umaru Musa Yar'adua as an economic adviser. They have two boys together.
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