Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (born 16 February 1960) is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023.

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai was born on 16 February 1960 to a Fulani family in Daudawa.

His father died while he was eight years old, and he was sponsored through his early schooling by an uncle in Kaduna.

In 1976, he graduated at the top of his class, winning the "Barewa Old Boys' Association Academic Achievement" Trophy.

El-Rufai attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he received a bachelor's degree in quantity surveying with first class honours.

In 1982, he founded El-Rufai & Partners, a quantity surveying consulting firm with three partners which he managed until 1998.

During the military juntas of 1983–1998, the firm received building and civil engineering contracts including during the construction of Abuja, making the partners "young millionaires".

In addition to his practice, El-Rufai held management positions with two international telecommunications companies, AT&T Network Systems International BV and Motorola Inc.

In 1984, he received a Master of Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University.

He has since attended several professional and post-graduate programs, including the Georgetown School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and programs on privatization and leadership.

In 1998, following the death of military head of state General Sani Abacha, his successor General Abdulsalami Abubakar appointed El-Rufai as an economic advisor.

In this role he worked with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In 1999, the military transferred power to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In November 1999, he was appointed the director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, and secretary of the National Council of Privatisation where he spear-headed the privatisation of several government owned corporations alongside Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

He served as minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007.

El-Rufai also served as director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

He is a co-founding member of the ruling party All Progressives Congress.

In July 2003, he was appointed the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

During his tenure, he presided over a radical transformation of the federal capital earlier riddled with corruption and vast deviation from the original masterplan.

With the establishment of the Abuja Geographic Information System, the capital became the first municipality in Nigeria with a computerised land register and information system.

Along with the President and members of the Economic Management Team, he led the reform of the Nigerian public service which had become dysfunctional during years of military dictatorship.

At various times during his tenure as Minister, he oversaw the Federal Ministries of Commerce (twice) and Interior.

He also chaired several high-profile cabinet committees that led to the establishment of a mortgage system in Nigeria, National ID card system for Nigeria, Electric Power Supply Improvement and the sale of Federal Government real estate in Abuja.

During the last days of the Obasanjo administration, Nuhu Ribadu, a one-time El-Rufai ally described him as the "de facto No. 2 official", tagging him with the role of Vice President, especially after the fall-out between Obasanjo and his vice president Atiku Abubakar.

It is believed that Obasanjo's trust and confidence in El-Rufai angered a vast majority of the political class, which would later persecute him.

In August 2008 he received a law degree from the University of London; and a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University in June 2009.

He also received the Kennedy School Certificate in Public Policy and Management having spent 11 months as an Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management from July 2008 to June 2009.

In 2008, El-Rufai went into self-imposed exile and became a vocal critic of the Umaru Yar'Adua administration.

In 2010, he returned to Nigeria and was subsequently arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He explained his return was in order to clear his name of corruption charges.

El-Rufai is married to three wives, his first wife Hadiza Ismail El-Rufai is a writer and novelist; she runs the Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation (YELF), set up in honour of their daughter who died in 2011.

El-Rufai was educated in Barewa College.

As a junior at the college, President Umaru Yar'Adua was the house captain of his dormitory.

In 2011, el-Rufai joined party politics with the Congress for Progressive Change supporting Muhammadu Buhari's campaign in the 2011 presidential election.

In 2013, el-Rufai was appointed deputy national secretary of the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC).

In 2014, El-Rufai declared his campaign for Governor of Kaduna State, contesting the APC governorship primaries to emerged as the party's candidate for Governor of Kaduna State.

He went on to win the governorship election, with over one million votes to defeat the incumbent Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero the candidate of the People's Democratic Party.

In 2017, he enrolled in for a Doctorate Degree in Governance and Policy Analysis at the United Nations University-Merit, Netherlands

In 2018, he again emerged as the APC's governorship candidate.

He was re-elected on 9 March 2019, defeating his closest rival by over 200,000 votes.