By Valentine Amanze and Uzor Odigbo
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has approved the re-appointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), for additional five-year tenure.
The president also approved the reconstitution of the Non-Executive Board of the NPA, with Emmanuel Adesoye (from South-west zone) as chairman.
Other members of the board include: Ekenyem Nwafor-Orizu (South-East zone), Akinwunmi Ricketts (South-South zone), Ghazali Mijinyawa (North-East zone), Mustapha Dutse (North-West zone), and Abdulwahab Adesina (North-Central zone).
Besides, Buhari approved board members for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), who will oversee the selection of a new Managing Director for the organization. They are: Muhammad Ahmad, (Chairman), Henry Okolo, Imamudden Talba, Usman Sarki, Ali Haruna, Simeone Atakulu, Zubaida Mahey Rasheed, Mustapha Akinkunmi, Oladele Amoda, and Nkiru Balonwu.
Other members of the TCN Board include: Representatives of Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Power, Bureau for Public Enterprise, FGN Power Company Limited, and Executive Management of TCN.
ABOUT HADIZA BALA USMAN
Ms Bala Usman was first appointed NPA MD on July 12, 2016, meaning that her five-year tenure has about six months to expire.
She replaced Habib Abdullahi, who was reappointed to the position in August 2015 after he was earlier removed from the post in April of the same year.
Ms Bala Usman was born on Jan. 2, 1976 in Zaria, Kaduna State and has a B.Sc. Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and a Post Graduate in Development Studies from University of Leeds, UK in 2009.
She worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from July 2000 to August 2004 as Enterprise Officer and hired by the UNDP for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from October 2004 to January 2008 as Special Assistant to the Minister on Project Implementation.
Ms Bala Usman worked, between 2011 and 2015) as Director of Strategy of the Good Governance Group, a non-governmental organisation founded by Kaduna State State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and his friends.
She was, in 2015, appointed Chief of Staff to Governor Bello El-Rufai of Kaduna, a position she moved to the NPA.
Ms. Bala Usman, one of the founders of #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign group pushing for the rescue of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, was also member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Anti-Corruption.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity)
