H.E Dr. ABDULLAHI UMAR GANDUJE OFR
Kano State, Nigeria
Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was born on December 25, 1949 in Dawakin Tofa local government area of Kano state. He attended Dawakin Tofa Primary School, Government Secondary School Birnin Kudu and Advance Teachers’ College (ATC), Gumel for his National Certificate in Education (NCE).
Dr. Ganduje also attended Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria for a Bachelor’s Degree in Science Education. He obtained his Master’s Degree in Applied Educational Psychology from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and later returned to ABU, Zaria for another Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He also attended the prestigious Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan in South West Nigeria for a PhD in Public Administration between 1989 and 1993.
After the completion of the mandatory national service (NYSC) in 1975 at Ole College in the old Bendel and present day Delta state in the South-South, Dr. Ganduje was employed by the Kano state Ministry of Education as Education Officer and later moved to ATC Gumel as Lecturer I in Educational Psychology and BUK in 1978 as Lecturer I.
After 5-year service in the public sector as teacher/lecturer, Ganduje joined the private sector where he worked with Nornit Limited, Kano as Personnel Manager from 1979 to 1981.
In 1981, he joined the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as Administration Officer and rose to the position of Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in 1993. At FCDA, Dr. Ganduje held various positions among which are: Development Secretary, Kwali Development Area; Sole Administrator, Abaji Area Council; and Chairman, Gwagwalada Area Council. He was appointed Executive Secretary, FCT Resettlement and Compensation.
After putting in 17 years of service in the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Ganduje resigned and was appointed Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport, Kano state from January 1994 to November, 1998.
Dr. Ganduje’s passion to serve the people took him to politics, where he joined the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) during the Second Republic and served as Kano State Assistant Secretary from 1979 to 1980. He joined People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and aspired to be the party’s gubernatorial candidate. He later became the Deputy Governor of Kano state from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015 in the same capacity. In addition to the Deputy Governorship, he was also appointed as the Hon. Commissioner for Local Government.
He also held other federal government’s appointments that included member, Board of Directors, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); Chairman, Governing Council, Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti in 2008, Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission at Ndjamena, Chad Republic.
He was elected the Governor of Kano state on the platform of the All People’s Congress (APC) in 2015 and was re-elected in the 2019 governorship election for another second term of four years.
On September 29, 2014, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR awarded him with the National Honours Award of OFR. He is also a recipient of other national and international awards that included among others, Fastest Growing State Economy Award by BusinessDay Newspaper; Most Outstanding Governor Award in the area of Health and Education by Telegraph newspaper; Most Teacher-Friendly Governor Award by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) during the 2017 World Teachers’ Day celebration.
Others included the Best Governor Award on Curtailing Drug Abuse by Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI) in June, 2017; Most Security Compliant Governor in Northern Nigeria by the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies November, 2018; Outstanding Performing Governor of the year by the Nigeria Media Nite-out Award, September, 2017; Governor of the Year on education, creating hope for the physically challenged and infrastructure by Authority Newspaper, 2018.
The rest are: Award for Excellent Performance in Governance by Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) at its first National Merit Award October 2016; Special Award on Good Governance Achievements by the University of Ibadan (UI) Alumni Global Network in the United Kingdom July, 2018; Most Performing Governor in Education Award by Al-Qalam and Al-Mansura University, Egypt; The Sun Governor of the Year Award 2020
He holds the traditional title of Agu Na Eche Mba of Igbo land conferred on him by the South East Council of Traditional Rulers.
Dr. Ganduje believes in supporting the less-privileged members of the society and hence founded the Ganduje foundation.
Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is now the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress