Zulum Appoints Former Minister As SSG …Re-appoints Former Chief Of Staff
By Bukar Bolori
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has appointed the former Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development under the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Mallam Bukar Tijani as the Secretary to Borno State Government (SSG).
The governor also reappointed Prof Isa Marte as his Chief of Staff.
The two appointments were announced by the Governor’s spokesman Mallam Isa Gusau in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The statement noted that Zulum considered Tijani’s very high level experience from his services as minister from July, 2011 to September, 2013 and as Assistant Secretary-General/Assistant Director-General (ASG/ADG) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
Tijani, according to the statement, through both offices and other national positions such as being the national coordinator for Nigeria’s National programme for Agriculture and Food Security as well as his coordination of the World Bank’s Fadama project, visited about 50 countries for different official engagements and made significant contributions to the development of agriculture and food security in Nigeria, Africa and at the global level.
62-year old Tijani was born in Damasak but hails from Dikwa local government area of Borno State.
The former minister holds a Master of Science (degree) in Tropical Agricultural Development from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, obtained in 1989.
Before that, he obtained his Bachelor of Science (degree) in Plant and Soil Science from 1982 to 1984 at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, United States of America (USA).
The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Prof. Isa Hussaini Marte is making a return as he occupied the same office before the dissolution of the last cabinet on the expiration of the first tenure of the governor.
Professor Marte hails from Marte local government area of Borno State, and before his appointment on August 17, 2020, had previously served as Borno State’s commissioner for Higher Education from August 2019 .
He also served as overseeing commissioner of health in 2021 while being chief of staff.
He held both positions under the Zulum administration.
Marte is a professor of pharmacology with specialty in cancer research and he is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, member of the Society for Neuroscience, member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and member of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria amongst others.
Marte holds a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in pharmacology from King’s College London in 1987.
He holds Masters Degree in pharmacology from Chelsea College, University of London in 1983.
In 1997, he received obtained MBA from Averett University, a private non-profit college in Danville, Virginia, United States of America.
He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
