Badaru Abubakar: Tinubu’s Loyalist Tipped for Agriculture Minister, By Idris Umar Fate
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 28 ministerial nominees were revealed by the Senate during last Thursday’s plenary. The list was delivered by Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and read by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
With Tinubu promising to reposition the nation’s agricultural sector for optimal growth during his electioneering, the masses’ fingers are now crossed to see who he will name as his new Minister of Agriculture.
But the crystal balls of many public governance and development experts have since settled for Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, the immediate-past Jigawa State Governor, as the right man to drive Tinubu’s agricultural visions for Nigeria.
Alh. Badaru Abubakar, MON, served as Governor of Jigawa State from 2015 to 2023. A committed family man, married to three wives and blessed with many children, Badaru Abubakar is a high-flying technocrat.
He owns Talamiz Group of industries, a conglomerate with diverse interests in automobile, manufacturing, agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as commodity distribution.
Former Governor Badaru Abubakar served as the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fertilizer and Chairman, Presidential Committee on Non-oil Revenue, during the last administration.
He was born on September 29, 1962, in Babura town, Jigawa State, Nigeria. He attended Babura Central Primary School, in 1970, and proceeded to the famous Rumfa College, Kano, from where he went for his A levels at the School of Basic Studies in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1981, and got admitted into the University.
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He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accountancy in 1985. In 2006, Alh. Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar attended the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, in his effort to widen his horizon on conceptualization and anchoring the implementation of innovative and dynamic policy initiatives and strategies, critical for national development.
The ex-Jigawa Governor is a member of the National Council on Privatization. His dynamism and savvy in administration made him the second Vice President of the Federation of West Africa Chamber of Commerce (FEWACCI), a regional body of Chambers of Commerce in West Africa.
He served as an Auditor with the Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Kano State, in 1987, and resigned in 1991 to establish his business outfit, Talamiz company.
Badaru Abubakar’s leadership style also facilitated the expansion of his Talamiz firm which was incorporated as Talamiz Nigeria Limited, giving birth to subsidiaries such as Talamiz Motors, Talamiz Consumer Company, Talamiz Transport, Talamiz Commodities, Talamiz Properties, Talamiz Poultry and Farms, and Talamiz Petroleum.
He is also the Chairman of Talamiz Oil Mill Limited, Socar Talamiz Limited, RMR shipping Bv, AML Bonded Terminal, ALUAFRIC Cairo and a Director of Sahih Nigeria Limited.
Mohammed Badaru Abubakar’s understanding of the need of his people as Jigawa Governor made him solve the lingering problem of water shortage in the State, and to create an appropriate environment for investors. Many policy projects Badaru inaugurated as Jigawa’s number 1 citizen were been crowned with success.
The renowned businessman and politician is absolutely imbued with the knowledge, expertise and experience necessary to lead the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Tinubu’s incoming cabinet. Only the screening by the Senate stands in his way to being announced as Nigeria’s new ‘Honourable Minister of Agriculture.’
By Idris Umar Fate
