Malam Bukar Tijani, a former minister of state for agriculture and rural development in Nigeria, has been appointed as secretary to the government of Borno State with the blessing of governor of Borno State Babagana Umara Zulum.
As Chief of Staff, Professor Isa Hussaini Marte has also been reappointed by the Governor.
Malam Isa Gusau, the governor’s spokesperson, revealed the two nominations in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Zulum took into account Tijani’s extremely high-level experience from his time serving as a minister from July 2011 to September 2013 and as the assistant secretary-general and assistant director-general of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
Tijani, age 62, is a native of Borno State’s Dikwa local government area despite having been born in Damasak. The former minister graduated from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom in 1989 with a Master of Science (degree) in Tropical Agricultural Development.
Prior to that, he had earned a Bachelor of Science in Plant and Soil Science from Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, the United States of America, from 1982 to 1984.
The former minister holds fellowships from the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China, the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, the Soil Science Society of Nigeria, and the People’s Republic of China. Received a letter of commendation from the President of Nigeria for his meritorious service as a Minister of the Federal Republic, received a letter of commendation for his work leading up to the establishment of the first farmer’s council in the Borno/Yobe States, and more. Certificate of Merit – American National Dean’s List (1984), Certificate of Merit – American National Dean’s List (1983), recipient of Honour Roll Scholastic Achievement Certificate from Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA (1983), and best overall student during his Diploma in Agriculture at Borno College of Agriculture, Maiduguri (1980).
Professor Isa Hussaini Marte, the chief of staff, is a native of Borno State’s Marte local government. On August 17, 2020, he was chosen to serve as Governor Zulum’s chief of staff.
From August 2019 to August 2020, the Professor was the Borno State Commissioner for Higher Education. While serving as chief of staff in 2021, he also served as overseeing commissioner of health. Under the Zulum administration, he held both jobs.
Professor of pharmacology with a focus on cancer research, Isa Hussaini Marte is also a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria.
Marte graduated from King’s College London with a Ph.D. in pharmacology in 1987. He graduated with a master’s in pharmacology in 1983 from Chelsea College, University of London.
He earned his MBA in 1997 from Averett University, a private, non-profit university in Danville, Virginia, in the United States. From Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, he graduated with a bachelor’s in pharmacy.
Professor Isa Hussaini Marte attended Yerwa Central Primary School in Maiduguri before transferring to Yerwa Government Secondary School in Maiduguri, where he earned his West African School Certificate in 1975, before beginning his postsecondary study.
Marte began working in the University of Maiduguri’s Department of Pharmacology in 1981 but left in 1982 to enroll in a graduate program at Chelsea College University of London. He returned to Nigeria to work for Ahmadu Bello University after earning a doctorate (Ph.D.) in pharmacology from King’s College London in 1987. In 1991, he was promoted to senior lecturer. He left the institution to work as the department’s head of pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical technology at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Development in Abuja.
He started working in the Department of Pathology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1993 as a research associate. After two years in that position, he was named professor of research in 1995. He held that position for five years before being named a visiting professor at the ABU Zaria Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy in 2004.
He was appointed the University of Maiduguri’s dean of pharmacy and professor of pharmacology in 2010, a position he held until 2014. He was appointed as a visiting professor at the Department of Pathology, University of Virginia, the same year he was elected as a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science.
