Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, 40, is the new managing director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). President Buhari, who made the appointment, also chose three executive directors of the NPA: Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko (finance), Prof. Idris Abubakar, (engineering), and Dr Sekonte Davies (marine operations).
Ms Usman, daughter of the late radical scholar Dr Bala Usman, holds a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and a postgraduate diploma in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, UK She has worked closely with Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, right from his days at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Federal Capital Territory Administration, and now Kaduna State Government House. Until this appointment, she was Governor el-Rufai’s chief of staff.
Ms Usman was also a prominent member of the Bring Back Our Girls (#BBOG) group that campaigned for the recovery of over 200 girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14, 2014. The girls have not been found.
