By Muzammil Abdulhamid Yakasai
He is a consummate politician promoting the cause of his people through the instrumentality of politics. His character and irreproachable nature stand him out. His immaculate reputation sets him apart to act in the best interest of his people. He has become a respected figure, representing not just the interests of his immediate constituency, his home state, the northern region, but also the nation as a whole. His popularity cut across districts in Kano state.
This is an apt description of Senator Barau Jibrin, the Deputy Senate President who has been on the national political scene for over two decades. During this period, he has made his mark by playing politics of consistency.
He was elected the Deputy Senate President on which he has been discharging with excellence and exhibits goodwill, candour, accommodating spirit and above all accessibility to his colleagues. Renowned for his legislative dexterity, Senator Jibrin played notable roles as a stabilizer both in the Senate and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He was first elected into the Red Chamber in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023 respectively to represent Kano North Senatorial District. He previously served as a member of the House of Representatives for the Tarauni Federal Constituency at the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
Born in 1959 in Kabo town of Kabo Local Government Area of Kano state, Senator Jibrin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, a Master’s Degree in Financial Management and Pricing, a Master’s Degree in Management, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He also holds a Degree in Financial Management for Business Decisions from Cornell University, United States.
After his brief stint in the private sector, he served as the Chairman of the Kano State Investment and Properties Ltd (KSIP) and was Commissioner of Science and Technology in the state.
He was also appointed in 2001 to serve as a member of a committee inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to review Nigeria’s budgetary process. In 2009, he was appointed by the Kano state government as a member of the State Business Incentive Committee.
His service as a federal lawmaker could be remembered for his critical roles in several development projects while serving on the Niger Delta, Industries, Land Transportation, and Appropriations Committees.
He was also the Secretary of the Northern Senators Forum. He also sponsored a bill for the establishment of the Federal Polytechnic Kabo on October 3, 2019. He was a strong supporter of a bill to build the Federal University of Education Technology in Bichi, Kano State.
His emergence as Deputy Senate President was therefore not surprising that Senator Jibrin was elected unopposed by his colleagues. The principled stand of members of the Senate was seen as an affirmation of implicit confidence in the leadership credentials of Jibrin.
In his capacity as Deputy Senate President, he rallied other party stalwarts, members and supporters to make it a formidable force. He has ensured that party members and others receive federal government patronage and facilitated employment of party members and other qualified citizens.
His leadership qualities in the Red Chamber were marked on as the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND in the 9th and 8th Senate respectively.
Senator Jibrin introduced the bill in 2020 to create the North West Development Commission to address gaps in infrastructural development in the region.
While in the House of Representatives, he chaired the House Committee on Appropriations and was a member of the House Committee on Power. He was also the chairman House Committee on Appropriation for the 9th Senate.
Senator Jibrin is a committed leader and dedicated to the collective progress of the upper legislative house. He is able to manage the Senate and make it effective by remarkably reducing if not totally eliminating the internal challenges potentially hindering its potency. Using the experiences he acquired in both the Green and Red Chambers, he has fostered an environment of mutual respect, allowing the parliament to focus on the pressing issues facing Nigeria.
After a term in the House of Representatives and three terms in the state Senate, Senator Jibrin has amassed an unparalleled wealth of experience and profound expertise that places him in a league of his own. In fact, currently, he is the most ranking senator-elect from North-West and Kano state, a 4th termer, who has sponsored bills and motions with unequal legislative experience.
His emergence as Deputy Senate President also brought inspirational, rancour-free and dynamic leadership to the Red Chamber, where he displayed maturity in the conduct of official business. And happily, he enjoys the trust and confidence of his colleagues across partisan divide.
Senator Jibrin has cultivated a reputation for turning challenges into opportunities. His track record in the Senate reflects his commitment to excellence and his determination to uplift his constituents.
His strategic approach to governance has garnered him respect among his peers and constituents alike. He has worked tirelessly to bring together diverse groups and stakeholders in Kano to foster collaboration and unity. By promoting structured dialogue and inclusive policies, he aims to create an environment where every voice is heard, and every citizen can contribute to the development of the state.
In a polity where there is high attrition of elected officials, the lawmaker’s 24 years long longevity in the Senate, is an expression of the confidence reposed in him by his people. Indeed, his life has been that of public service, as he best rides the executive and the legislature, having served as commissioner and member of the Kano State Executive Council, Member House of Representatives, Senator, Deputy Senate President, and Speaker, ECOWAS Parliament.
In terms of representation, Senator Jibrin remains the best and most effective representative of his people. He has a robust scholarship scheme, which untill recent massive sponsorship programme that has become known to public, silently produced thousands of graduates trained in Nigerian tertiary institutions and overseas in several fields of human endeavour.
Most of the beneficiaries of his scholarship scheme are indigent students from poor and less privileged homes, who are now medical doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals who otherwise would have ended up as artisans at best.
He is a pro-people and development-oriented Senator who consistently used his position as one time Chairman House Committee on Appropriation of the House of Representatives to push for actualization of democracy dividends to his immediate constituency, Kano State and the North West geo-political zone at large.
Senator Jibrin has remained the only elected official in Kano State who has brought meaningful development through infrastructure, youth and women empowerment and capacity building to his constituency and beyond. His advocacy for infrastructure development and job creation is not merely political rhetoric; it is rooted in a genuine desire to improve the quality of life for all citizens.
Senator Jibrin has therefore emerged a major breaker of inter-generational poverty transfer in Kano state by planting highflying professionals and successful people where there was no hope and today they have become beacons of hope for their families and beyond.
And at the state level, he has been a major parapet and one of the major financiers of the APC in Kano. And since the party lost the gubernatorial office in 2023, Senator Jibrin, by virtue of his position is now the leader and influential figure in the party affairs.
One recalls that In the 2023 presidential elections, he was part and parcel of the individuals that contributed to the successes recorded by the APC, which garnered over 513,000 votes, second only to Lagos. Constituents and electorates from Kano’s North Senatorial District, where Senator Jibrin comes from, delivered over 200,000 votes, that’s nearly half of the entire Kano State votes.
Also, Senator Jibrin’s geo-political zone, North-West provided the most votes for the APC in the presidential elections, totaling 2.7 million votes.
It is consequential that Senator Jibrin was the only APC senator who weather the chaotic billow of the New Nigerian People’s Party, (NNPP) in Kano state, successfully winning his re-election bid and returning to the Senate. This suggests to the truth that the Senator is doing something right for his people.
He embodies the essence of transformational leadership. His background and experience in governance have equipped him with a unique skill set that sets him apart in the crowded arena of politics.
These achievements made him to develop a reputation for competence, leadership and to become a man that can be relied on to deliver on difficult assignments. He was clearly marked out as a man who could be entrusted with higher responsibilities of state. He epitomizes a rare brand of legislative excellence and is generally seen as a man who would spare no effort to improve the lives and living conditions of people.
Yakasai wrote in from Yakasai Quarters, Kano.
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