Bukola Saraki Profile
Abubakar Bukola SarakiHe is currently a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and is a former member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Saraki's father, Olusola Saraki, was a former senator of Kwara State.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki was born on 19 December 1962. He attended King's College, Lagos, from 1973 to 1978, and Cheltenham College, Cheltenham, London from 1979 to 1981 for his High School Certificate. He then studied at the London Hospital Medical College of the University of London from 1982 to 1987, when he obtained his M.B.B.S (London).
He worked as a Medical Officer at Rush Green Hospital, Essex, from 1988 to 1989. He was a Director of Societe Generale Bank (Nig) Ltd from 1990 to 2000. He was appointed special assistant to the President on Budget in 2000.[1] Ceremonially, he also serves as a tribal nobleman of high rank in his capacity as the Turaki of the Ilorin Emirate.
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki’s political career began when he was appointed Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Budget in 2000. While holding this position, he initiated the Fiscal Responsibility Bill and served on the Economic Policy Coordination Committee, where he was responsible for the formulation and implementation of several key economic policies for Nigeria.
In 2003, he ran for the office of the Executive Governor of Kwara State on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and won. He was sworn into office in May 2003. He ran again for re-election in 2007 and won his second term. As governor of Kwara, he led reforms in agriculture, health, education, finance and environment policy. One of his major achievements was inviting displaced white farmers from Zimbabwe to Kwara State and offering them an opportunity to farm. This led to the establishment of Shonga Farms programme, which is now being replicated across Nigeria. His charisma among his fellow governors got him appointed as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum.
Power generation and electricity in Kwara State
Under Dr Saraki’s Governorship, Kwara became the first state to complete the Nigeria Independent Power Project. In collaboration with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Dr Saraki re-energised the Ganmo Power Station at Ilorin, and connected over 375 rural communities to the National Grid, through the development and installation of 725 transformers and 7 substations. Kwara also completed 4 electrification projects that meant power became stabilised for 18–22 hours a day. 90% of people living in Kwara have access to electricity, which compares to a national average in Nigeria of 30%.
While in office, Dr Saraki introduced a range of new health programmes, including a state-wide campaign in 2008 to reduce maternal and child mortality with regard to Malaria. This included the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and free malaria drugs to pregnant mothers and to children under the age of five.
A state-wide programme of hospital development was also implemented, leading to the redevelopment of hospitals in Afon, Patigi and Lafiagi.
Other measures implemented by Dr Saraki included improved training and re-training for medical staff; refurbishment of hospitals and staff living quarters; and employment of qualified medical doctors and other health workers. Many of the primary care programmes were sponsored by international agencies such as WHO and UNICEF.
Agriculture and farming in Kwara State
Dr Saraki introduced a range of reforms to agricultural policy to increase the commercial viability of farming, and to increase exports to international markets. The New Nigerian Farmers Initiative was designed to improve the technical capability of farmers and to ensure farmers had a significant financial stake in new investment in agriculture. The scheme utilised the under-used resource of agricultural expertise in the Zimbabwean farming industry, and worked with the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union to identify high-skilled farmers able to support the State’s farming industry to move to Kwara and develop the industry.
A commercial hub was also developed to build capacity support training of the indigenous farming community.
Infrastructure development
Dr Saraki led a number of significant and state-wide infrastructure developments, including improvements at the Ilorin International Airport Cargo Terminal; extensive road construction; and the development of new sporting facilities such as Kwara Football Academy. The State also has an on going aim to become a logistics and cargo hub in Nigeria and the region
Dr Saraki became Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum in 2007. Under Saraki’s Chairmanship, a reformed Forum was established, with a fully resourced secretariat, with a technical and administrative division that was entirely focused on delivery.
Under Dr Saraki’s Chairmanship, a range of new processes, including the State Peer Review Mechanism, were also developed, to ensure that closer working and collaboration could take place between members of the Forum, and best practice shared between states.
The Mechanisms allowed a range of best practice case studies to be shared between states in a number of different policy fields, including in relation to power project; primary healthcare centres that were being built in villages and other rural locations; extensive roadworks that were taking place in rural areas; water schemes; solar schemes and the construction of specialist hospitals and state universities.
Projects such as these had previously remained undisclosed until the Mechanism was established.
One of the most widely recognised achievements of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was its intervention over the problematic assumption of power by then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, following the illness and subsequent death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. On 23 November 2009, President Yar’Adua left Nigeria and travelled to Saudi Arabia, where he was installed in the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah for the treatment of what was reported to be acute pericarditis.
He was not seen in public again and his absence created a dangerous power vacuum in Nigeria. The problem was that, for the Vice-President to succeed the President, the constitution demanded that the latter wrote a letter to the National Assembly making clear the appointment of the former. But as President Yar’Adua was constantly in and out of intensive care, this letter was never written and the succession therefore came into question.
The NGF, led by Dr Saraki, and working with the National Assembly, devised the Doctrine of Necessity, which was then passed as a resolution by the National Assembly. The Doctrine of Necessity allowed the Vice President to take over and become the acting President until such a time that the President returned.
Polio immunisation and the Immunisation Leadership Challenge
The Forum has been credited with the development of better and more extensive polio immunisation in Nigeria. A key part of this was the introduction in 2011 of the Immunisation Leadership Challenge. The Challenge was designed to reward states in Nigeria that made significant improvements in polio and routine immunisation coverage by the end of 2012.
Observing the effects of the election cycle, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation drove the Immunisation Leadership Challenge – launched in partnership with the NGF – which pledged to award US $500,000 to states that met a pre-defined threshold of improvement. The overall objective of the Challenge was to fast track achievement of the global milestone of interrupting further transmission of the wild polio virus in Nigeria. The grant was to be used to support Governors' top health priorities, including malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV prevention and treatment, as well as safe drinking water and hygiene programmes.
The Gates Foundation also promised to match contributions by states to their chosen health project of up to US $250,000. By the end of 2012 the number of polio cases dropping by about 50%.
The NGF and Global Development Partners
Under Dr Saraki’s chairmanship a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) have been signed, including but not limited to the World Bank, DFID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI, UNICEF, UNDP.
He was the first Nigerian Governor to be awarded the National Honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)[14] Ceremonially, he also serves as a tribal nobleman of high rank in his capacity as the Turaki of the Ilorin Emirate.[citation needed].
Later political career
Member of the Senate
After his two-term tenure as governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki ran for the office of Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District and won, succeeding his sister, Gbemisola Saraki-Forowa. He was appointed as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology and is also a member of the Senate Committees on Capital Markets and Finance. He also pushed a motion in the Senate to end the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria which has been an excessive waste of the country’s national resources.
As a member of the Senate, Senator Saraki has campaigned extensively on health, food security, education and the environment. He was appointed as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology and is also a member of the Senate Committees on Capital Markets and Finance. He also pushed a motion in the Senate to end the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria, which has been an excessive waste of the country’s national resources. His work on the oil industry, has also led him to focus on arguing to strengthen laws relating to the clean up of oil spills. His National Oil Spill and Detection and Response Agency Amendment Bill seeks to ensure oil companies pay appropriate levels of compensation to communities affected by oil spills.
Dr. Saraki has also intervened in the Lead Poisoning crisis in Zamfara State in 2010, and has supported to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which ensures safe and healthy methods of cooking for millions of Nigerians while conserving the environment through reduced deforestation. He has been a lead campaigner in the areas of desertification and climate change in the Senate and across Nigeria. Dr Saraki sponsored a motion on the floor of the Senate to end Nigeria’s fuel subsidy regime. Other motions and private member bills he has sponsored include the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency Amendment Bill 2012, which was aimed at putting a halt to oil spills in the Niger Delta, the Gas Flaring Prohibition Bill 2012 and the Climate Change Commission Bill 2013
Senator Saraki is also a member of the Senate Committees on Capital Markets and Finance, and President of Globe Nigeria.
International work and appointments
In 2012, Dr Saraki was appointed onto the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an initiative led by the United Nations Foundation that supports the use of public-private partnerships to create a market for clean cookstoves and fuels.
In 2013, Dr Saraki established GLOBE Nigeria as an affiliate of the Global Legislators Organisation, establishing a platform for legislators to advance environmental and sustainable development laws in Nigeria. He currently serves as GLOBE Nigeria’s President.
Dr Saraki has also spoke and campaigned internationally on issues such as better governance, deforestation and economic development.
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