Dr Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, a Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, is a delightful humanist, seasoned educationist, erudite scholar, pragmatic realist, prodigious legislator and a devout Muslim, whose entire life is propelled by the existential zest to celebrate and propagate the advancement of humanity, while simultaneously abhorring and opposing the forces that disparage our collective good as human persons.
Born into the humble and peace-loving family of Late Mallam Ibrahim Lawan and Hajia Halima Ali in Gashua on the 12th of January, 1959, this gentle and people-oriented Senator commenced his formal education at Sabon Gari Primary School, Gashua , in 1967 and proceeded to Government Secondary School, Gashua in 1974. In January, 1980, he gained admission into the University of Maiduguri, Borno State to undertake a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography. Upon graduation in 1984, he proceeded to Benue State to serve his country forthe mandatory National Youth Service Programme (NYSC). It was indeed a time well spent as the programme broadened his horizon on the multicultural realities of Nigeria and further helped him to appreciate our strength in our diversity.
Fresh from his NYSC programme, the ebullient and youthful Senator Lawan gained employment into the Borno State Ministry of Education as an Education Officer III in 1985, and moved on to the newly established Advanced Teacher’s College and now College of Education, Gashua in 1986, where he served as Assistant Lecturer I as well as, Head of Social Sciences Division. His insatiable zeal for grooming young minds inspired him to transfer his services to the University of Maiduguri in 1987 as a graduate assistant. But his love with the academia did not end there, as it soon took him to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1989 where he bagged a postgraduate diploma in Land Survey and then to Cranfield University, United Kingdom where he obtained both Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing in 1991 and 1996 respectively.
However, his voyage in the academia did not turn him into an esoteric idealist, but to a pragmatic realist who is perennially conscious of the realities around him. He found a good deal of these realities appalling, as they were not in line with his self-governing creed of service to humanity. Hence, he journeyed into partisan politics in order to offer his service for the betterment of the lives of many vulnerable but valuable people in society.
In 1998, he was elected the pioneer Vice Chairman of All Peoples Party (APP), Yobe State Chapter and in 1999, he served as the Secretary of the Electoral Committee of APP National Convention in Abuja. His foray in the realm of politics coupled with his amicable proximity to the grassroots helped him to contest and win a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, as a member representing Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency in 1999—a position to which he got re-elected in 2003. In the House of Representatives, he served in various capacities, including: Deputy Chairman, Committee on Environment; Deputy Chairman, Committee on Gas Resources; Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture; Chairman, House Committee on Education; and representative for the House of Representatives in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, ACP/EU.
Not resting on his oars, Dr. Lawan contested and won election in 2007 into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a representative of Yobe North Senatorial District. In 2011, the people of his senatorial zone re-elected him for another four-year term after a fruitful service. In the Sixth Senate, he served as: Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts; Member, Constitutional Review Committee; President, West African Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC); and a member of five other standing Committees of the Senate.
In the Seventh Senate, he was re-appointed as Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts and also appointed Chairman, Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Privatisation and Commercialisation Activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to 2011. A task he discharged patriotically and excellently well.
In his illustrious career as a scholar, educationist, philanthropist and politician, Senator Lawan has immensely impacted on the lives of many a people, and this multifaceted impact he has had on people’s lives has fetched him enormous plaudits among his peers and those he has generously served. His selfless service has also earned him the following awards: National Honours Award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON); Fellow of the Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology (2012); Best Performing Senator in Yobe State in 2009 by Yobe State Students’ Association, University of Abuja Chapter; Best Senator in 2011 by Baseline Global Ventures; and the Sardauna Legendary Pillar of Exemplary Leadership Award by Leadership and Role Model Foundation of Nigeria.
Senator Dr. Ahmed Lawan (PhD, CON) is married and blessed with children.
No comments:
Post a Comment