Abdul Ahmed Ningi (born , 1960) was a Deputy Majority Leader of the

Nigerian Senate The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's legislature and has the power to make laws, as summarized in chapter one, sectio ...

. A member of People's Democratic Party (PDP), he served as a Senator representing Bauchi central senatorial district from 2011 to 2015. Bauchi Central senatorial zone includes the local government areas of Danbam,

Darazo Darazo is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria, Its headquarters are in the town of Darazo. Darazo is mainly dominated by Fulani and Karai-karai people. It has an area of 3,015 km and a population of 251,597 at the 2006 census ...

Ganjuwa Ganjuwa is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. It was curved out from the Darazo Local Government in September, 1991 and it's bordered with Jigawa State from the North and Gombe State from the South East. The Local Government also ...

Misau Misau is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Misau. The people of Misau are mostly Fulani and Kanuri. It has an area of 1,226 km and a population of 263,487 at the 2006 census. The posta ...

, Ningi, and

Warji Warji is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Warji. It has an area of 625 km and a population of 114,720 at the 2006 census. The postal code A postal code (also known locally in various ...

. Abdul Ningi served as the

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are el ...

of the

Nigerian House of Representatives The House of Representatives (also called Green Chamber) is the lower chamber of Nigeria's bicameral National Assembly. The Senate is the upper chamber. The Green Chamber has 360 members who are elected in single-member constituencies using t ...

from 2003 to 2007 and has been a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2011. As Deputy Majority Leader, Abdul Ningi was a principal officer of the

Early years

Abdul Ningi was born in Ningi town of

Bauchi Bauchi (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered by Jigawa State, Jigawa to the north, Yobe State, Y ...

state. He grew up in modest circumstances having to work tens of kilometres daily to fetch water for the family. He started working at his fathers farm at age 5, a farm he still maintains till today. He has lived in Ningi his entire life. He attended Ningi East primary school (1969 to 1973) and Government Secondary School, Misau. Graduating from Government Secondary School, Misau in 1978, he enrolled at the Bauchi College of Art and Sciences for a 2-year pre-degree program. He earned his

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

from

Ahmadu Bello University The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is a public research university located in Zaria, Nigeria, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was opened in 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria. The university has four colleges, three schools, 18 faculties, ...

in 1983, becoming the first in his family to attend university. Shortly after his graduation in 1983, he proceeded on his National Youth Service in Kano. In 1984, he accepted a position in

state government as a Social welfare officer. He was later promoted to the Secretary of Bauchi Rent Tribunal and by 1986 he was head hunted into

First Bank of Nigeria First Bank of Nigeria is a multinational bank and financial services company with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. First Bank was founded in 1894 by Sir Alfred Jones and is currently owned by First HoldCo PLC, which in itself has diversified own ...

as a banking supervisor. He joined Hi-Tech computers in 1992 as a Senior Administrative officer and by 1995 became the Chairman and Chief Executive of NAJ Resources Ltd., Bauchi.

Early political career

In 1996, Abdul Ningi contested for the Bauchi state assembly under the platform of the

United Nigeria Congress Party The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) was a Nigerian political party. It was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, i ...

(UNCP) won but the Abacha led government cancelled the election.

House of Representatives

With the return to civilian rule in 1999, Abdul Ningi contested under the platform of the People's Democratic Party and won by a landslide to represent Ningi Federal constituency. He was re-elected 2 times in 2003 and 2007.

1999 to 2003

During his first term as a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Abdul Ningi served as Chairman House Committee on Solid minerals (2002 to 2003); Chairman, House sub-committee on Teachers Education (1999 to 2002); and Chairman, House sub-committee on NAFDAC (1999 - 2003). Between 1999 and 2002, he was Chairman of the

Nigeria Football Association The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's association football, football sports governing body, governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football ...

during his reign, Nigeria qualified for her second appearance at the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

2003 to 2007

Abdul Ningi was re-elected in 2003. From 2003 to 2007, he served as the

. He was among the key actors that helped in keeping the house together during the Third Term Agenda in 2006. He chaired the House sub-committee on

(2003 to 2007) and became a member of Inter Parliamentary Union,

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head ...

and

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

2007 to 2011

His 2007 election was keenly contested as Salisu Zakari of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) was initially declared the winner, but in 2008 the appeal court reinstated Abdul Ningi as the rightful winner of the April 2007 elections. He served as Chairman Ad-hoc committee on Niger delta crisis, were his input helped in developing the Amnesty program that resolved the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

militancy The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

. He was also the Chairman House Committee on Police Affairs and was a member of the House Committee on Jos crisis and Constitutional Review Committee.

Deputy Majority Leader

In 2011, Abdul Ningi ran against incumbent Senator

Mohammed A. Muhammed Mohammed A Muhammed (born 27 December 1939) is a Nigerian politician, now a member of the Senate for Bauchi State. Married to Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, President of the court of Appeal, Abuja. Background Mohammed A Muhammed was born on ...

of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), who was under scrutiny for lack of quality representation by his constituency. Abdul Ningi trounced

in the 9 April senatorial elections . With the Peoples Democratic Party maintaining their majority in the Senate with a total seat of 64 out of 108 seats, Abdul Ningi was unanimously chosen by his colleagues as the deputy majority leader.

Constituency projects

With Bauchi being a predominantly agricultural community in need of development, Abdul Ningi fashioned out a "Masterplan of Service" development blueprint focusing on Jobs creation, Farming support and Community development.

Job creation

He initiated a massive sensitization of unemployed graduates in Bauchi in taking advantage of the Graduate Internship Scheme. Within two months, he was able to facilitate and secure the registration and enrollment of over 1,000 graduates across the 20 local government areas of Bauchi. In partnership with SURE-P, over 3,000 Bauchi youths were engaged in Community Services Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE). As at October 2014, he is working with FERMA to facilitate the employment of over 1,000 Bauchi youths into the program ‘Public works for Youth’.

Farming support

In partnership with the Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development Agriculture and Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, Abdul Ningi assisted 1,850 individual farms with Dry season support and 600 individual farms with Wet season support during the 2012 and 2013 farming season.

Community development

Between 2012 and 2013, Abdul Ningi sank a total of 659 units of hand pump boreholes, 43 Solar powered overhead tanks for the six local government areas of Danbam, Darazo, Ganjuwa, Ningi and Warji. He also initiated the ‘Ningi water reticulation project’ which when completed will provide water for over 100,000 inhabitants of the Ningi emirate and surrounding villages boost agriculture and power generation capacity of the state. Feasibility studies, mechanical and architectural designs are being completed for implementation early 2015.

Poverty eradication

With a drive to eradicate poverty from Bauchi state, Abdul Ningi donated 1,500 motorcycles, 600 tricycles, and 500 sewing machines to various communities. To aid transportation, numerous 18-seater buses were also donated.

Skill Acquisition Centers

Two mega Youth Skill Acquisition Centers in Ningi and Misau and in partnership with SMEDAN, Abdul Ningi trained over 1,200 youths in tailoring, 250 youths in basket weaver and hundreds more in craftsmanship. 9 ICT centers were constructed to extend computer literacy to Bauchi people. To enable proper utilization of these skill acquisition centers, Abdul Ningi is continually working in partnership with Secondary schools, local governments and other stakeholders.

Education

For the 2013/2014 academic session, 500 primary schools have been enlisted for intervention with equipment for provision of modern white board and markers, modernized classroom tables and seats, and provision of text and writing books. Through the Ningi scholarship scheme, hundreds of youths get their WASSCE fees and tuition fees paid by Abdul Ningi.

Personal life

Abdul Ningi and his wife were married in 1982, and live in Ningi,

. They have five children.

Crisis with the Senate

Senator Ningi was suspended from the senate after he brought public attention to the issue of

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

padding rocking the House. He resigned as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum over the same issue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ningi, Abdul Ahmed Living people Kogi State Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria) Members of the 4th National Assembly (Nigeria) 1960 births