Danladi Mohammed Zakari was the first Military Administrator of

Kogi State Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

after it was created in August 1991 from parts of Benue and

Kwara Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its capi ...

states. He held office from August 1991 until January 1992 during the military regime of General

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August 1941) is a Nigerian statesman and military dictator who ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he orchestrated a coup d'état against his military and political arch-rival Muhammadu ...

, handing over to the elected governor Abubakar Audu at the start of the

Nigerian Third Republic The Third Republic was the planned republicanism, republican government of Nigeria in 1992 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. In the Third Republic, there were to be state governors, state assemblies, and the Nation ...

. The new Kogi state inherited a share of both assets and liabilities of Benue and Kwara states. Zakari had to quickly establish the administrative structure from scratch, creating ministries of Justice, Works, Health, Agriculture, Education and Finance, and agencies such as the Local Government Services commission, the Judiciary and the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board. He also set up a committee chaired by the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland to create a blueprint for economic development of the state. Little was done to realize this plan by his successors. On 16 December 1991, he established the Kogi Agricultural Development Project, a continuation of programs from Benue and Kwara states. The program was to provide assistance to farmers in the form of input subsidies and infrastructure development.

References

Living people Nigerian Muslims Nigerian generals Governors of Kogi State Year of birth missing (living people) {{Nigeria-mil-bio-stub