Magaji Muhammed (31 December 1940 – April 2017) headed the

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, ...

n Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs until the June 2006, when he resigned to pursue a gubernatorial ambition, and he was succeeded by

Oluyemi Adeniji Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji (22 July 1934 – 27 November 2017 in London) was a Nigerians, Nigerian career diplomat and politician who was the Special Representative of the General Secretary with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNA ...

. He is also a former Minister of Industries.

Background

Magaji Muhammed was born on 31 December 1940 in

Dutsin-Ma Dutsin-Ma is a Local Government Area (LGA) in Katsina State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Dutsin Ma. Dutsinma is the administrative headquarters of the Dutsinma Local Government Area from its creation in 1976. The Zobe Dam lies to ...

Katsina State Katsina State ( ; 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞥁𞤭𞤲𞤢) is a state in the northwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered to the west by Zamfara State, to the east by Kano and Jigawa states, and to the south by Kaduna St ...

. He attended

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, ...

, Zaria as the Pioneer set of students of the university, where he earned a BA Degree in Administration. From 1965 to 1975, he was district Officer in-charge of Idoma, Wukari and Tiv Division of defunct Northern Nigeria, and Principal Assistant Secretary, Military Governor's Office,

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade center and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern state ...

. He also served as Administrator, Kaduna Capital Territory. In 1975, he was appointed Permanent Secretary. He joined the Federal Civil Service in 1980 and was Director, Project Implementation, Federal Ministry of Industries and Director, Commercial and Industrial Incentives, Federal Ministry of Trade and Industries.

Obasanjo government

Muhammed was Nigeria's Ambassador, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2003. He was appointed Minister of Industry by President

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

in June 2003 and in 2005 he was appointed federal Minister of Internal affairs. Ambassador Magaji was superb and excellent as minister of Internal affairs, it was during his time that the national ID card programme and distribution was enhanced to reach all corners of the country. It was also during his time as internal affairs minister that the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps was restructured and given additional function in the federal government. In May 2006, Mohammed and his colleague Ambassador Idris Waziri the minister of Commerce resigned to contest the governors of their respective states as the rule was that political appointees had to resign from their positions if they had to contest any electoral office at that time.

References

1940 births 2017 deaths Nigerian Muslims Federal ministers of Nigeria Interior ministers of Nigeria All Progressives Congress politicians Ambassadors of Nigeria to Saudi Arabia Ahmadu Bello University alumni People from Katsina State {{Katsina-politician-stub