Usani Uguru Usani (born 27 January 1961) is a Nigerian pastor, lecturer and politician who served as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the

Nigerian government The federal government of Nigeria is composed of three distinct branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial, whose powers are vested and bestowed upon by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. One of the primary f ...

Early life and education

Usani was born on 27 January 1961 in Nko,

Yakurr Yakurr is a Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. Its capital is the town of Ugep. The local government area (LGA) was carved out of Obubra local government in 1987. Yakurr has an area of 670 km and a population of 196,4 ...

Local Government Area of

Cross River State Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967. The state has its capital as Calabar and is bordered to ...

Career

Usani is a pastor. Usani served on the

National Youth Service Corps The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a mandatory, post-tertiary scheme set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime of Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, to "reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian ...

(NYSC) scheme as a secondary school teacher in Government Science Secondary School, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of

Niger State Niger State is a state in the North Central (Nigeria), North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory, to the north by Kebbi State and Zamfara State, ...

. After his NYSC service, he was a teacher from August 1988 – January 1992 at Community Secondary School, Iko-Esai and Secondary School, Adim, all of

. From February 1992 to November 1993, Usani served in the Office of the Governor of Cross River State as Personal assistant to Governor Clement Ebri on Speech Writing and Policy Analysis, at the same time as Secretary,

Structural Adjustment Programme A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

(SAP) Relief Committee (a government agenda programme to alleviate the effects of

s) with added responsibility of Legislative Liaison matters. Within the same period, he was appointed as the Sole Administrator of the Nigerian Legion,

Command. Between 1994 and 1995, he was appointed as Director Oban (Nigeria) Rubber and Palm Estates Limited. Usani Uguru Usani and Michel Arron

In July 1995, Usani was appointed Commissioner in Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development,

under Military Administrator Gregory Agboneni; in November 1995, the portfolio was enlarged to include Information duties. In February 1997, in a cabinet dissolution and reconstitution, he was reappointed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development under Military Administrator Umar Farouk Ahmed where he served until 1999, after serving with Christopher Osondu, the last Military Administrator of

. From January 2001 – January 2004, he was appointed as member of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission. Usani contested the seat of Governorship of Cross River State three times. In the 2003 general elections under the platform of National Democrats, he was defeated by

Donald Duke Donald Duke (born 30 September 1961 in Calabar) is a Nigerian politician. He was the Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007 and the 2019 Nigeria Presidential candidate for Social Democratic Party, SDP. Personal ...

, in 2012 under the platform of the

Action Congress of Nigeria The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger from the coming together of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of D ...

(ACN) he was defeated by

Liyel Imoke Liyel Imoke (born 10 July 1961) is a Nigerian politician who served as the List of Governors of Cross River State, governor of Cross River State, Nigeria from 29 May 2007 till 29 May 2015. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party (Nigeria ...

and in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. From September 2004 – 2006 Usani lectured at the London Academy of Management Sciences, Ilford, Essex, in a variety of courses to Business undergraduates, MBA students and professional candidates of ABE and ACCA. He also taught, on a part-time basis, in the London Academy of Higher Education, Stratford, London. Between July 2014 and November 2015, he was elected the State Chairman of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

(APC), Cross River State. In November 2015, Usani was appointed by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

into the Nigerian Federal Executive Council as the Minister of

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 ...

Affairs. He foresaw a Technical Audit Report of projects from the Ministry's inception and a baseline study of the social and infrastructure resource base of the region (aided by the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

) has been conducted. The Niger Delta Action Plan has been revisited. In November 2015, Usani was mandated by the Nigerian Presidency to inaugurate the board, and subsequently supervise the activities of the

Niger Delta Development Commission The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a federal government agency established by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000, with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In Septemb ...

(NDDC), as part of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs' statutory duties. On 15 March 2017, Usani was decorated with an Award of Excellence for National Development by the Association of Nigerian Geographers and appointed Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Geography in the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usani, Usani Uguru 1961 births Living people Nigerian government officials University of Jos alumni People from Cross River State Rivers State University alumni Nigerian Christian clergy