About Nasir

Nasir el-Rufai was born in Daudawa of the Faskari Local Government Area in the northern state of Katsina.  He was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and member of the Federal Executive Council, the highest decision making body in Nigeria from 2003 – 2007. He attended various academic and professional programmes at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, University of London, Harvard Business School, Arthur D. Little School of Management in Massachusetts, Georgetown University School of Foreign Services in Washington, D.C. and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He holds a first class honours degree in Quantity Surveying (1980), a Masters Degree in Business Administration (1984), a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science (1985), a Bachelor of Laws (2008), Master of Public Administration (2009), and has attended several programs on Privatization and Leadership. He established and ran what became a successful consulting practice, el-Rufai & Partners, between 1982 and 1998. He also held management positions with two international telecommunications companies, AT&T Network Systems International BV and Motorola, Inc. In October 2001, he was conferred a national honour, OFR (Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) by the Federal Government of Nigeria while serving as the director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the secretary of the National Council of Privatisation where he spearheaded the privatisation of many government owned companies. He is happily married with children. In 2005, he was conferred D.Sc (honoris causa) by the University of Abuja, Nigeria.