Boss Gidahyelda Mustapha (born 1956) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

lawyer and politician who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) of Nigeria since 2017 and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. He was previously managing director of Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority until his appointment to replace Babachir David Lawal as SGF by President Muhammad Buhari on 30 October 2017.

Background

Mustapha was born in 1956 in Garaha, a village located in

Hong Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese name) *Hong (Korean name) Organiz ...

Local Government Area of

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It ta ...

in the North Eastern. Mustapha attended primary school in Hong, Adamawa and proceeded to North East College of Arts and Sciences in Maiduguri, Borno State for his high school education. He graduated in 1976. He attended

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

in Zaria where he received Bachelor of Law ( LL.B) in 1979. He proceeded to Nigeria Law School, Lagos for mandatory one-year law class and graduated in 1980. He was called to Nigerian Bar in the same year. He did his one-year mandatory

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

between 1980 and 1981. Mustapha started his legal practice in Messrs Onagoruwa & Co in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

as a Counsel in 1983. He had a stint at an Italian consultancy firm Sotesa Nigeria Limited earlier. In 1994 he stablished his own law practice firm Messrs Mustapha & Associates and served as its Principal Counsel until 2000. He later worked in another law firm Adriot Lex & Co. serving as Principal Consultant from 2000 to 2006. Mustapha has served as a member of several boards of companies in the manufacturing, financial services and oil and gas sectors – he has been described as a "boardroam guru".

Early political career

Mustapha entered politics in the 1980s after law graduation. Between 1988 and 1989 he was a member of the Constituent Assembly, the body that drafted the Constitution of the

Third Nigerian Republic The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1993 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. Founded (1993) The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989. General Ibrahim Badamasi ...

. In 1989, Mustapha was the state chairman of the Peoples Solidarity Party (PSP) in defunct

Gongola State Gongola State is a former administrative division of Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the Adamawa and Sardauna Provinces of North State, together with the Wukari Division of the then Benue-Plateau State Benue-Plateau State is a f ...

but the party was among the several political parties disbanded by military head of state General

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...

. Between 1990 and 1991, Mustapha was Adamawa state chairman of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties F ...

, one of the two state-created political parties during the military regime. He ran unsuccessfully for

governorship in 1991 under the party but lost to Abubakar Saleh Michika of

National Republican Convention The National Republican Convention was a Nigerian political party established by the government of General Ibrahim Babangida and ultimately disbanded by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in 1993. Alignment The party was organized to cat ...

. In 2000, Mustapha was a member of the presidential committee tasked by President

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pre ...

to investigate the activities of the Petroleum Trust Fund under

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

. Buhari resigned his position as executive chairman of the body earlier. The committee, Interim Management Committee, did their work but the report was never made public. Mustapha served as the deputy director-general to the presidential campaign of then Vice President

Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name * Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 * Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor Middle name *Abubakar Ati ...

's during the 2007 presidential election. Mustapha was deputy national chairman 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 of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several othe ...

. The party was among the 3 major parties that were merged to form 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, the ...

on 6 February 2013 in anticipation of the Nigeria's 2015 general elections. In 2014, after merger of their party he Mustapha ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Adamawa State. He later served in the presidential campaigns and was among the members of its transition committee in Nigeria's 2015 election that brought Muhammadu Buhari into power. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the party.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation

Mustapha was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation on 30 October 2017 following sack of Babachir David Lawal who has been on suspension six months earlier for misappropriating public funds. He took oath of office on 1 November 2017 during a meeting of the Federal Executive Council, in the Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Coronavirus pandemic

On 9 March, the President

established a Presidential Task Force for the control of the virus in the country. SGF Boss Mustapha was appointed Chairman of the twelve member task force, since then the task force has held daily briefings.

Membership

He is a member of several professional bodies including: * African Bar Association *

Commonwealth Lawyers Association The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) is an organisation of lawyers, law societies and bar associations across the Commonwealth of Nations. The association hosts a conference in a member nation of the commonwealth biennially. History ...

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA currently has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associat ...

* Human Rights Institute

Awards and recognition

In October 2022, President

conferred on Mustapha a national honour of

Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic The Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) is one of two orders of merit, established by the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963. It is senior to the Order of the Niger. The highest honours where the Grand Commander in the Order of the Federal Re ...

(CFR).

References

External links

Boss Gida Mustapha
at National Inland Waterways Authority. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mustapha, Boss Living people Ahmadu Bello University alumni People from Adamawa State 20th-century Nigerian politicians 21st-century Nigerian politicians Buhari administration personnel Marghi people Secretary to the government federation of Nigeria 1956 births