Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa'i (born c. 1958) was appointed as Nigerian Minister of Education on 6 April 2010, when Acting President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

announced his new cabinet.

Early life and education

Rufa'i was born in

Ringim Ringim is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Jigawa State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ringim, the LGA has an area of 1,057 km² and a population of 192,024 at the 2006 census. History Ringim emirate came into being in Nov ...

Jigawa State Jigawa State (Hausa: ''Jihar Jigawa'' (Fula Leydi Jigawa 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤮𞤤 𞤶𞤭𞤺𞤢𞤱𞤢) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. Created in 1991 from the northeastern-most region of Kan ...

. She obtained a B.Ed in history at the

Bayero University The Bayero University Kano (BUK) is a university situated in Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. It was founded in 1975, when it was renamed from Bayero University College and upgraded from University College to University. It is the first university in ...

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria *Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

in 1981, an MA in history from the same university in 1987 and PhD in Education from the

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

, US, in 1991. She was Commissioner for Health under the military regime of General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

between 1993 and 1996. She was promoted professor in 2003, and served as Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in

. She said she was always ashamed when faced with the challenge of low enrollment of the girl-child in Jigawa State, and found it difficult to explain why the state could not enroll more girls in the schools. She banned the use of mobile phones in secondary schools due to their distracting influence.

Leaving ministerial office

Amidst political problem in the ruling party People Democratic Party (PDP) where seven governors, including

Sule Lamido Sule Lamido was born on (30 August 1948) served as Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria from 1999 to 2003. He was elected governor of Jigawa State in April 2007. He is a member of the former ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He ran successful ...

of Jigawa State, and dozens of senators and members of House of Representatives split to New PDP, the president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan relieved 9 ministers of their positions. Prof. Ruqayyat was among the affected ministers.Jonathan sacks 9 ministers http://www.africanspotlight.com/2013/09/11/jonathan-sacks-9-ministers/

Bibliography

References

Living people Federal ministers of Nigeria 1950s births Education ministers of Nigeria Women government ministers of Nigeria People from Jigawa State {{Nigeria-politician-stub