The Rise and Fall of Hadiza Bala Usman
“Reputations rise and fall almost as regularly as the tides.” - Peter Benchley
Having watched Hadiza Bala Usman’s rise in the corridors of power, from her sudden emergence as lead advocate in the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, to her appointment as Chief of Staff to the Kaduna State Governor and finally as first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), it is easy to see that benevolent spirits have been hard at work cracking her palm nuts.
Born in 1976 to a Fulani ruling class family, Hadiza grew up on the campus of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where her father worked. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2000 from the same university and later bagged a master’s degree in development studies from the University of Leeds in 200...