BUK to confer honourary doctorate degrees on Deputy Senate President, AfDB President on Saturday

The Bayero University Kano (BUK) has concluded arrangements to confer honourary doctorate degrees on the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin and the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, in recognition of their contributions to education and youth development.

It has slated the award ceremony for Saturday, March 2, 2024, during the grand finale of the 38th convocation of the university at the New Campus of the institution, Gwarzo Road, Kano.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas, in a letter to the Deputy President of the Senate, said both the Senate and the university’s management have approved the award.

“Sir, your nomination for the coveted award is based on your great passion for education and youth development, among others. You have impacted positively on the lives of the people in your constituency and beyond in terms of the provision of scholarships, health-related projects and many agricultural and empowerment programmes across the state.

“At the Senate, you succeeded in sponsoring 56 bills between 2015 and 2023. You have been recognized as the best Northern Senator of the Year, 2017 by the Senate Press Corps due to your immense contributions to national development,’’ he said.

Born in 1959 in his hometown of Kabo, the headquarters of Kabo Local Government Area of Kano State, Senator Barau began his journey to the legislative arm of government in 1999, when the country returned to civil rule.

Between 1999 and 2003, when he represented Tarauni Federal Constituency of Kano Central Senatorial District at the Green Chamber, he chaired the Committee on Appropriations.

On completion of his term at the House of Representatives, he returned to private practice. In 2013, when the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed, he was one of the frontline members of the party in Kano State. In 2015, he contested and won the election for Kano North Senatorial District on the platform of the APC.

After the inauguration of the Senate in June 2015, Senator Barau was named as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream). Months later, he was elevated to chair the same committee.

In the later part of 2016, he was reassigned to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETfund as its chairman, a position he held until the end of the 8th National Assembly.

Satisfied with his representation, his constituents re-elected him in 2019 to represent them for a second term. Because of his background as an accountant, he was appointed Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

For five years, he was the secretary of the Northern Senators Forum (2016 to 2021). A pro-masses parliamentarian, Senator Barau’s areas of legislative interest are education, agriculture and the economy.

In 2023, for the third time, the people of Kano North Senatorial District, during the general elections, returned Senator Barau to the Upper Chamber.

On June 13, when the parliament was inaugurated following the proclamation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the ranking lawmaker, Barau, emerged unopposed following his endorsement by all his colleagues during the election for the office of the Deputy President of the Senate. He chairs the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).