On Monday, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was appointed National Security Adviser (NSA) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Ribadu is the first NSA without military background to be appointed by any Nigerian President since the return to democratic governance in 1999.
Ribadu’s appointment as the new NSA calmed the opinions that the President might consider a non-military person for the exalted position.
The announcement was contained in a press statement signed by Mr. Willie Bassey, Director of Information, for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nuhu Ribadu, the first Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), will become the third retired police officer after the late Gambo Jimeta and Ismaila Gwarzo to be appointed to the position.
Nuhu Ribadu was born in Yola, Adamawa State, on 21 November 1960. He attended Aliyu Mustapha Primary School, Yola from 1966 to 1973 and Yelwa Government Secondary School, Yola from 1973-1977. Between 1978 and 1980, he was at the College of Preliminary Studies, (CPS), Yola, for his A-level studies.
In 1980, Ribadu gained admission to study Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, graduating in 1983. He graduated from the Nigerian Law School and was called to the bar in 1984. He joined the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) immediately after his national youth service.
Ribadu holds an LLM degree with an emphasis on the jurisprudence of corruption in Nigeria from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In 2008, he was at the Harvard Business School where he did a programme on the strategic management of law enforcement agencies.
The name, Nuhu Ribadu has become notable in Nigeria and beyond owing to his distinguished public service record and personal integrity. He is a trained lawyer and fearless crime fighter, patriotic, passionate, honest, courageous, and compassionate.
He came to national limelight as a star prosecutor at the Oputa Panel which was created to investigate human rights abuses during the military era. He was later appointed Chairman of the Petroleum Special Revenue Task Force before he became the pioneer Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The EFCC was tasked by the Federal Government to counter corruption and fraud in the country.
Ribadu’s pragmatic approach to intelligence gathering and crime-fighting while in EFCC earned him global recognition and awards.
In three years, the EFCC under his leadership built the now most celebrated Crimes Training and Research Institute in the West African region. The agency also recorded over 200 criminal convictions under his leadership.
In acknowledgment of these rare achievements, Ribadu was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in March 2007. He retired as AIG.
The African Union (AU) put him on its advisory board on anti-corruption matters, and he was invited to join the advisory board of the Friends of the World Bank/UNODC initiative on Stolen Asset Recovery.
Ribadu is a recipient of several awards as a police officer, prosecutor, and chairman of the EFCC. He received the Inspector General of Police Awards in 1997, 1998, and 2000, and the Special Commendation of the President in 2005, for the successful prosecution of several advanced fee fraud cases, banking fraud, and sundry economic crimes. He was also specially commended by the Accountant General of the Federation for successfully prosecuting some corrupt public servants in 1999.
Since 2004, notable newspapers and magazines in Nigeria have repeatedly voted Ribadu as Man of the Year, in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a committed crusader against corruption and other related crimes.
In 2008, Ribadu completed the senior executive course at the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies where he was conferred with Membership of the National Institute (MNI). In June 2010, Ribadu was awarded the Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by Babcock University, Ogun State, in recognition of his “resolute courage” as well as his “fierce stance against corruption in the face of sponsored disgrace and certain death that has resulted into positive changes and global acclaim hitherto considered impossible”.
In 2012, Ribadu left a United Nations assignment in Afghanistan to take up a special inquest into the government’s revenue from the oil sector, an assignment he handled with his characteristic passion and dexterity, turning in a report that has since become a reference point on reforming Nigeria’s oil industry.
His remarkable efforts led to the de-listing of Nigeria from the Financial Action Task Force List of Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories; admission into the prestigious Egmont Group, and the withdrawal of the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Advisory on Nigeria.
Ribadu was a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, a TED Fellow, and a Senior Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK.
In his quest for the higher call to service, Ribadu has since 2010 been involved in active politics.
Ribadu contested for President of Nigeria under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 and had sought to contest for the governorship of Adamawa on two occasions but missed out during party primaries.
He was named NSA on Monday, 19 June, 2023, days after he was appointed the special adviser, security, to the President.
