Brief Biography
Professor Sadiq Zubairu Abubakar was born on 24th April 1962 at Hausawa Quarters, Kano Municipal Council, Gwale Local Government Area of present Kano State, Nigeria. He attended Gwale LEA Primary School, Kano, from 1970 to 1977 and proceeded to Ahmadyya College, Kano, from 1977 to 1982 and later to Ahmadu Bello University School of Basic Studies (SBS) from 1982 to 1983. He graduated with a B.Eng. (Agricultural Engineering) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1987 and proceeded for his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Niger State. On the completion of the NYSC programme in 1988, he applied for a temporary appointment as Graduate Assistant in the then Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (AERLS) but was offered appointment as Technical Officer. He was later given full-time appointment by the Council of Ahmadu Bello University as Graduate Assistant with AERSL (now NAERLS), a position he assumed on 29th March 1989. He obtained his MSc in Agricultural Engineering in 1992. Thereafter in 1992, he was promoted to the rank of Extension Specialist II and subsequently to the rank of Extension Specialist I in 1995.
He acquired an MSc (Irrigation and Drainage Engineering) in 1992 and a PhD in 2002 in the same field. He was selected to attend a 6-month international course on Irrigation Engineering and Soil Management in Israel at ARO Bet-de-Gav, Tel-Aviv. Through hard work and dedication, he was awarded a 3-month study fellowship to the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and Rural Development (CIRAD), France, and was also promoted to Senior Extension Specialist in 1998. He was elected to Senate of Ahmadu Bello University representing
Congregation in 1999, a position he held till 2003. On 13th March 2000, he was appointed Zonal Officer for the North-West Zone of NAERLS in charge of 7 states (of Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara). A streak of achievements followed thereafter. In 2003, he was promoted to the rank of Principal Extension Specialist; he was then appointed Deputy Director of NAERLS in 2004 by the Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University. He was nominated by the National Planning Commission to attend a 3-month course on Agricultural Extension Administration and Management in Japan under the auspices of JICA in 2003. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Extension Professor in 2006. In 2008, he was appointed Executive Director of NAERLS and was, by this appointment, elected by the University Senate as a member of the University Governing Council, the highest organ of university administration. He was appointed to represent the Governing Council in the Central Appointment and Promotion Committee of the University in 2009.
