President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Tanimu Yakubu as the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, following the expiration of Ben Akabueze’s tenure.
A statement by Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, made this known on Thursday.
The President emphasized the expectation for the new Director-General to enhance the efficiency and quality of budget functions, aiming to promote fiscal sustainability, transparency, and accountability in public finance management for national development.
The outgoing Akabueze was initially appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari as Special Adviser Planning (SAP) to the President on February 15, 2016, and later appointed as DG Budget on June 10, 2016. His appointment was renewed by Buhari in 2020.
Meanwhile, Yakubu gets on board with relevant work experience from the banking and finance industry.
Tanimu Yakubu’s background
Born on April 30, 1961, in Kurfi, Katsina State, Tanimu Yakubu has held significant roles in both the private and public sectors. Notably, he served as the Chief Economic Adviser to President Umaru Yar’adua from 2007 to 2010, where he also held the positions of Deputy Chief of Staff and member of the National Economic Management team.
During his tenure, he played key roles in the establishment of Nigeria’s first Sovereign Wealth Fund and was instrumental in resolving the Niger Delta crisis, boosting the country’s crude output by 900,000 barrels per day.
Tanimu Yakubu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 1984 and an MBA in Finance in 1986 from Wagner College, Staten Island, New York, after being expelled from Bayero University, Kano, where he had been an undergraduate accounting student. He is also the founding president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). In 2019, he passed the Fiduciary Awareness Certification Test (FACT) of the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS).
Career
Yakubu’s public service career also includes his role as Honourable Commissioner of Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning in Katsina State from 1999 to 2002. Under his leadership, Katsina State achieved the highest capital to recurrent expenditure ratio among Nigerian states.
From 2003 to 2007, he was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, where he led the first mortgage-backed securitization in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the private sector, he has worked with Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers) and Afri-Projects Consortium (APC), holding positions such as Chief Economist and Principal Investment Adviser.