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Iya Abubakar

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Iya Abubakar
Senator from Adamawa North
In office
May 1999 – May 2007
Preceded byPaul Wampana
Succeeded byMohammed Mana
ConstituencyAdamawa North
Federal Minister of Internal Affairs
In office
1981–1982
PresidentShehu Shagari
Preceded byMaitama Bello Yusuf
Succeeded byAli Baba
Federal Minister of Defence
In office
24 October 1979 – January 1981
PresidentShehu Shagari
Preceded byOlusegun Obasanjo
Succeeded byAkanbi Oniyangi
Director, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
In office
1972–1975
Personal details
Born
Iya Abubakar Belel

(1934-12-13) 13 December 1934 (age 90)
Belel, Northern Cameroons (now in Adamawa State, Nigeria)
Political partyPeoples Democratic Party (since 1999)
Other political
affiliations		National Party of Nigeria (1979–1983)
Alma materUniversity of Ibadan
ProfessionMathematician, professor, politician

Iya Abubakar (born 14 December 1934) is a Nigerian politician and mathematician who held multiple cabinet level appointments (Minister of Defence and Minister of Internal Affairs) during the Nigerian Second Republic, and Senator for Adamawa North from May 1999 to May 2007.[1]

Birth and academic career

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Iya Abubakar was born in Belel, British Cameroon (now in Adamawa State, Nigeria), on December 14, 1934. He attended Yola Middle School (now General Murtala Mohammed College), Government College (now Barewa College) in Zaria, and the Nigerian College of Technology, also in Zaria. He achieved a first class honors degree in Mathematics at the University College, Ibadan (now University of Ibadan), before he went to England for postgraduate studies at Cambridge University in 1958.[2][3] In 1960, he conducted research at the Pasadena Seismological Laboratory in the United States for a year. A year later, he was awarded a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and theoretical physics from Cambridge University, becoming the first person from the Northern region of Nigeria to receive this degree.[3]

He worked as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan in 1965–66, before being appointed as professor of mathematics at Ahmadu Bello University at the age of 28, in 1967.[4] He held this position until 1975, as well as a visiting professorship at the City University of New York from 1971 to 1972. In 1975, he was appointed the vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, a position he held until 1978. However, following the Ali Must Go student protests of 1978, the Supreme Military Council forced him to resign from his position.[5]

Abubakar was a director of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 1972 to 1975.[6]

Political career

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After the military government relinquished power in 1979, kickstarting the Nigerian Second Republic, Abubakar joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1978, and was appointed National Vice Chairman representing Gongola State.[7]: 257 [8]

After Shehu Shagari, the NPN candidate, won the 1979 presidential election, Abubakar served in Shagari's cabinet as Minister of Defence.[7]: 352  In May 1980, in response to South Africa's rumored nuclear weapons activities, he stated that "as long as the protagonists of apartheid have access to nuclear capability, Nigeria should, of necessity, endeavor to acquire it at any price."[9][10][11]

In January 1981, Akanbi Oniyangi succeeded him as Defence Minister.[12]: 251 [13] However, he was reinstated as Minister of Internal Affairs by Shagari.[12]: 301 

From 1993 to 2005, Abubakar was the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Ibadan. In the late 1990s, he served as director of the National Mathematical Centre at Abuja and chaired both the National Manpower Commission of Nigeria and the non-governmental Africa International Foundation for Science and Technology.[6][14][15]

Abubakar was elected Senator for the Adamawa North constituency of Adamawa State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999.[16] He was reelected in April 2003.[17] After taking his seat in the Senate in June 1999 he was appointed to committees on Public Accounts, Banking & Currency (chairman), Commerce and Finance & Appropriation.[18] Abubakar has also chaired the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation[19] and the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.[20][21][22]

Bibliography

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References

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  1. ^ Ibrahim, Abubakar Adam (2019-12-15). "Senator Iya Abubakar at 84". Daily Trust. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. ^ Great Britain. Colonial Office (1958). Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations on the administration of the Cameroons under United Kingdom trusteeship. Wellcome Library. London : H.M.S.O. p. 220.
  3. ^ a b "Northerner Awarded Ph.D." Federal Nigeria. V (6 & 7). Lagos: 14. June 1962.
  4. ^ "Iya Abubakar". Mathematicians of the African Diaspora. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  5. ^ Austin, Dennis (1980). "Universities and the Academic Gold Standard in Nigeria". Minerva. 18 (2): 201–242. doi:10.1007/BF01100247. ISSN 0026-4695. JSTOR 41820400.
  6. ^ a b Who's Who 2006. Bloomsbury USA. 2006. ISBN 1-59691-218-9.
  7. ^ a b Ojiako, James O. (1981). Nigeria : yesterday, today, and-- ?. Onitsha, Nigeria: Africana Educational Publishers. ISBN 978-978-175-006-9.
  8. ^ Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (Anthony Hamilton Millard) (1981). Nigeria since 1970 : a political and economic outline. New York: Africana Pub. Co. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8419-0712-6.
  9. ^ Dunn, Lewis A. (1982). Controlling the bomb : nuclear proliferation in the 1980s. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-300-02820-1.
  10. ^ Africa after the Cold War : the changing perspectives on security. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 1998. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-86543-650-3.
  11. ^ Ihonvbere, Julius O. (1987). "Economic Contraction and Foreign Policy in the Periphery: A Study of Nigeria's Foreign Policy towards Africa in the Second Republic (1979-1983)". Africa Spectrum. 22 (3): 267–284. ISSN 0002-0397. JSTOR 40174296.
  12. ^ a b n/a (1982-01-01). Nigeria, A Country Study (Area Handbook Series). Headquarters, Dept. of the Army.
  13. ^ Peters, Jimi (1987). "Nigeria's Intelligence System: An Analysis". Africa Spectrum. 22 (2): 181–191. ISSN 0002-0397. JSTOR 40174640.
  14. ^ "NMC Abuja". www.nmcabuja.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  15. ^ "NMC Abuja". www.nmcabuja.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  16. ^ "FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF 20 FEBRUARY AND 7 MARCH 1999". Psephos. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  17. ^ "Senators". Dawodu. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  18. ^ "Congressional Committees". Nigeria Congress. Archived from the original on 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  19. ^ Hallah, Tashikalmah (April 16, 2003), "Nigeria: Iya Abubakar Predicts Boom for Adamawa", Daily Trust.
  20. ^ Idris, Hassan (September 10, 2003), "Nigeria: Senate to Sign IT Policy Bill Soon - Prof. Abubakar", Daily Trust.
  21. ^ Hassan, Idris (September 10, 2003). "Nigeria: Senate to Sign IT Policy Bill Soon - Prof. Abubakar". Daily Trust. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  22. ^ Admin (2018-02-26). "ABUBAKAR, Prof. Iya". Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
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