Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai - Education

Education

EL-Rufai was born in Daudawa of Faskari Local Government Area in Katsina State. Despite his northern upbringing, Nasir El-Rufai has always said he is "Nigerian" first before being "Hausa". His father who lived on a pension of three pounds a month died while the young Nasir was 8. He was sponsored throughout his schooling days by an uncle in Kaduna, and as a result grew up in the influential Northern state. He went to secondary school in the prestigious Barewa College, where he graduated at the top of the class, winning the coveted "Barewa Old Boys' Association Academic Achievement" Trophy in 1976. Incidentally, in Barewa College, the former President Umaru Yar'Adua was the House Captain of Mallam Smith House which was Nasir's dormitory as a junior. He went off to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, earning a Bachelor in Quantity Surveying degree with First Class Honors. He also attended post-graduate programs at Harvard Business School and Georgetown University. Since leaving public service, Nasir has completed an LL.B degree from the University of London, graduating in August 2008 with Second Class Honors, Upper Division, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in June 2009. He also received the Kennedy School Certificate in Public Policy and Management having been spent 11 months as an Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management from July 2008 to June 2009.