As with most appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari since he assumed office over a year ago, this week’s announcement of 40-year old Hadiza Bala Usman as the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has set tongues wagging. This is set on the background of perceived deliberate disregard for diversity, in ethnicity, age and gender, by Mr President in his appointments. The arguments put forward by the pro-diversity groups are sometimes hard to refute but discourse on the efficacy or otherwise of Federal Character as a vehicle for national development is meal for another day.

Hadiza Bala Usman’s appointment makes her the first ever female Managing Director of the NPA and indeed the first female chief executive of a top tier federal government agency. According to reports, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, motivated by the need for a positive and progressive change in the operations of the NPA recommended Hadiza for the position as replacement for outgoing MD, Alhaji Habib Abdullahi.

If those reports are true, and I have no reason to doubt they are, Hadiza’s appointment would mark a departure from Nigeria’s political leadership culture of rewarding people, and or ethnic zones, with appointments for supporting a party and its candidate at the election. It could very well birth a new era in Nigeria’s political system where competence, character and credibility are the factors upon which people are judged before they are given assignments rather than the tribe they are from or the language they speak.

Hadiza Bala Usman’s track record shows that if change and efficiency is what Amaechi and President Buhari want at the NPA, she is the woman for the job. A versatile administrator, Hadiza holds an MA in Development Studies from the University of Leeds having preciously obtained a B.Sc in Business Administration from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. A career that started as Research Assistant at the Centre for Democratic Development and Research Training in Zaria has progressed to Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.

For President Buhari, Hadiza’s appointment as MD of NPA presents the perfect opportunity to show that diversity and competence are not mutually exclusive terms in leadership. With dwindling oil revenue and the need to diversify Nigeria’s stream of income, the NPA is a central element to making Nigeria a service-based economy. And Hadiza’s track record shows she is the perfect pick to lead such an organisation into the 21st century style of operations that would make it a backbone of Nigeria’s economy.

The debate on whether an outsider like Hadiza would be able to lead the NPA effectively is best laid to rest when her records at the Bureau of Public Enterprise (Enterprise Officer) and Federal Capital Territory Administration (Special Assistant to the Minister on Project Implementation) are examined. Not only is she competent, she also has the strength of character to institutionalize a culture of credibility and service lacking in most government agencies, the NPA inclusive.

Hadiza is not new to leadership, and she is also not new to the politics of leadership, having served as a member of the APC Strategy Committee and as Member and Secretary of the APC National Elections Planning Committee.  A fearless activist, Hadiza co-founded the global #BringBackOurGirls movement in demanding the rescue of the 219 school girls kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram. Financial Times named Hadiza amongst the most influential women of 2014.

Appointments like this represent the right dose of youth, capacity and competence that needs to be injected into Nigeria’s civil service leadership for our ailing economy to stand any chance of an expedited recovery. President Buhari is certainly right on this one!

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