Muhammad Sani Abdullahi

Before his appointment as Commissioner in Kaduna State, Abdullahi worked closely with Secretary Ban and UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed. The two share a close mentor-mentee relationship. Earlier he worked as an Economist and Deputy National Program Manager for the Millennium Development Goals at the Nigerian Presidency. He served as Economic Adviser of the Nigeria Governor's Forum after the MDGs. In 2018 he was one of two Nigerians - himself and Sahara Group co-founder, Tonye Cole - appointed to the World Bank Expert Advisory Council on Citizen Engagement.

Abdullahi is a TEDx speaker. He gave a TED talk "As you travel along life, remember..." at TEDxAhmaduBello University in 2018. In 2017, he gave a speech titled "The Cost and Privileges of Public Services" at TEDx Gamji.

Sani Abdullahi obtained his master's degree in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester and obtained a second Masters from Ahmadu Bello University where he studied International Affairs and Diplomacy. He obtained certificates including in Public Finance at the London School of Economics; Sustainable Development at Columbia University and Advanced Project Management at Oxford University. He was part of the 2017 cohort of Georgetown University's Leadership Seminar.

In 2017, Abdullahi was selected as a fellow of the African Leadership Institute - West Africa, a collaborate initiative with the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In 2011, he was involved with the institute as an Archbishop Desmond Tutu fellow.

Abdullahi was involved with the All Progressives Congress Kaduna transition committee in 2015. In 2018 he was appointed as a member of the Kaduna Central campaign directorate for the reelection of Governor Nasir El Rufai.