Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'adua appointed Alhaji Umaru
Aji Federal Ministry of Education's Permanent Secretary on
Thursday 22 November, 2007. Previously, Alhaji Aji was Federal
Ministry of the Interior Permanent Secretary.

Alhaji Umaru Aji began his career in 1976 as a Graduate Assistance
at the Department of Education, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.
He completed his teaching tour there in 1979, as Lecturer II.
He transferred his services to the Gumel Advanced Teachers'
College, as Lecturer I, in the then Kano State, from 1979 to
1980. In 1979, the government of Alhaji Abubakar Rimi set up the
Kano State Agency for Mass Education. Alhaji Aji was brought in as
pioneer Director and Head of that Agency, building it up from
scratch into an international-award-winning outfit, before
leaving in October of 1983.

From October 1983 to February 1985, Umaru was a Senior Lecturer in
Foundations of Education and Adult Education, with the Kano State
College of Education; and a Vice Principal, School of Management
Studies, Kano State, from March 1985 to June 1986. In July 1986, he
was recalled to the Kano State Agency for Mass Education as
Director, until April 1988. A career with the Directorate for
Social Mobilization (MAMSER) then followed: as a Director for
Mass Education based in Abuja; Director, Research, Monitoring and
Evaluation; and as the Executive Kano State Director of MAMSER
from September 1991 to March 1992.

With the creation of Jigawa State in 1991, Umaru Aji was appointed
the Honourable Commissioner of Education, a post he held from March
1992 to November 1993. After this brief stay with Jigawa State,
Umaru returned to the Federal Service as Executive Secretary,
National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal
Education. In January 2001, he was appointed the Permanent
Secretary, Federal Ministry of Sports and Social Development, and
later moved on the same position to the Public Service Office in
the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation from
July 2001 to August 2003; then to Federal Ministry of Health
from August 2003.

Born in Guri town of Guri District, Hadejia, Jigawa State, Nigeria,
Alhaji Aji attended Junior Primary School from 1959 – 1962. He later
went on to Hadejia Boarding Primary School in 1963, completing his
primary education in 1965. In 1966, he was admitted into the famous
Keffi Government College where he spent the next five years. He
was admitted into the School of Basic Studies (SBS), Ahmadu
Bello University (ABU), Zaria from 1971 to 1972. After SBS,
, Alhaji Aji was admitted into Ahmadu Bello University in 1972 to
study Education. He obtained his B.A (Education) from that
University in 1975, graduating with a Second Class Honours,
Upper Division degree. Two years later, in 1977, he registered
with ABU for his second degree, obtaining his Master of Education
(M.Ed) in Curriculum and Instruction, in 1979. Alhaji Aji
further raised his formal education with a top Management course
for senior executives at the Administrative Staff College of
Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos.

Interestingly, Alhaji Aji's many awards and honours include: Officer
of the Order of the Niger (OON), conferred on him by Nigeria's
Federal Government. Other notable honours are: the UNESCO International
Prize during 1993 and 1990 - for excellent performance at the Kano State
Agency for Mass Education; the National Association of Nigerian Students
(NANS) honours for best performance in Mass Literacy in Nigeria, 1983;
and various other local and international recognitions.

Accordingly, Alhaji Umaru Aji is a member of several professional
associations. He is the First National Vice-President, Nigeria National
Council for Adult Education; member, Commonwealth Association for the
Training and Education of Adults; member, African Association for
Literacy and Adult Education; affiliate member, International Council
for Adult Education; and the Patron of the Nigerian Non-Governmental
Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS).

A long distinguished career in public service has seen Alhaji Umaru Aji
represent State and Federal governments in different capacities, both
at home and abroad; as well as being member of several committees. In
1981, he led a Kano State delegation to Ethiopia, to understudy that
country’s Mass Literacy Programmes preparatory to setting up
The Agency for Mass Education in Kano. In 1982 and 1986, he was a
member of two different committees looking at, respectively, the
problems of education and social sector services.

Between 1980 to 2001, Umaru Aji was either a member or leader -
representing Nigeria in numerous teams and committees, some of which
were: Member: National Delegation to the UNESCO International
Conference on Adult Education, Hamburg, Germany; Member: National
Delegation to the Ministerial Meeting of the Nine High Population
Developing Nations on Education for All, Indonesia; Leader:
Super Eagles National Footbal [Soccer] Team to the World Cup
qualifying matches in Sierra Leone and Namibia; and Nigerian
Representative, at the UNESCO International Conference
and Study Visit on Distance Education and Open Learning,
Australia; as well as other representations.