What I Did to Become Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Special Assistant: 31-Year-Old Lady Finally Reveals

Jemimah Jatau said she became a special assistant to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state after finishing as the best graduating fellow of the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship

Jatau said she also studied at the Harvard Kennedy School courtesy of her feat at the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship.

The 31-year-old lady is the special assistant on inter-governmental relations to the Kaduna state governor.

A 31-year-old lady, Jemimah Jatau, has revealed that her emergence as the best graduating fellow of the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship earned her the Kaduna state governor’s special assistant status and Harvard Kennedy School enrollee.

Jatau, who is the current special assistant on inter-governmental relations to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, made the disclosure on LinkedIn.

The special assistant recently bagged a Masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and won multiple awards.

How it all started Jatau said her former colleague told her about the fellowship which was posted on Governor El-Rufai’s Twitter page in 2018. She was skeptical about it but decided to give it a shot.

“A former colleague of mine had in early 2018 mentioned to me that she had seen a tweet on the Kaduna State Governor’s page calling for applicants for the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship.” According to the young lady, she went through the application stages until she got a confirmation email congratulating her for being amongst the selected 16 people for the fellowship.

She said: “I am forever grateful that I allowed myself to go through the application process which though seemed straight forward, I continued with a healthy dose of suspicion (lol). “I had so many doubts, some of which ranged from the novelty of the programme and my concern about how it could possibly run on merit.

“When the acceptance email came congratulating me on my selection as one of the 16 fellows from across Nigeria to form the 1st cohort, I could not believe it!” She learnt a lot during the fellowship Jatau said the one year she spent in the fellowship has remained the most transforming part of her adult life.

In her words: “The opportunity to live and learn from the 15 other fellows in my cohort who came from various walks of life – medical doctors, lecturers, engineers, and teachers was inspiring. “I was daily in awe that so many young people like myself were eager to contribute their excellent minds to Nigeria’s public service.” She frequented government establishments.

The young lady said during the fellowship, her interests made her frequent the Kaduna State Government House Media Department, the Ministry of Community and Rural Development and the State Primary Healthcare Agency. In her words:

“As I embodied the tenets of the fellowship and daily strove to bring my best self to my tasks, I enjoyed recognition for my contributions to the community service activities, educational seminars and work placements.” Finishing as the best graduating fellow Jatau’s hard work finally yielded fruits as she finished as the best graduating fellow and was appointed as special adviser to Governor El-Rufai. In her words: “Of course, the icing on the cake was the Best Graduating Fellow-Gold Category award which promised an appointment as Special Adviser to the Governor and the opportunity to study at the Harvard Kennedy School.”

Source: LinkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com