Sani Daura

Sani Zangon Daura originates from the Daura Senatorial zone of Katsina State. He graduated from the School for Arabic Studies in Kano. He was given a scholarship to attend the School for African and Oriental Studies, London in 1961, but returned to Nigeria before completing the course and was admitted to the University of Lagos. During the Nigerian Second Republic in 1979, he was a candidate in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) primaries to run for Governor of Kaduna State, but lost to Alhaji Lawal Kaita. Kaita in turn lost the election to the People's Redemption Party (PRP) candidate Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa.[2]

Appointed Minister of Agriculture in June 1999, Daura laid out a policy for the sector which accounted at that time for 38% of GDP. Elements included increasing production and productivity, agro-technology improvement, poverty alleviation, agro-industry development, export promotion and environmental protection.[3]

In November 2000, he was Nigeria's delegate to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in the Netherlands.[4] Daura was chairman of the Group of 77 (G77), a bloc of 133 developing nations and China. In a major speech at the meeting he warned that poorer countries would not limit their greenhouse gas emissions unless rich countries lived up to their own promises under the Kyoto Protocol.[5] Daura said the US had caused a "plague of climate change" as harmful as the colonization of Africa.[6] The summit failed to achieve any results.[7]

Daura became a member of the board of trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), an influential Northern lobby group. In March 2006, he was among ACF leaders strongly opposed to allowing president Obasanjo to run for a third term in 2007.[8] In December 2008, Daura received the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) award.[9]