26-Year-Old Youth Corps Member Appointed Commissioner In Kwara

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has appointed a
serving 26-year-old female Youth Corps member, Miss Joana Nnazua
Kolo as a commissioner.

She was among the four female commissioner-nominees whose names
were forwarded to the Kwara State House of Assembly on Tuesday.

Kolo, the youngest commissioner-nominee in the state’s history,
is a 2018 graduate of Library Science from the Kwara State
University (KWASU). A grassroots mobiliser, Kolo is an ardent
advocate of community development.

If confirmed, she would be Nigeria’s youngest commissioner,
taking the trophy from Oyo State’s 27-year-old Oluwaseun
Fakorede.

Kolo is still having her National Youths Service Corps programme
in Jigawa, where she is teaching at Model Boarding Junior Secondary
School Guri.

Her screening for the cabinet seat would hold after she rounds
off her NYSC service in the next two weeks. She is from Edu Local
Government area of the state.

AbdulRazaq has also nominated a former Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer of the FBN Mortgages Limited, a subsidiary
of the First Bank, Mrs. Folashade Omoniyi, as the new Chairperson
of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). She would
succeed Prof Murtala Awodun whose tenure expires soon.

Omoniyi, who holds a bachelor of engineering from the University
of Ilorin and Masters of Business Administration from Obafemi
Awolowo University, has many years of leadership experience in the
banking sector, marketing, information communication technology,
and business management.

Miss Joana Nnazua Kolo

She has executive education in positive leadership from Michigan
Ross Executive Education (USA); Market Driving Strategies from
London Business School (UK); Strategic Uses of Information
Technology from Stanford Business School ( USA); and Senior
Management Programme (SMP18) from the Lagos Business School
(Nigeria).

Omoniyi is from Irepodun local government area of the state.

The three other nominees are professionals and grassroots
politicians: Mrs Sa’adatu Modibbo-Kawu; Arinola Fatimoh Lawal; and
Aisha Ahman Pategi.

The names of the nominees have been forwarded to the House and
the letter was read at Tuesday’s plenary by the Speaker, Rt.
Honourable Salihu Yakubu Danladi.

A 1997 graduate of Economics from the Usmanu Danfodiyo
University Sokoto, Mrs Modibbo-Kawu also holds Masters in Business
Administration from University of Ilorin and various certificates
from Penn Foster Career School Scranton in the United States and
Metropolitan School of Business and Management in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates. A member of several professional bodies like the
Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria and Nigeria Institute
of Management, she is a co-founder of a number of schools and
learning centres.

She is married to the Director General of the National
Broadcasting Commission, Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu and would be
representing Ilorin South in the cabinet if her nomination scales
through the House of Assembly.

Arinola Fatimoh Lawal, a 1993 graduate of Catering and Hotel
Management from the Kwara State Polytechnic, is a top-rated player
in Nigeria’s hospitality industry with experience as chief
executive officers of several firms, including Batool Nigeria
Limited, Mohbalamira Nigeria Limited and MirMira Enterprise.

Hajia Lawal, who was a member of the Kwara State Transition
Committee in 2019, is a daughter of former Kwara State Governor
Mohammed Lawal from Ilorin East local government.

Her skills cover project management, tourism and hospitality,
change management, and Risk Management. A grassroots mobiliser with
effective leadership skills and emotional intelligence, the nominee
is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State.

A scion of one of Kwara’s oldest political families, nominee
Aisha Ahman-Pategi is a professional business manager with over 20
years experience in communication strategy, investment/financial
consulting, and marketing and motivational leadership. She is a
serial entrepreneur known for a contagious passion for excellence
and innovation with great resource skills in research, government
and relations.

Ms Ahman-Pategi was educated at the School of Remedial Studies
and FASS-International Relations in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
Kaduna State in 1996; Agent and Broker License Barney Fletcher
School, in Atlanta GA, USA in 2004; Capstone Institute of Mortgage
Finance, also in Atlanta in 2006; Stanford University, Stanford
California where she obtained a certificate in Political Science
(Data Analysis) in 2013; Bachelor of Art – Mass Communication from
Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma; and MBA Business Administration
from American Inter-Continental University, Dunwoody GA.

Aisha was Sales Manager for J&S Auto Sales Decatur, GA 30082
before founding A-Line Realty SMYRNA, GA 30082 in 2004 as the
President and Managing Broker. The agency serves more than 300
clients by providing financial planning, assets management,
commercial and residential estate transactions.

Between 2005 and 2007, she joined Continental Mortgage/World
Financial Services Inc., Atlanta, GA 30324 as Financial
Advisor/Mortgage consultant where she assisted clients with their
needs via financial need analysis.

Aisha, a former Senior Special Assistant to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives on Strategy and Communication, has also
worked for the non-profit Project Coach Foundation since 2018 as
executive director.

The non-profit organisation serves the most vulnerable
communities in Nigeria through Community Outreach, Advocacy,
Capacity building and Health (COACH) projects.

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