Tijjani Yahaya Kaura, MFR, was born on 3 February 1959 in Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State. What follows is a straightforward record of a public service career that now spans more than three decades and has run through local government, federal ministries, the Senate, a regional parliament, and the leadership of two federal agencies, before arriving at Inland Drills Limited.
1991–1998: Executive Chairman, Kaura Namoda Local Government
Kaura’s public life began at the level of government closest to the people it serves. He was twice elected Executive Chairman of Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, holding the office across two separate terms between 1991 and 1998. His time in office also coincided with the founding of the Namoda Community Bank, of which he became pioneer chairman, an early example of building local financial infrastructure directly rather than waiting for it to arrive from Abuja.
National Population Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Between his local government chairmanship and his election to the Senate, Kaura’s public service moved through the National Population Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both postings sit outside elected office, inside the federal civil service and diplomatic machinery, giving him working experience of how federal institutions actually function from the inside before he arrived in the Senate to help oversee them.
2015–2019: Senator for Zamfara North
Kaura represented Zamfara North in the Senate for a single term, during which he chaired the Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs and sat concurrently in the ECOWAS Parliament. It was his first legislative mandate and his first experience directing a committee charged with holding federal institutions to the constitutional balance they are required to meet.
July 2022–October 2023: Managing Director/CEO, Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority
Kaura was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, the federal agency responsible for Nigeria’s oil and gas free trade zones. His fifteen-month tenure was built around corporate governance, transparency and accountability, and around direct engagement with the communities hosting free zone operations, on the reasoning that investor confidence tracks community confidence.
9 February 2026: Chairman, NEPZA Governing Board
Kaura was inaugurated as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, the federal agency regulating the wider category of export processing zones across every sector, extending directly from his OGFZA tenure into its sister agency on the broader export-zone side.
2027: A declared return to the Senate
Kaura has declared his intention to contest the Zamfara North senatorial seat again in the 2027 general elections, campaigning on jobs for qualified young people in the constituency and educational development.
Where Inland Drills fits
Inland Drills Limited was founded by Kaura in the mineral belt of the state where his public career began. The company’s operating principles, licensed titles, measured geology, host communities engaged before equipment arrives, and financial and operational records built to withstand scrutiny, are a direct extension of the standard he set across three decades of public office: govern before you’re asked to, and treat transparency as infrastructure rather than an afterthought.
