Ireti Kingibe’s Bold Step

Hajia Habeebah Ireti, wife of Amb. Babagana Kingibe, a former Secretary to the Federal Government, is beautiful, bold and brainy. People in the FCT Abuja, repose so much confidence in her because of her unwavering commitment to their cause.

At a time when people in the FCT needed someone who could bring to them the dividends of democracy, they turned to her to represent them in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly. 

But they were gravely disappointed when she withdrew from the senatorial race to represent the FCT in 2014 .

Although she tried to rationalise her withdrawal from the race then, her people insisted she has to come back. Indeed, for some time, the civil engineering graduate has been under pressure to throw her cap into the ring again to give the FCT good representation in the Senate, which they had missed for too long.

The multiple-award winner and younger sister to Nigeria’s former First Lady, Ajoke Mohammed, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota, United States, in 1980, becoming one of the very few female engineers in Nigeria at that time.

At various times, she was Quality Control Engineer of Bradley Precast Concrete Incorporated in Minnesota, USA, as well as Roads and Highway Designer in the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

On her return to Nigeria, she served at the Nigerian Air Force headquarters in Lagos for her compulsory National Youth Service from 1981 to1982. While there, she participated actively in some projects of the force, including the supervision of a water project at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Ikeja, Lagos.

A frontline philanthropist and outstanding advocate of women empowerment, Hajiya Kingibe has deployed her talent to  the improvement of the society.