Buhari Extols SGF Boss Mustapha at 65

*Says his respect for the ‘dedicated public servant’ has grown stronger

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Mr. Boss Mustapha, who has been serving as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), since 2017, will clock 65 today, and President Muhammadu Buhari was quick to dispatch a birthday goodwill message to him, describing the SGF as a dedicated public servant.

Buhari’s message was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled, “President Buhari extols boss Mustapha at 65, describes him as a dedicated public servant.”

The President said his respect and admiration for Mustapha had grown stronger since he assumed his role as SGF.

Buhari stated: “Since his appointment as SGF, my respect and admiration for Mustapha have grown ever stronger and deeper because of the passion and energy with which he does his job.
“Mr. Mustapha is a remarkably competent person who enjoys the confidence and support of his colleagues.”
Buhari commended him for “playing a big part in the nation’s unparalleled success in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

The President urged other public servants to borrow a leaf from Boss Mustapha “who does his job with passion and amazing talent for details.”
The SGF was born Boss Gidahyelda Mustapha on September 4, 1956 in Garaha, a village located in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

He attended primary school in Hong, Adamawa and proceeded to North East College of Arts and Sciences in Maiduguri, Borno State for his high school education. He graduated in 1976. He also attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria where he received Bachelor of Law (LL.B) in 1979. He proceeded to Nigeria Law School, Lagos for mandatory one-year law class and graduated in 1980. He was called to Nigerian Bar in the same year. He did his one-year mandatory national service between 1980 and 1981.

Mustapha started his legal practice in Messrs Onagoruwa & Co chambers in Lagos as a Counsel in 1983. He had a stint at an Italian consultancy firm Sotesa Nigeria Limited earlier. In 1994, he stablished his own law practice firm, Messrs Mustapha and Associates and served as its Principal Counsel until 2000. He later worked in another law firm, Adriot Lex & Co., serving as Principal Consultant from 2000 to 2006.
The SGF entered politics in the 1980s and was a member of the Constituent Assembly, the body that drafted the Constitution of the Third Nigerian Republic.

In 1989, Mustapha was the state chairman of the Peoples Solidarity Party (PSP) in defunct Gongola State, but the party was among the several others disbanded by military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Between 1990 and 1991, Mustapha was Adamawa State chairman of the Social Democratic Party, one of the two state-created political parties during the military regime. He ran unsuccessfully for Adamawa State governorship in 1991 under the party but lost to Abubakar Saleh Michika of National Republican Convention (NRC).

He was previously managing director of Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority until his appointment in 2017 to replace Babachir David Lawal as SGF.