Halima Adamu
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Halima Adamu | |
|---|---|
| Kaduna State Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning | |
| In office 1986–1988 | |
| Governor | Dangiwa Umar |
| Preceded by | Samaʼila Mamman |
| Succeeded by | Charles Garba Ali Madaki |
| Kaduna State Commissioner of Health | |
| In office 1985–1986 | |
| Governor | Dangiwa Umar |
| Succeeded by | Musa Shok |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 August 1950 |
| Relations | Mamman Nasir (cousin) |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Ahmadu Bello University |
| Profession | Paediatrician, writer |
Halima Yelwa Adamu OON (born 21 August 1950) is a Nigerian paediatrician and civil servant. She is among the first female medical doctors from Northern Nigeria. Adamu is known for her service as a commissioner in both Kaduna and Katsina States during the 1980s, her role in the establishment of the Federal Character Commission and her advocacy for women's access to healthcare, education and financial independence in Nigeria.
Halima Yelwa Adamu was born on 21 August 1950 in Katsina, Colonial Nigeria. Her father was a civil servant employed in the health sector.[1][2]
Adamu attended several schools for her primary education, including Iyatanchi Primary School (1957–1958), Aya Primary School in Funtua (1958), Kofar Fada Primary School in Malumfashi (1958–1959), and Rafukka Practice School in Katsina (1959–1960).[1][2]
Adamu continued her education at Provincial Girls School in Katsina from 1961 to 1963 and Government Girls Secondary School, Dala in Kano Province from 1964 to 1970.[2] After completing secondary school, she applied to study Mathematics at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, but switched to Medicine partly due to familial pressure and her own admiration for nurses she had seen at the General Hospital in Katsina.[1] She received a scholarship to study Medicine at ABU in 1971, graduating in 1976.[2]
Adamu was the second woman from Northern Nigeria to receive a medical degree, after Uratu Yerima Balla.[3][4][5] From 1983 to 1984, she completed a postgraduate course at the School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool.[1][2]