ABUJA: Namadi Sambo, confirmed by Nigerian lawmakers on Tuesday as the oil-rich country’s vice president, is an architect by training whose reputation for humility and hard work has followed him into politics.
Sambo, 55, a Muslim and governor of northern Kaduna state was confirmed by both houses of Nigeria’s parliament as the deputy to President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria.
His appointment followed the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua early this month after a long illness which saw Jonathan take over the reins of Africa’s most populous nation.
Hirtherto an obscure figure in politics, he emerged as governor of Kaduna state in the 2007 elections courtesy his predecessor Ahmed Makarfi, who handpicked him to run.
A two-time commissioner (minister) in the Kaduna State government in the 1980s, Sambo held portfolios of agriculture, then public works, transport and housing before he went into private practice.
He rans construction and civil engineering firms, and sat on the board of directors of the Nigerian unit of French oil giant Total.
Sambo has a reputation of being modest, and more a technocrat than a politician.
"Namadi will make a good vice president, due to his humility and hard work," his cousin Abbas Saleh told AFP.
Kaduna-based writer and political commentator, Shehu Sani describes Sambo as "humble and committed", "hardworking" but not a man "that can pull the crowds in the north".
Holder of a masters degree in architecture from Nigeria’s prestigious Ahmadu Bello University in the north, Sambo started off in the 1970s as public worker in nearby Bauchi state designing government offices and staff houses.
Son of a railway worker, Sambo is married and has six children.
His Kaduna State is one of the 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states to have adopted Sharia law a decade ago.
