Mohammed Arzika was appointed Nigerian Minister of Communications from June 1999 to June 2001 in the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
31 Facts About Mohammed Arzika
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Mohammed Arzika died after a brief illness on 9 June 2015.
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Mohammed Arzika was born in Tambuwal, Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Nigeria, on 21 April 1943 to Alhaji Usman Nabungudu and Hajiya Bilikisu.
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Mohammed Arzika attended Tambuwal Primary School from 1951 to 1953, Sokoto Middle School from 1953 to 1955 and Provincial Secondary School from 1955 to 1961.
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Mohammed Arzika attended Barewa College from 1962 to 1963 and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Institute of Administration, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public administration from 1964 to 1967.
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Mohammed Arzika moved to the NorthWestern State Civil Service in 1971 as Senior Assistant Secretary and returned to the Federal Civil Service in 1972.
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Mohammed Arzika was posted to the Nigeria Embassy to the United States, Washington DC as Recruitment Attache from 1972 to 1975.
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Mohammed Arzika retired from the Civil Service in this position in 1984 to enter private business and later joined politics.
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Mohammed Arzika formed an agricultural business MAZ Agricultural Enterprises Ltd in 1984 which was focused on agriculture and MAZ Global Ventures Ltd which focused on commodity trading.
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Mohammed Arzika was a member of the Sokoto State Elders Committee and Turaki National Elders Committee.
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Mohammed Arzika was the Chairman of the People's Solidarity Party, one of the political parties that applied for registration when General Ibrahim Babangida started preparing for a transition to democracy in 1991, later merging into the Social Democratic Party.
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Mohammed Arzika contested for and lost the National Chairmanship of the Social Democratic Party to Ambassador Babgana Kingibe in June 1990.
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Mohammed Arzika was included in the Elders Committee of the SDP until it was scrapped by General Sani Abacha in November 1993.
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In 1998, Mohammed Arzika joined with a group of prominent politicians headed by Chief Solomon Lar known as G18 from Northern Nigeria to ask General Sani Abacha to resign from office and return Nigeria to civil rule.
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Mohammed Arzika chose to remain in Sokoto to organize the party and was its first State Chairman.
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In June 1999 Mohammed Arzika was appointed Minister of Communications in Obasanjo's first cabinet.
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Mohammed Arzika published a formal telecommunications policy in May 2000.
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Mohammed Arzika promised to provide telephone service in all the local government areas.
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At the opening session of the second Africa Internet Summit in September 2000, Mohammed Arzika said the Nigerian government had identified access to telecommunications as a critical factor in the development of all aspects of the nation's economy.
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Mohammed Arzika made a strong case for expanding NITEL to transform it into a "viable, reliable and technologically sound company to enable it to meet the demands of government's deregulation and privatisation policies".
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In December 2000, Mohammed Arzika said that plans to privatize NITEL had received a favorable reaction both within and outside the country.
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In March 2001, Mohammed Arzika visited the People's Republic of China accompanied by Ojeba and met with his counterpart Mr Wu Jichuan, where they discussed approaches both countries were taking to ensure rapid telecoms growth.
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Mohammed Arzika remained an active member of the local community in Sokoto and Tambuwal.
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Mohammed Arzika was an active member in the Sokoto State Educational Development Foundation, Sokoto State University Governing Council and Tambuwal Educational Development Council.
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Mohammed Arzika was instrumental to the establishment of Federal Government Girls College Tambuwal and Community School Tambuwal.
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Mohammed Arzika was an avid squash player, Chairman of the Sokoto State Squash Racket Association and cyclist until an injury forced his retirement from the game in 1999.
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Mohammed Arzika read very widely and travelled all over the world.
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Mohammed Arzika maintained an active life until he developed heart problems in 2015 and died shortly afterward.
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Mohammed Arzika was married to Fatima daughter of former President Shagari with whom he had six children; she died in 2007.
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Mohammed Arzika married Hadiza and they had seven children; she died in the ADC plane crash of 2006.
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Mohammed Arzika was survived by 12 children and several grandchildren.