Vice President Kashim Shettima has been nurturing a new generation of young politicians since his tenure as the Governor of Borno State. One of them is Ishaq Ahmed Ningi, a Bauchi-born, trained architect.
His inclusion in the list of new appointees by President Bola Tinubu in September 2023 as a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Media & Emergency Management (Office of the Vice President) was unsurprising to many who have followed the political journey of Shettima, his boss.
Born Ishaq Ahmad Ningi on July 2, 1987, he graduated from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 2011, where he studied Architecture. He subsequently completed the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme with a civil engineering company in Kaduna from July 2011 to 2012.
Even as an undergraduate at ABU, he actively participated in political activities on campus, serving as the President of the Society of Architecture Students. After graduating, he dedicated more time to political activities while also focusing on self-development. For instance, he attended several workshops and seminars in his field of study, including serving as a guest speaker on entrepreneurship at the IAD (Ideal Aid Initiative), held at Arewa House, Kaduna, in July 2013.
Ishaq Ningi worked with Purple Rose Associates, a Kaduna-based property and real estate company, from 2014 to 2016, where he was part of the architectural design team. He also worked with Kaduna State’s Ministry of Works and Ministry of Budget & Planning (2016), where he collaborated closely with the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics (KDBS) to design the Household Survey of the Kaduna Baseline Report.
He later ventured into active politics and was part of the media team of non-indigenes in Borno who worked with former Governor Kashim Shettima, now Vice President of Nigeria. He served as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor from May 2017 to May 2019.
When Shettima was elected as the Borno Central Senator in the National Assembly in 2019, Ishaq Ningi served as his Personal Assistant, a role he held until May 2023.
Ningi, an alumnus of Zamani College, Kaduna (1998–2004), was a member of several political campaign committees for the All Progressives Congress (APC) at both state and national levels, including the Publicity Committee for APC Borno State Main Campaign Council and the Contact and Mobilization Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in 2019.
In the lead-up to the 2023 General Election, he served as the Assistant Director of Special Projects/New Media for the APC Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC) and co-chaired the Logistics and Welfare Committee for the 2023 Presidential Inauguration, Renewed Hope Concert.
It was not surprising to see him included in the list of new appointments in September 2023 as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Media & Emergency Management (Office of the Vice President), along with others, in a letter dated September 6, 2023.