Mrs Hadiza Bala-Usman who is the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has explained in details the relationship she has with Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai.
Reports from several media platforms were that Mrs Usman was having a private relationship with El-Rufai which has fostered the growth of her career and her newly acquired position.
The insinuation came because during El-Rufai’s first tenure Usman was his Chief of Staff.
Usman decided to clarify their relationship which she revealed was from a professional stand point in an International Women’s Day program on to Television Continental.
She said, “I am definitely not his (El-Rufai’s) girlfriend. The governor is my mentor and my boss. He has been very supportive of my career and the career of every other woman that has worked for him.”
“As you are aware, Kaduna State is the first state in Northern Nigeria that has an elected female deputy governor. So, you can see he has that commitment to having women in positions of authority so that rumour is completely untrue.
“These are the things they say to women to pull us down. They say for everything you have done in terms of showcasing your competence they always reference and attribute it to the fact that you are in a relationship with another person.
“The bottom line is that you got a job and you perform, so when people reference that you got there because you were somebody’s girlfriend, that is a pull her down.”
