By Prof Abubakar O.Sulaiman.
There are birthdays that are marked with celebration, and there are birthdays that invite reflection. The 60th birthday of Vice President Kashim Shettima belongs to both.
Sixty years is a significant milestone in the life of any man. But when those six decades have been spent traversing the worlds of banking, public administration, executive leadership, legislation and, ultimately, the Vice Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the occasion becomes more than a birthday. It becomes a moment to contemplate a remarkable journey. Kashim Shettima’s is a story of preparation meeting providence.
Born in Maiduguri on September 2, 1966, he studied Agricultural Economics at the University of Maiduguri and later obtained a master’s degree from the University of Ibadan. He began his professional career in banking, rising through the ranks to become a General Manager at Zenith Bank before making the decisive transition into public service. That transition would reveal another dimension of the man. As a Commissioner in Borno State from 2007, Shettima served in several strategic ministries, including Finance, Education, Agriculture, and Health. In retrospect, those responsibilities constituted a remarkable apprenticeship in governance, exposing him to the diverse challenges that confront a society.
Then came the governorship in 2011. Shettima inherited a Borno State facing one of the gravest security crises in its history. The Boko Haram insurgency was tearing through communities and disrupting the foundations of social life. Yet, rather than allowing the circumstances to define the destiny of the state, his administration pursued reconstruction, education, healthcare, agriculture, and human capital development. In the face of devastation, he chose the audacity of reconstruction. Schools were built. Healthcare facilities were developed. Agriculture received attention. Human capital became a major plank of governance. His administration also established Borno State University, which has since evolved into Kashim Ibrahim University. That decision to continue investing in the future in the middle of crisis remains one of the most compelling aspects of his years in Borno. A university is not merely a collection of buildings; it is an investment in generations yet unborn.
After eight years as governor, Shettima moved to the Senate in 2019, where he continued to enlarge his national political profile. Four years later, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu nominated him as his running mate. On May 29, 2023, the journey from Maiduguri reached Aso Rock. Kashim Shettima became Vice President of Nigeria. Since then, he has assumed a particularly consequential role in the administration. As Chairman of the National Economic Council, he has been at the centre of conversations involving economic coordination between the Federal Government and the states, with particular attention to investment, food security, agriculture, human capital and economic diversification.
In 2026, he has continued to champion the ambition of building a $1 trillion Nigerian economy while advocating greater investment and diversification beyond dependence on crude oil. He has also spoken forcefully about Nigeria’s participation in the emerging artificial intelligence economy and the importance of developing the country’s own capacity for innovation and technological production. From rebuilding a state battered by insurgency to participating in the economic transformation of Africa’s most populous nation, the scale has changed, but the underlying principle remains the same: build for tomorrow. That may well be the most enduring thread in the Shettima story. There is also the question of character.
Politics is often a theatre of shifting alliances and competing interests. Yet Shettima has built a reputation for forthrightness, intellectual confidence, political sagacity, and loyalty. President Tinubu, in his birthday tribute, described him as a patriot whose life has been defined by service, commitment, and sacrifice while commending his courage, diligence, compassion, wisdom, and loyalty. Those qualities are particularly important in the Vice Presidency, an office that demands proximity without rivalry, influence without unnecessary spectacle, and loyalty without surrendering intellectual independence. Shettima has occupied that difficult space with a visible sense of responsibility.
Interestingly, as he attained 60, the Vice President asked friends and well-wishers not to spend money on elaborate celebrations, gifts, or birthday advertisements for him. Instead, he encouraged them to direct such resources towards charity and worthy causes while asking Nigerians to pray for the country. There is something fitting about that gesture. At 60, perhaps the greatest celebration of a public life is not the number of congratulatory messages it attracts, but the number of lives it has touched and the institutions it has helped to strengthen.
Kashim Shettima has travelled a long road. The banker became a commissioner. The commissioner became a governor. The governor became a senator. The senator became Vice President. At every stage, another layer of experience was added to the man. Perhaps that is why his story is worth celebrating. He did not simply rise through the ranks of public life; he accumulated experiences that prepared him for each successive responsibility.
At 60, therefore, we celebrate not merely the office he occupies but the journey that brought him there. We celebrate a son of Maiduguri who became a governor in one of Nigeria’s most difficult moments. We celebrate a politician whose national relevance transcended the boundaries of his state. We celebrate a Vice President who now participates in shaping conversations about the economic and developmental future of Nigeria. And we celebrate a man whose story is still being written.
Sixty is not the conclusion of the journey. It is another threshold. May Almighty Allah preserve Vice President Kashim Shettima, grant him sound health, deepen his wisdom and strengthen him for the responsibilities that lie ahead. May his seventh decade bring greater opportunities for service, greater accomplishments, and an even more enduring legacy.
Happy 60th birthday, Your Excellency, Vice President Kashim Shettima, GCON.
May the years ahead be longer, the wisdom deeper, the service greater, and the legacy indelible.
Prof. Abubakar O.Sulaiman is the Director General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and Former Minister of National Planning.
