ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AS PUBLISHED BY DAILY TRUST NEWSPAPER ON MAY 17, 2004 pg22

(with few editing to reflect new changes since then)

YUSHAU A. SHUAIB (Idiagbon)

Award Winning PR man

Popularly called Idiagbon during his university days, Yushau Abdulhameed Shuaib, has distinguished himself with several credible awards in the field of public relations. Notable amongst them are Campus Writer of the year, Alhaji Sabo Mohammed Best Student in Public Relations, Delta State NYSC Merit Award, Automatic Scholarship for the Best Corps Writer, Head of State National NYSC Honours Award, NIPR Public Relations Person of the year in Kano/Jigawa State and the Young Achiever of the year from a Business Delegation Group.

In a country where employment is scarce, Mr. Shuaib was fortunate to get jobs after his National Youth service in 1993 through automatic employment awards for distinguished service and exemplary roles. Those automatic employment awards he accepted in the public sector include Governor Felix Ibru Automatic Employment in Delta State Civil service where he worked in State House, Asaba as a PRO and Presidential Automatic Employment into Federal Civil Service in 1994 which afforded him the opportunity to serve in Federal Ministries of Information, Finance and Health in various capacities as Press Secretary, Chief Protocol Officer and Personal Assistant to Hon. Minister. His appointments and postings were never based on parochial and primordial consideration of ethnicity, religion and age. He was Head of Press and Public Relations in the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) between September 1999 to August 2006 before moving to the National Press Centre, Abuja where he served as Head of Features and Economic Desk for the next two years. He is presently Head of Press and Public Relations at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Abuja since October 2008.

His leadership qualities manifest by the success stories of those that work with him. Two corps members who served under him in 2003/2005, Mr. Anthony Ochela and Mrs. Hauwa Muhammad emerged amongst the Best Five award winners in NYSC FCT and received the Minister’s Cash Prize for distinguished service in media relations and social services. One of them later won the National (NYSC) Honours Award.

Born on October 10, 1969 in the ancient city of Kano to the family of Dr. (Imam) Abdulhameed Shuaib Agaka PhD, Shuaib attended Kwalli Special Primary School (1976-81), School for Arabic Studies SAS (1981-86) and Bayero University (1987-92) all in Kano. A graduate of Mass-Communication/Islamic Studies, he holds a Diploma from International School of Public Relations London and postgraduate Diploma in Banking and Finance from University of Abuja. He has also attended a number of foreign training and management development programmes sponsored by the World Bank and other multilateral institutions between 1995 and 2000.

Writing being his hobby since university days, he has a dual identity as a writer and also dual identity as a Nigerian. As a writer he distinguished himself between a public commentator who exercises the right to express himself freely on topical and sensitive issues and that of a civil servant who writes cautiously in line with rules and procedure. As a Nigerian he was born and brought up in Kano, while his parents were born in the Ilorin Emirate of Kwara State. Because of his strong interest in writing to inform and entertain the public, he founded and edited a community tabloid, Dukawuya Newsletter in Kano City, edited Mega Voice of Ilorin Students Union and also introduced and edited other informative publications wherever he finds himself. Some of them include Delta Corper Newsletter, Finance News, FAAC News, Revenue Commission Bulletin and Revenue Outlook. He has to his credit over 100 published articles in virtually all the national newspapers. Some of his published works include poetry, short stories, and features. He also published a novel “Nightmare for the Rich” and two professional textbooks, “Financial Public Relations,” “Strictly Personal-Writings for The Media,” and "A Dozen Tips for Media Relations." With advancement in Information Technology, some of his recent write-ups can be accessed from popular online forum and journals on Nigeria such as economicconfidential.com, nigeriavillagesquare.com, gamji.com, chatafrikarticles.com nigeriaworld.com, amanaonline.com  nigerdeltacongress.com, arewa-online.com,   and allafrica.com.

Shuaib had held several positions during his school days. He was PRO Mass-Communication Student Association, elected Students Representative, Chairman Bayero University Pen Club and Editor-in-Chief of some popular campus publications like Campus Voice, Campus Express and Editorial Member of Beacon, the official newspaper of Mass-Communication Department. While still a student, he had a brief stint in the Pen and Alkalemi newspapers in Kano, owned by Alhaji Bashir Tofa. He was of recent, the Protem Chairman of BUK Alumni, Abuja Chapter.

As a professional in his chosen field, he is a member of Association of Nigerian Author (ANA), Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), British Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and International Public Relations Association (IPRA). He is also patron of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Abuja Chapter. In view of the interesting nature of his assignment, he has travelled widely within and outside the country. Some of the cities he visited include those in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, and all West African Countries except Liberia. He is happily married to Sikrat and blessed with four children: Gidado, Saad, Abdulhameed and Suleman.