Sani Zangon Daura Nasiru

Sani Zangon Daura was a Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and later Minister of Environment in the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Born on January 23, 1959, he was dropped from Obasanjo's cabinet on 30 January 2001 during a reshuffle.

Daura originates from the Daura Senatorial zone of Katsina State. He graduated from the School for Arabic Studies in Kano and received a scholarship to attend the School for African and Oriental Studies, London, in 1961, but returned to Nigeria before completing the course. He was admitted into the University of Lagos.

During the Nigerian Second Republic in 1979, he was a candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) primaries to run for governor of Kaduna State but lost to Alhaji Lawal Kaita, who in turn lost to Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).

Appointed Minister of Agriculture in June 1999, Daura formulated a policy for the sector, which contributed 38% to Nigeria’s GDP at the time. His policies included increasing production and productivity, improving agro-technology, poverty alleviation, agro-industry development, export promotion, and environmental protection.

In November 2000, he represented Nigeria as the delegate to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in the Netherlands. As chairman of the Group of 77, he warned that poorer nations would not curb greenhouse gas emissions unless rich countries fulfilled their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The summit did not yield results.

Later in his career, Daura joined the Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), a significant Northern lobbying group. In March 2006, he opposed Obasanjo’s third-term bid in 2007 alongside other ACF leaders.