Halima Adamu

Halima Yelwa Adamu (born 21 August 1950) is a Nigerian paediatrician and civil servant. She is among the first female medical doctors from Northern Nigeria. Adamu is known for her service as a commissioner in both Kaduna and Katsina States during the 1980s, her role in the establishment of the Federal Character Commission and her advocacy for women's access to healthcare, education and financial independence in Nigeria.

Early life and education Halima Yelwa Adamu was born on 21 August 1950 in Katsina, Colonial Nigeria. Her father was a civil servant employed in the health sector.

Adamu attended several schools for her primary education, including Iyatanchi Primary School (1957–1958), Aya Primary School in Funtua (1958), Kofar Fada Primary School in Malumfashi (1958–1959), and Rafukka Practice School in Katsina (1959–1960). From 1983 to 1984, she completed a postgraduate course at the School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool.

Under the military administration of Colonel Dangiwa Umar in Kaduna State, Adamu first served as State Commissioner of Health and later as State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning from 1985 to 1988. When Katsina State was created from Kaduna State in 1987, she joined the new state's first cabinet as an appointee of Governor Umar, serving under Governor Sarki Mukhtar until 1988.

In 1995, Adamu was appointed into the newly created Federal Character Commission to work in a team "trying establish the structure of the commission." She is a member of the Medical Women's Association of Nigeria and of Advocacy Nigeria,

The now defunct Halima Adamu Community College of Health Sciences and Technology in Malumfashi was named in her honour.

Awards and honors On 9 October 2000, President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded Adamu the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).