Rimini Makama

Rimini Haraya Makama is the Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management) of the Nigerian Communications Commission. She was confirmed to her position by the Nigerian Senate on 21st May 2024 following her nomination by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR on 23rd February 2024.

Ms Makama is an internationally experienced senior executive known for her talent in building trusted advisor relationships with governments. Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation as a commercially minded and politically astute leader. Her significant contributions to transformational shifts in Africa were recognized in 2014 when she was named in the Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women Under 40 in Africa list.

Before assuming her current role in the Nigerian Communications Commission, Ms Makama played various roles at Microsoft from 2016 to 2023, notably as the Government Affairs Director for MEA Emerging Markets. In this capacity, she was instrumental in creating a policy landscape that facilitated the adoption of public cloud technology by the public sector in various markets across MEA. Her central role in defining a digital transformation framework for governments, placing Microsoft solutions at the forefront of public sector technology, stands out as a key achievement.

During her tenure at Microsoft, Ms Makama represented the company’s interests on the Digital Economy Task Force of the US Chamber of Commerce and the SMART Africa Alliance. She also became known for disseminating key messages on AI ethics, notably appearing as an AI policy expert speaker at the UNESCO Forum on Artificial Intelligence in 2018. Her efforts at Microsoft were acknowledged with the Be the Change Award, which celebrates extraordinary contributions.

Ms Makama’s career also includes a significant tenure with Africa Practice as Communications Director for West Africa. In this role, she successfully translated the strategic communication needs of major corporations such as Uber, PayPal, CNN, Google SSA, Bloomberg LP, Sage VIP, Actis West Africa, and The African Union into effective solutions, collaborating closely with high-level government stakeholders. Her work in positioning Blackberry in Nigeria is particularly noteworthy. Prior to africapractice she was Principal Legal Assistant, Office of Legal Affairs – International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) in Lyon, France.

Additionally, Ms Makama has authored numerous articles on technology and AI themes for prominent media outlets such as The Guardian, Financial Times, and Punch etc.

Ms Makama holds an LLM in International Law and World Order from the University of Reading, United Kingdom, an LLB from the University of Jos, Nigeria and has been called to the Nigerian Bar. Non professional interest: film production (Executive Producer: Green White Green (TIFF 2016, Netflix 2017-2019, Amazon currently) & The Lost Okoroshi (TIFF 2019, BFI 2019 – Netflix Worldwide 2020-2022).