Meet the incredible mother and supervisor of Arewa Youths Mentorship Program (AYMP), Professor Rabi’a Salihu Sa’id. She has consistently been a remarkable role model and a source of encouragement for all the mentors throughout the AYMP journey. We are truly fortunate to have someone of her calibre as part of the AYMP team, and we greatly appreciate her invaluable contributions. Professor’s remarkable profile speaks volumes about her outstanding achievements and contributions to knowledge.
Professor Rabia Salihu Sa’id is a trained Atmospheric Physicist who had always had a strong motivation for community service and the good that can be done to uplift the vulnerable in our communities. She has a strong motivation for the well-being of young girls and women but has been a strong mentor for boys and men as well. She states that In her academic education and research, she discovered that there is a need for balance between males and females in pursuit of science and related fields.
Prof. Rabia Salihu Sa’id has worked as a lecturer in Physics at Bayero University, Kano in Nigeria, since 1999. She is currently a Full Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the same university. In the two decades between her employment as a graduate assistant and becoming a full professor, she had supervised more than 100 undergraduate research projects, 15 masters students to completion with 3 ongoing. She also supervised one PhD to completion with three ongoing.
Prof. Sa’id obtained her Ph.D. in Physics from Bayero University. She holds a M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Physics from the same university. She also holds a M.Sc. in Environment and Development from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. She holds a certificate in Democratic Leadership from the Africa Leadership Forum in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria and a certificate of Social Justice from the International Leadership Institute of the Netherlands. She also has a certificate in Renewable Energy, Resource Assessment, Data processing, Feasibility Studies, Policy management, Design and Applications from the Renewable Energy Research and Development Centre (RERDEC), Istanbul, Turkey.
In 2010, She spent four months at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP), University of Bern, Switzerland as a visiting research scientist, working with a renowned scientist in terrestrial and atmospheric remote sensing, Prof (Dr.) C. Matzler.
Prof. Rabia Sa’id is one of the winners of the Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in 2015. She was featured in Nature (The International Weekly Journal of Science) and in the BBC Radio Program: Discovery Science. She is also listed on the BBC 100 inspirational women of 2015. She was featured as one of 100 Women in Tech in Nigeria on the occasion of International Womens Day 2020 (@100WomenInTechNigeria).
Prof. Rabia is very passionate about Girl-child education, girls’ and women’s access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. She also has a great interest in the environment and environmental security, including, recently, advocacy for nuclear non-proliferation, safety and safeguards.
She has trained peer educators and young girls in reproductive rights. She is a trained facilitator for the British Council Active Citizens’ Program, run by the British Council with civil society organizations and universities all over the world to empower youths to engage peacefully and effectively with others for the sustainable development of their communities. She co-trained approximately 300 students and members of community-based organizations in the Active Citizens program from 2014 – 2018. Prof. Sa’id was a visiting fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Monterey under the Middlebury Institute for international studies from Feb -May 2020.
