Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai CON was born on February 16, 1960 in Daudawa. He is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023. He served as minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007. El-Rufai also served as director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. He is a co-founding member of the ruling party All Progressives Congress.

El-Rufai is married to three wives, his first wife Hadiza Ismail El-Rufai is a writer and novelist; she runs the Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation (YELF), set up in honour of their daughter who died in 2011.

El-Rufai was educated in Barewa College. As a junior at the college, President Umaru Yar'Adua was the house captain of his dormitory. In 1976, he graduated at the top of his class, winning the "Barewa Old Boys' Association Academic Achievement" Trophy. El-Rufai attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he received a bachelor's degree in quantity surveying with first class honours.

In 1984, he received a Master of Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University. He has since attended several professional and post-graduate programs, including the Georgetown School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and programs on privatization and leadership.

In August 2008 he received a law degree from the University of London; and a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University in June 2009. He also received the Kennedy School Certificate in Public Policy and Management having spent 11 months as an Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management from July 2008 to June 2009.

On 29 May 2015, El-Rufai was sworn in as the 22nd Governor of Kaduna State. In his inaugural address, he declared that he and his deputy were cutting their allowances by half pending an improvement in the state's fiscal situation. On August 6, 2015, El-Rufai in one of his first acts as governor announced that Kaduna State will adopt the Treasury Single Account policy by September 1 of the same year. At the end of the exercise, 470 accounts belonging to different ministries, departments and agencies were closed and a sum of N24.7 billion was recovered and remitted to the Kaduna State Government TSA with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

MyNigeria/Wikipedia