Engr. Dr. (Mrs.) Bahijjahtu Hadiza Abubakar, FNSE was born  15th of June 1966 in Kaduna, Kaduna State. She is a Mechanical Engineer and also holds an MSc and PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and specialized training in Climate Change and Energy from Harvard University. She is currently working on a second PhD in Air Quality Management and simultaneously researching effects of pollution on human health.

Engr. Abubakar is the Ministerial Envoy on Environment and Climate Change and Director , Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health and was until December 2018 , the National Coordinator of the Renewable Energy Programme of the Federal Ministry of Environment and is an avid advocate for the environment.  Her spirited concern for the earth has earned her national and international accolades. 

She is the Designated National Authority for the Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention  , Stockholm Convention ( BRS Conventions on Chemicals and Wastes) , Minamata Convention and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone depletion.

She is on the Board of Directors of Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE), a project funded by UNDP and the Bank of Industry, Nigeria. This project is meant to provide financing for Renewable Energy entrepreneurs and stimulate the sector for rapid growth.

In July 2012, she was elected the global Co-Chair for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants with the Secretariat in  UNEP. Part of her responsibilities at the CCAC is fashioning out policies that will help reduce the effects of black carbon, HFCs and methane emissions worldwide. She is particularly interested in ensuring maximum awareness on Short Lived Climate Pollutants( SLCPs) in Africa. 

She leveraged her network to bring in the first five Solar Farm investors and successfully defended Nigeria to get the first 250 million dollars from the Climate Investment Fund ( CIF) for Solar energy investment in Nigeria. 

She is a Temporary Advisor, non communicable diseases with World Health Organization focusing on effects of Air Pollution.  She is very active in leading the global campaign with WHO and CCAC called “Breathe Life “ BreatheLife2030.org @BreatheLife2030 to curb air pollution worldwide. She has domesticated this campaign in Nigeria as #BreatheEasyNigeria# being part of the National Clean Air Programme which was launched in Nigeria 7th September 2024.

She is on the Steering Committee of the Global Methane Initiative, an international partnership that brings together national governments, private sector entities, development banks, NGOs and other interested stakeholders in a collaborative effort to reduce methane gas emissions and advance methane recovery and use as a clean energy source.

She helped establish a Center for Energy and Environment Research at the Kaduna state University (KASU ) with special attention to offer short courses on Short Lived Climate Pollutants . As a result the University in partnership with RUWES is hosting the only Black Carbon Testing Center in sub Saharan Africa and to offer Renewable Energy and climate change Courses upto  Postgraduate level in NIgeria.

She further assisted Kaduna State University and University of California San Diego to have a partnership in Climate Change courses known as “Bending the Curve “. This is the first of its kind in any developing country. 

She is using children as advocates of change through an outreach program for school age children (2 to 19 years) called the "Green Ambassadors " Club. She uses this forum to teach children about Energy Choices, Energy Efficiency, Climate Change and their responsibilities to the earth and how to nurture it for future generations. Two new projects she launched with international support are the Solar Libraries and the Ten Million Trees, Ten Million Hearts Initiatives to promote massive tree planting for cleaner air. 

She is currently working on youth mobilization for plastic waste management in secondary school, universities and encouraging youth corpers to embrace circular economy solutions as entrepreneurs. She just launched a new partnership between Nigerian and Ghanaian women on plastic waste solutions 17th of June 2025 at the celebration of World Environment Day.

She is passionate about Volunteering , mobilizing professionals to donate skills and time for rural communities. She teaches Physics lessons in Mararraban Burum one weekend every month and takes along volunteers for health screening, legal aid and career counselling .

Due to her undying love for the rural energy poor woman she developed the Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) Initiative in 2013 as part of the Federal Ministry of Environment gender outreach and has registered over two million women and now the largest self-help network in Africa . The RUWES initiative stems from a need to save lives protect the environment and improve the economy. It is targeted towards the under-served rural woman, usually off grid, energy poor and has the highest incidence of health related issues from harmful energy practices. RUWES is focused on wealth creation and capacity development, by improving the value chain of female enterprises and enhance their capacity through targeted training. At the heart of the RUWES Initiative are the rural women, their children and their extended families. RUWES raises awareness about the connection between health, poverty and energy choices as well as proffer solutions through innovative finance such as Climate Credits. RUWES is currently the largest women self help group in Africa and has become a model for developing countries. It has several Cooperative Societies for Women in Agriculture, Women Assembling Tricycles, Cook Stoves and Solar Lanterns.

Engr.  (Mrs) Bahijjahtu Abubakar has been recognized and applauded worldwide for using her expertise to uplift women and girls while protecting the environment . These includes among others;

• Global Women Champion as part of the United Nations International Women’s Day 2014 Award 7th March, 2014 in New York, United States of America.
• In November 2014, she received a special letter of commendation from the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Achim Steiner for her role in promoting women and the environment and as co-chair of the Working Group on Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
• She received an Outstanding Women Leadership Achievement Award at the Global Women Leadership Congress on 14th  February 2015 in Mumbai, India. 
• She is one of four recipient of women Changing the World Award 2019  hosted by the Mayor of Segovia, Clara LUQUERO as part of the International Women’s Month 15th to 17th March 2019 in Segovia, Spain.
• Civil Service Career Award: She was awarded the best Civil Servant in Nigeria with the Presidential distinguished Civil Service Career Award 28th of June, 2025.

Engr. Dr. Mrs. Abubakar is happily married with children. She is a motivational life coach, horse and car racer and loves chocolates .