Alhaji Jalal Ahmad Rabi was born on the 28th of October, 1962 in Jos, Plateau state, Alhaj Arabi began his quest for education by enrolling at the Islamiyya School in 1967. After obtaining his First School Leaving Certificate in 1973, Jalal proceeded to Government Secondary School Gombe that same year, rounding off college in 1978 with an enviable performance in the West African School Certificate (WASC) examination.
Being a dynamic, industrious, and ambitious young man, Alhaji Arabi had his eyes and heart fixed on attaining higher academic laurels, he spent the next two years (1978 to 1980) at the College of Arts and Science, Bauchi, where he obtained his IJMB Certificate before berthing at the prestigious University of Jos in 1980. By 1983, Jalal had done enough to earn his Law degree, LLB (Hons) following which he moved to the Council of Legal Education, Lagos, where he bagged his BL in 1984. Armed with his sparkling academic credentials, he turned to the labour market in the quest for a job.
In July, 1985, he commenced his working career at the Ministry of Justice, Bauchi, Bauchi State where he was employed as a State Counsel, and due to his diligence and hard work, he was promoted to the position of Senior State Counsel.
From 1987 to December 1989, the fast-rising lawyer was the Secretary/Legal Adviser and Head of Administration at Manto Processing Ltd, Bauchi State, a position he retained at Bauchi State Water Board from 1989 to August 1990.
Having successfully risen through the ranks in Bauchi State Civil Service,came, he joined the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources as Legal Officer and Personal Assistant to the Honourable Minster in August 1990.
In May 1993, Jalal Arabi was moved to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) as Legal Adviser to Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) where his duties included advising and participating in both legal and administrative matters including policy implementation; defending and representing the Presidency on judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, as well as attending Joint Intelligence Board (JIB) and other security meetings.
In December, 2000, Jalal Arabi was deployed to the Federal Ministry of Transport in December 2000 and for the next two years served dutifully as Assistant Director (Rail).
He was subsequently deployed to the Ministry of Defence as the Deputy Director (Parastatals/Special Services) in January 2003. His responsibilities included being in charge of the Para/Special Service Division which oversees the Armed Forces’ foreign training, bilateral and multilateral relations with other nations and organisations on military-civil relations, security and intelligence matters.
With his wealth of experience coupled with remarkable track record in the legal arena, saw his appointment as the State House Counsel in June, 2007.
Aside from his normal duties, Jalal Arabi has also handled various ad-hoc work for his fatherland over the years. They include being a member of the Inter-Agency Committee for the Final Relocation and Settlement of Public Officers in Abuja – 1993; member of Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Drafting of Terms of Reference and Procedures for the Ad-hoc Constitutional Bodies (Transition Committee, Constitutional Conference Committee etc)-1994; and member of Inter-Agency Committee on the Reorganisation and Repositioning of the Trade Unions and Affiliate Associations – 1994.
He was also the Assistant Secretary of the Panel on Review of Judiciary and Police 1994; Member of Nigerian Legal Team on Bakassi-1994 to 2002; member of the Sub-Committee on International Criminal Court (ICC)-1996 to 2000; member of Nigerian Delegation to the UN Human Rights Committee, Geneva-1996 to 2000; and also member of the Ministerial Committee on Re-assessment of the Nigerian Railway and Repositioning of the Rail Transport Project-2001.
This is in addition to being a member of the Ministerial Committee on the Reorganization of the Military Pension Board-2003;
●Member of Ministerial Committee on the Re-evaluation and Re-assessment of Bilateral Military Assistance to Defence Personnel-2003;
●Member of Inter-Agency Panel on the Clash between Nigeria Air Force and Nigerian Police Personnel-2003; chairman of Ministry of Defence Anti-Corruption Unit 2003;
●Member of Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force from 2009 to date: and
●Member of Presidential Committee on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Health Sector.
His quest for knowledge and continuous self-improvement saw him attending /participating in a legion of conferences, seminars, workshops both at home and abroad, including: Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, (Legal Drafting); ASCON (Management); 1993 University of Maryland, (Negotiations)-1990; Jesus College;
Cambridge, (Economics Ethnics and Etiquette), 1996; and World Bank Institute, (Public-Private Partnership) 2000.
Others include Institution for Higher Defence Studies, Paris Counter-Terrorism) 2003,
Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, (Seminar on Strategy and Command) 2004;
Geneva Centre for Security Policy, (Security Policy) 2006; Marshall Centre for Security Studies Germany, (Counter-Terrorism) 2006;
Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California, (Civil-Military Relations) 2005;
Harvard Business School, (Negotiations for Development) 2010; RIPA, UK, (Management) etc., 2011; ILI Washington (Leadership, etc.) 2013 and LSE, UK (Management) 2014.
In November, 2015, he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to the highly coveted post of Permanent Secretary and with his elevation as the Permanent Secretary of State House, the lawyer-cum-administrator finds himself in a vantage position at the heart of Nigeria’s prime corridor of power. Under Jalal Arabi’s watch, things have truly changed for the better in terms of management of activities and public functions at the nations seat of power.
His hobbies/interests include travelling, reading, voluntary service and meeting people, Jalal Arabi sees this as another golden opportunity to be grabbed with both arms, and needless to say, this is exactly how he has acted. he was also honoured with the National Honours Award of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
As a result of his diligence, hard work, courage and patriotism, Alhaji Jalal Ahmad Arabi was on 17th October, 2023 appointed as the Chairman/CEO of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and resuming office on Wednesday, 18th October, 2023 where the new Chairman/CEO will assume office in Acting Capacity and continue to serve in substantive for a fresh term of four years beginning in 17th January, 2024 as directed by the President Bola Ahmad Tinubu expects that the new NAHCON Leadership will serve in reverence of Allah and with utmost adherence to the precepts of service according to the Holy Qur’an.
Ends
