Engr. Dr. Sule Yakubu Bassi is a chartered engineer. He did his BEng and MEng degrees at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and obtained his PhD degree at the Cranfield Institute of Technology, Bedford in the United Kingdom in 1992.
He also did a certificate course at the Volcani Institute in Isreal where he under studied the Jewish Congress one of the oldest diaspora groups in the world. He was a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and a pioneer lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
He worked as Special Adviser to a Minister in three Federal Ministries. He was appointed pioneer Director General and CEO of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa, DTCA and served for two terms of eight years. He developed the scientific and technical exchange programme of the directorate and successfully established and managed the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund NTCF at the African Development Bank.
The grant fund is used to engage African professionals for programmes and projects in Africa. He has been engaged in advocating the engagement of and the mobilization of the Nigerian diaspora for development projects in Nigeria and Africa over the past twenty years, leading to his being nicknamed “Shine your Eyes” by the Nigerian diaspora.
He was a founding member and pioneer Secretary General of the Nigerian Diaspora and Alumni Network, NiDAN. Together with Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa and others, he worked in drafting and seeing to the passage of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission bill by the National Parliament of Nigeria.
He was appointed the pioneer Secretary of the Commission in October 2018 by HE President Muhamadu Buhari GCFR and since then has been actively involved in setting up of the Commission as Head of its Secretariat. Engr Dr Bassi is a Fellow of several professional associations and a recipient of many merit awards.