Mr. Bukar Tijani assumed office as FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa on 1 December 2013.

He started his professional career in 1978 as a Rural Agricultural Extension Worker. He held senior positions in a number of the institutions under the State and at national levels. These included General Manager of Fertilizer Blending Company, Director in an EC-assisted Programme, North-East Arid Zone Development Programme (NEAZDP), National Programme Coordinator for IFAD-assisted Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (IFAD-CBARDP) and National Project Coordinator for Third Fadama Development Project assisted by the World Bank in Nigeria, among others. He also coordinated all donor-assisted AfDB, IsDB, BADEA, IFAD and World Bank programmes and projects including the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) and the FAO-China-Nigeria tripartite agreement on South-South Cooperation.

From July 2011 to September 2013, Mr. Tijani was a Cabinet Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where he served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria.

He holds an M.Sc. in Tropical Agricultural Development from the University of Reading, United Kingdom and a B.Sc. in Agronomy and Soil Science from the Tuskegee University, Alabama.