If her younger self could see her today, the Commissioner for Business, Innovation and Technology, Patience Fakai, believes she would be proud of the woman she has become at 50. The little girl who lost her father too soon has grown into a woman who never allowed life’s challenges to define her future
Fakai was only three when her father died. The experience altered the course of her family’s life and placed an enormous responsibility on her mother. Determined to give her children the best possible future, her mother believed education was the greatest inheritance she could offer them.
By the age of six, she made the difficult decision to send her only daughter to a boarding school in Jos, far from home in Kaduna.
“Looking back, I realise how unusual that was for a child so young,” Fakai recalled during our virtual conversation. “Being away from home meant learning independence, discipline, responsibility, and resilience much earlier than most children. I had to learn how to make my bed, follow routines, adapt to a structured environment, and take responsibility for myself. Those early lessons became the foundation for many of the values that guide me today.”
Through her mother’s sacrifices and the support of father figures who came into her life, Fakai received the best education possible. She attended the Nigerian Air Force Girls’ Military School in Jos before earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
