Lawan Bukar Marguba, the pioneer Conservator-General of the Federation was born on 4th July 1951 in Marguba village of Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State. He attended Benisheikh Primary School from 1958 to 1965. Benisheikh Primary School is now renamed ‘’Adam Mastafa Primary School’’ after its first headmaster who headed the school from 1945 to 1970.
Acclaimed by his teachers and school mates as the most intellectually promising child in their class, it was no wonder that the young Lawan Bukar (or LB as he was called by classmates) gained admission into the famous Government College, Keffi (formerly in Benue Province) now in Nasarawa State, where he obtained the West African School Certificate (WASCE GCE ‘O’ Level) in 1969.
In 1970 he was appointed Range Management Assistant in the Ministry of Natural Resources of the North Eastern State. In 1971, he attended the School of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria for a pre-technical course in General Agriculture. In the same year, he proceeded to the Livestock Services Training Centre, Mando Road, Kaduna where he passed out in 1972 as the ‘’Best All Round Student’’ and became specialist in Animal Health and Husbandry.
In 1975 Marguba proceeded to the New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, USA, where he obtained BSc degree in Agriculture in 1978, specialising in Wildlife Science. He also attended the famous College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, Tanzania from 1980 to 1981. In 1983 he attended the University of Salford, UK, where he obtained Msc degree in Environmental Resource Management.
Marguba has held key responsibilities spanning a wide spectrum of natural resources management. These include his National Service at Kamuku Game Reserve in Kaduna State. Kamuku has since been upgraded to a National Park in 1999. He returned to Borno State in 1979 where he continued his service as an Ecologist until he was elevated to the position of the Chief Conservator of Forests in 1985. He became the first Director of Forestry and Wildlife of Borno State in 1989.
In 1991, Marguba was appointed the Head of the World-Bank Assisted Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU), Kano, overseeing the anti-desertification programme in the Arid Northern States. In 1992 President Ibrahim Babangida appointed him the first Director and Chief Executive of the Nigeria National Parks. This was sequel to the promulgation of Decree 36 of 1991 which established the six National Parks in the country. As the pioneer Director and Chief Executive, he virtually started work from the scratch and built the National Parks to a world renowned system, adding two more in the process and bringing the number to eight by 1999. In March 2000 President Olusegun Obasanjo named him the first Conservator-General of the Federation and Chief Executive of the National Park Service.
A winner of the African International Award of Merit and other awards, Marguba is also a fellow and member of several national and international professional bodies. He has authored a considerable number of seminal papers on conservation, ecotourism and natural resources management.
Lawan Bukar Marguba has many publications to his credit. One of these is ‘’National Parks and their Benefits to Local Communities in Nigeria’’ published in 2002. He retired in 2005. His hobbies include current affairs, photography, and reading, listening to music and being in natural environments. He is married to Hajiya Saadatu Kilishi, and they are blessed with five children: four boys and a girl.

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