Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, was born in Gashua, Yobe State, on 31st January, 1961. He attended Central Primary School Gashua, Yobe State from 1967 to 1973 and proceeded to Government Secondary School Gashua, (1973 to 1978) where he obtained the West African School Certificate. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree (Upper Division) in Accountancy from the University of Maiduguri in 1983, he pursued and obtained a Master of Accountancy Degree (with specialty in International Accounting and Financial Management) in 1986 from the prestigious University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. In addition, he obtained both Master of Social Science Degree and the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Money, Banking and Finance from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He did his mandatory National Youth Service Corps Programme (1983-1984 in G.G.C.S.S. Isunjaba, Imo State.

Ngama’s working experience is a rich mix of services in both public and private sectors encompassing teaching, research and banking. He started his working career in Maiduguri when he joined the Borno State Civil Service in 1984 as Auditor II. He later joined the services of University of Maiduguri and rose to the position of Senior lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Finance.  From July to September, 1`991, he was visiting researcher at Tulane University, New Orleans, USA.
Dr. Ngama was a senior manager (Bank Analysis Unit, off-site supervision Department) at Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation. He also worked as Executive Director (Finance and Administration) in the Defunct Victory Merchant Bank from August 1995 to August 1996.

Between September 1995 and December 2008, Dr. Ngama worked in various capacities in Diamond Bank Plc, ranging from Financial Controller/Head of Strategic planning Unit, (AGM) Branch Manager (AGM), Regional Manager North (DGM), Divisional Head, Public Sector and Financial Institutions; to Executive Director, Public Sector. In addition to these positions, Dr. Ngama also acted as director in some subsidiaries of Diamond Bank, including Diamond Pensions Fund Custodian Ltd. ADIC Insurance Ltd and Diamond Bureau de Change Ltd.

Dr. Ngams’s last tour of duty in the banking sector before his current appointment as Honourable Minister of State for Finance was in First Bank Plc where he worked as Executive Director (North). He also operated in First Fund Ltd., FBN Micro Finance Ltd., Seawolf Oilfield Services and Sea wolf Jack-up which are subsidiaries of First Bank Plc.

In the course of his studies and working career, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama has won several awards and commendations from different organizations for scholarship and wonderful performance at the work place.

Some of these include:
i)      Prize for best graduating pupil, Central Primary School, Gashua (1973)
ii)      Prize for overall best student, Govt. Secondary School Gashua (1978).
iii)      Ashley Prize for producing the best PhD thesis in the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science, University of Birmingham, UK (1990)
iv)      Commendation from Pius Okigbo Panel on the Reform and Re-organization of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the able and outstanding contribution to the Panel (1991)
v)      Commendation from Diamond Bank Plc Management for being the best Graduating Student, Citibank School of Banking, New York (Credit Risk Management Course) 1999.
vi)      Commendation from Diamond Bank Plc Management for outstanding performance in deposit mobilization.
 

Dr. Ngama has edited the following publications:

NDIC Quarterly, 1994 – 1996; The Nigerian Banker 1995-1996; Yobe State Economic Summit. He has also acted as reference for The Journal of Macroeconomics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, 1992.

Dr. Ngama has published and presented over thirty research works. Some of his prominent works include the following:

• An Empirical Examination of Absolute Purchasing Power Parity: Spain 19971988. (With Simon Sosvilla-Rivero). Published in Revista Espnola de Economia. (Spanish Economic Review) Vol.8, No. 2. 1991.
• Does the Forward Premium/Discount Help Predict the Future Change in Exchange Rate? (WEith C.A.E. Goodhart and P.C McMahon). Published in The Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol.39, No. 2. May 1992.
• Testing the Efficiency of Thin Forward Foreign Exchange Markets: An application of instrumental variable multiple-regression with integrated 1(1) variable. Published in The Manchester School, Vol. LX, B No. 2 June 1992.
• Testing for Unit Roots with Very High Frequency Spot Foreign Exchange Data. (With Charles A.E. Goodhart and P.C. McMahon). Published in The Journal of Macroeconomics. Vol. 15, No. 3, Summer 1993.
• Testing for the presence of Time-Varying Risk Premium Using a Mean-Conditional-Variance Optimization Model. Published in Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. Vol. 56, No. 2, May, 1994.
• A re-examination of the Forward Exchange Rate Unbiasedness Hypothesis. Published in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv. (Review of World Economics) band 130, Heft 3, December 1994.
• Forward Exchange Rates and Expectations during the 1920s: A Re-examination of the evidence. (With J.W. McFarland and P.C. McMahon). Published in the Journal of International Money and Finance, 1994 Vol. 13 No. 6.
• All About Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation. Published in The Nigerian Banker, (Published by the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Lagos), January-June 1995.
• Why Does the Sport-Forward Discount fail to Predict Changes in Future Spot Rate? (With C.A.E. Goodhard and P.C. McMahon). (Published in International Journal of Finance and Economics Vol. 2 (2) 1997, P. 121 – 130. Reproduced in The Foreign Exchange Market: Theory and Econometric Evidence. Edited by Charles A. E. Goodhart. LSE, London.
• In addition to his work as a professional banker and teacher, Dr. Ngama has served as member of several Boards, Panels and Committees to advise on major polices and strategies.

Dr. Ngama is happily married and blessed with children.