Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan United Arab Emirates’ minister of interior since October 2004 and deputy prime minister since May 2009. He is a member of the Al Nahyan family
Nahyan was born in 1968. He is one of Zayed bin Sultan’s many sons. His mother is Mouza bint Suhail Al Khaili. Sheikh Saif attended the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
He participated in several training sessions, including the special training session for paratroopers in 1991.
Prior to his ministerial appointment in October 2004, Sheikh Saif occupied several leadership positions. He was the deputy director of the capital police from 1994 to 1995 before becoming the director general of the Abu Dhabi Police on 23 October 1995. On 25 December 1997, he became the undersecretary of the ministry of interior, retaining this post until his appointment as minister of interior on 2 November 2004.
The Ministry of interior undertakes several key tasks, namely, protecting internal security, coordinating cooperation between police agencies operating in the country, regulating Naturalization Affairs and foreigners Entry and Residence, supervising civil defence tasks, and coordinating traffic issues. H.H has served as the Director General of the Abu Dhabi Police since 1995, in addition to being head of the Federal Demographic Structure council since 2009 and Chairman of the Emirates Identity Authority.
On 30 December 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. In addition, he was appointed Minister of Interior to the government led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on the same day. He was named as the deputy prime minister on 11 May 2009, retaining his post as interior minister.
His achievement in the realms of police and security includes launching the community police project in 2003, founding the ministry of interior’s centers for rehabilitating persons with special needs in 2002 and the social support centre in 2004.
He also directed the five-year plan for the strategic development of the Abu Dhabi Police (2004–2008), the five-year plan for the ministry of interior and oversaw the restructuring of the Abu Dhabi Police. Moreover, he sought a permanent solution to the problem of child jockeys in camel races and initiated a number of practical security measures to counter this problem. He also launched the “iris scan” project – which succeeded in preventing more than 114,000 persons from returning to the UAE since the project was implemented nationwide – and launched the project of the Emirates Identity Authority.
Sheikh Saif has received several medals and honors, including the Order of Merit for Dedicated Service in 2000, the Red Crescent Charitable medal, and the Order of Merit of the International Civil Defense Organization, ICDO (Commander Rank).
On 15 February 2010, he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of social science from the University of Wolverhampton.
