H.E. Dame Pauline Tallen
Pauline Tallen OFR is a Nigerian politician who served as the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development from 2019 to 2023. She was appointed in 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari after turning down an ambassadorial nomination in 2015 on the grounds that she was not consulted prior to the announcement of the appointment and that she would not accept the offer for equal distribution of power among the three senatorial districts of her native state of plateau because she is from same local government as Governor Simon Lalong.
In 1999, she was appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology to the cabinet of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2007, she became the deputy governor of Plateau State and the first woman to be a deputy governor in northern Nigeria. She also contested to be governor of the state in 2011, but lost to Jonah David Jang. She is presently a member, board of trustees of the All Progressive Congress, and was honoured as woman of the year for her contribution to Nigeria at the 10th African Icon of Our Generation Award. She is a board member of National Agency for Control of Aids (NACA).