Mr Abdullahi is a member of the World Bank expert Advisory Council on Citizen Engagement and was a Policy Adviser at the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in New York. In this role, he was a core member of the team that designed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Muhammad Abdullahi had served as Commissioner for Planning and Budget for over 5 years in Kaduna State and subsequently served as the Chief of Staff to the State Governor. In this position, he led support to the Governor in designing, coordinating and implementing government policy in all sectors. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Infrastructure Council which oversaw the largest infrastructure expansion in the history of the State and coordinated the portfolio of all economic and social infrastructure across the 23 Local Governments of the State.

As the Commissioner for Budget, he was responsible for formulating development policy, designing the state fiscal strategy and coordinating the implementation and monitoring of the state budget. Under his leadership, the State designed its State Development Plan, Infrastructural Master Plan, Industrial Policy, SDGs report and several other policy documents and plans.

Mr Abdullahi graduated with a BSc degree in Economics from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria in 2002 and bagged a Masters in Development Studies from the same institution in 2007. In 2009 he obtained Masters of Science degree in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. 

The CBN deputy governor-nominee  is undergoing a doctoral research at the Henley Business School, Reading University, United Kingdom, focusing on Global Value Chains, Informality and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.