Adamu Ciroma dies at 83

A former Nigerian finance minister and founding member of the country’s leading opposition party Alhaji Adamu Ciroma has died.

He was 84 years old.

Also a former governor of Nigeria’s central bank, Adamu reportedly died at a hospital in Abuja on Thursday after a protracted illness.

The pioneer editor of the New Nigerian newspaper was born on 20 November 1934 in Potiskum, Yobe State. He attended Barewa College, and the University of Ibadan before venturing into politics and public administration.

In 1979, Ciroma contested the position of president on the platform of then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) which he served as its secretary.

He was the CBN governor, minister of agriculture and later minister of Industry under the Shehu Shagari’s administration.

He also served as the finance minister during the first term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, from 1999 to 2003.