The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed sadness over the death of Alhaji Abdullahi B. Umar, the doyen of Northern Chambers of Commerce.This is contained in a statement issued by ACF National Publicity Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Yawe, in Kaduna.The ACF also condoled with his immediate family, the Bida Emirate Council and the Niger State Government.Umar, Madakin Nupe, popularly known as A. B. Umar, passed on on April 21, at the age of 84 in Kaduna after a brief illness.The ACF said that Umar died when he was in high demand and outcry to industrialise the north and provide jobs for the restive and increasingly violent youths.“
After years of prudent and selfless service that saw him to the peak of the civil service in North Western State in 1976, he ventured into private business.”He invested heavily in automobile components industries in Kaduna, where vehicle parts were produced.”The Emo electrical industries Ltd. Bida, which specialised in the production of electrical accessories, Ace Computers Ltd. Kaduna, specialists in Computer production and communication, Vespa Manufacturing and Shiroro Hotels,” he said.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Umar was born in Bida of the old Niger province in 1939.He went to South Primay School Bida, Bida Midde School, Government College Bida, Syracuse University,
New York, among others.Umar’s career was mostly in the Northern Ministry of Commerce and Industry, where he distinguished himself as the officer responsible for the establishment of many promotional bodies.Betveen 1962 and 1963, he was invoked in setting up of the Industrial Developments Centre Zaria under the USAID assisted programmme ‘from 1963 and 1970, Organisation of Chambers of
Commerce in Kano, Jos and Sokoto” from 1964 to 1967, establishment of small scale loan schemes and setting up of Industrial layouts in Gusau, Kano Bompai, Kaduna South and Jos. Since retirement from public service in 1976, he was actively involved in the private sector with Investment Interest and direct substantial equity participation in Automotive Component Industries United Kaduna (Vehicle Parts) ‘Emo Electrical Industries, among others, (NAN)
