Journey To Early Life

More importantly though, family, friends, and associates, and people who know him from close range and from a distance, attest to the uncommon quality of values, virtues, grace and faith that define his life. He is a symbol of the best of humanity in character, industry, and faith. He is a dedicated philanthropist, who has generously invested his time, expertise, and financial resources in making a difference in the lives of individuals, organizations and local communities in Nigeria and in the international community. A first generation Nigerian chartered accountant with decades of experience in commercial, merchant, investment and interest-free banking, he has brought his huge wealth of experience to bear in facilitating the development of various institutions of learning in Nigeria, amongst which are the Benue State University, Baze University, Abuja, Fountain University, Osogbo, and the Umaru Musa Yar’adua University.

Born in Katsina town, Northwestern Nigeria, on 15 December 1939, Umaru Abdul Mutallab is the son of late Alhaji Abdul Mutallab Barade, a prominent businessman, who had previously and successfully served at various posts as an officer with the Works Department in Katsina. His mother, Hajia Rabiatu Mutallab offered him such strict parental upbringing that significantly shaped his disciplined mode of living; his father groomed him to be independent and versatile, introduced him to business at a tender age, and set for him the path of a life-long career in business and management.

Umaru Mutallab started his educational sojourn here in Katsina State at the then Government elementary School in Funtua. He subsequently attended the famous Barewa College, Zaria, where he completed his secondary education, and the Achimota College in Accra, Ghana, where he started his training in Accountancy. He left Achimota in the early 1960s for further training in Accountancy at the South West London College, London, England. He served his accounting articles and subsequently qualified and worked as a Chartered Management Accountant with Fuller Jenks Beecroft & Company in London. Following his return to Nigeria in 1968, Mutallab was appointed Chief Accountant of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria. In 1971, he became Financial Controller of the New Nigerian Development Company (formerly Northern Nigeria Development Company), Kaduna where he rose to the enviable position of General Manager in 1975. He cut his teeth in hardcore professional accountancy and management work in the UK and Northern Nigeria preparatory to the challenging higher responsibilities lined his way for the coming decades. He earned his place as a member of the elite first generation class of indigenous managers in post-Independence Nigeria.

Rise In The Industry

In the mid-1970s, Umaru Mutallab was appointed by the Murtala Muhammed administration to the office of Federal Commissioner for Economic Development, where he played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of the Second National Development Plan. His second cabinet appointment was as Federal Commissioner for Cooperatives and Supplies in 1976. In his second office, he pioneered the development of agricultural cooperatives in various parts of the country and he served in that position till 1978 when he voluntarily resigned from the Murtala/Obasanjo administration to commence a long career in the banking sector.

For ten years (1978-1988), Alhaji Mutallab directed the affairs of one of Nigeria’s big three banks at the time, the United Bank for Africa Limited as Executive Deputy Chairman, and significantly managed its process of indigenization from its previously largely foreign ownership status. At his exit from the bank in 1988, UBA had grown in leaps and transformed into a uniquely pan-Nigerian financial institution. For four years thereafter, Mutallab was Chairman of the New Africa Merchant Bank, offering such merchant banking leadership that impacted on aspects of national economic growth.

Mutallab also pioneered the idea of non-interest banking in Nigeria. With the support of some of his associates, he worked tirelessly to actualize the dream. Today, he is Chairman of Jaiz Bank, Nigeria’s first non-interest bank, which operated first as a regional bank in parts of the North, but achieved such amazing results within a few years of its operations that it is now a thriving national bank quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Alhaji Mutallab has served on the boards of several companies in different sectors of the Nigerian economy. Notable amongst these are the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Arewa Textiles Limited, the National Communications Commission (NCC), Spring Waters Nigeria Limited (SWAN), Incar Nigeria Plc, Impresit Bakolori Plc, and Penman Pension Plc, amongst others. He was been Chairman of the Business Support Group (BSG) of the Vision 20: 2020 of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and has continued to serve government at various levels in various advisory and technical capacities.

Happily married with children and grandchildren, he is a committed family life and community developer. He served for several years as National President of the Old Students’ Association of the Barewa College, Zaria. He is a Fellow of both the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA). For his long years of outstanding service to his profession and society, he has been honoured with the national award of the Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) and the Italian national honour of Commander of the Order of Merit. He is a recipient of several honorary doctorate degrees from Nigerian universities, and has received many awards and honours from reputable national and international institutions.

He is a widely-acclaimed true gentleman, an outstanding leader of people and manager of resources, a quintessential builder of management systems and human development, a life-long friend of learning and knowledge, and a human companion to socio-economic and intellectual development in Nigeria.

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