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Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab (born 15 December 1939) is a Nigerian business and banking leader, and former minister of Economic Development under the military government of Murtala Mohammed. He played a major role in introducing Islamic banking into Nigeria. Mutallab was described by The New York Times as "among Nigeria's richest and most prominent men," by The Telegraph as being "one of Nigeria's most prominent bankers", and by The Guardian as being "one of the country's most respected businessmen". Mutallab's son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is a student who attempted to detonate plastic explosives aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on 25 December 2009.
Biography
Mutallab was born to the family of Abdul Mutallab Barade, an officer in the Funtua Works Dept. He lives in Funtua, in Katsina State in Muslim north Nigeria, though reportedly the family owns homes in London and Ghana as well. The family owns at least three homes in Nigeria (in Abuja, Funtua, and Kaduna).
He attended Barewa College, Zaria, Achimota College, Accra, Ghana, and the South West London College, London. He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Career
After completing his school certificate examinations in December 1959, the following January, Mutallab began work as a clerk with the firm of Pannell, Fitzpatrick and Company, Kaduna. He then traveled for further studies, returning to Nigeria in 1968, when he was appointed Chief Accountant of the Defense Industries Corporation of Nigeria. In 1971, he became the financial controller of the New Nigerian Development Company, Kaduna, before becoming the firm's General Manager in 1975. Mutallab was a Federal Commissioner (i.e., Minister) of Economic Development (1975), he was relieved of the position after the failed military coup that led to the death of Murtala Mohammed. However, he was later named the new Minister of Cooperatives and Supplies (1976). He was later a member of Nigeria's Federal Executive Council (1976–78). He left to serve as Executive vice-chairman, managing director, and CEO of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) (1978–88).
He is the former Chairman of Nigeria's oldest and largest bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc (1999–2009).
Mutallab has also served on the boards of directors of several companies, including Arewa Textile Limited, NEPA, NACB, NCC, Nigeria Agip Oil, and Cement Company of Nigeria, and in 2009 was Chairman of several companies, including Impressit Bakolori Plc, Incar Nigeria Plc, and Spring Waters Nigeria Limited (SWAN).
He is chairman of the Nigeria's first Islamic bank, Jaiz Bank International Plc, which was established in 2003.
Mutallab is chairman of the Business Working Group of the Vision 20:2020 Committee in Nigeria, and president of the Old Boys Association of Barewa College.
He is a Fellow of both the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA).
Mutallab was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the Niger, one of Nigeria's highest honours.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspected Northwest Airlines Flight 253 bomber
Personal life
Though very very religious, Mutallab does not consider himself a religious extremist, explaining that he learned the capacity for tolerance while attending Barewa College which had students from many parts of the country and 'gives' a feeling of togetherness. Mutallab is a close friend of Hamza Zayyad, former head of the Technical Committee of Privatization and Commercialization, Zayyad convinced him to take on accounting as a profession. He is the major shareholder in Barade Holdings and Barumark Investment and Development Company.
Mutallab had agreed in July 2009 to allow his son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the youngest of his 16 children and a son of the second of his two wives (who is from Yemen), to return to the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen to study Arabic from August to September 2009. His son apparently left the Institute after a month, while remaining in Yemen.[ In October, his son sent him a text message saying that he wanted to study sharia and Arabic in a seven-year course in Yemen. His father threatened to cut off his funding, whereupon his son said he was "already getting everything for free".
Mutallab reported to two CIA officers at the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on 19 November 2009,] regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that he might be in Yemen.] His son's name was added in November 2009 to the US's 550,000-name Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a database of the US National Counterterrorism Center. His US visa was not revoked On 25 December 2009, was implicated in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253