Mallam Adamu Ciroma was born in 1934 in his home town Potiskum of the present Yobe State.
He attended Fika Elementary School from 1943 to 1944, Potiskum Elementary School from 1944 to 1947, Bornu Middle School from 1948 to 1949, Barewa College, Zaria from 1950 to 1955 and the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology University College, Zaria 1956 to 1957.
He was also at the Ibadan University from 1958 to 1961 where he obtained a BA (Hons) London-Modern History and Besancon Cite Universitaire, France where he studied a French Language Course from 1962 to 1963. Mallam Adamu Ciroma is among Nigeria’s men of destiny who have consistently played an active and varied role in the sustenance of the political life of the nation at all times.
In the first Republic, he worked in the northern Premier’s office between 1961 and 1963 before moving to the Mambilla Plateau as the Divisional Officer from 1963 to 1964. He was also Provincial Electoral Officer and Divisional Officer, Sardauna Province from 1964 to 1965 and Senior Assistant Secretary, Federal Ministry of Mines and Power, Lagos.
Adamu Ciroma’s eminence was amplified by his appointment as the first indigenous Editor for the Northern Newspaper, THE NEW NIGERIAN NEWSPAPER and his subsequent appointment as the paper’s Managing Director all between 1966 and 1974.
He was also the Chairman of the Panel that decided the future of Northern States Interim Common Services Agency (ICSA) and Eastern States Interim Assets and Liabilities Agency (ESIALA) in 1968. This eminence was further edified by his appointment as a Director and later Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 1975 to 1977.
Earlier in 1977, he had been a delegate to the Constituent Assembly, which ratified the country’s constitution. As a practical politician, he was a Presidential Aspirant of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1979 and 1992 respectively.
Three times, the eminent Nigerian served as Minister of’ the Federal Republic: Between 1979 and 1983, he was Minister of Industries and then Minister of Agriculture and then between 1999 and 2003, he served as Minister of Finance.
Adamu Ciroma was a staunch member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Mallam Adamu Ciroma, a Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) was turbaned Dellatun Fika in 1987 and Galadiman Fika on the 5th of April 2002.
He served as Managing Director, Northern Resources Development Limited; United Nigerian Textiles Limited; Savannah Investment Company Limited and Chairman, Cubitts Nigeria Limited.
He was a member of the National Council of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, member of the council of the Nigerian Institute of the International Affairs and member, Council for Management Education. Mallam Adamu Ciroma died on July 5, 2018 at National Hospital in Abuja.
Culled from Nigeria 100
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