Education

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.^[9][10]

Career

After completing his school certificate examinations in December 1959, Mutallab began work as a clerk with the firm of Pannell, Fitzpatrick and Company in Kaduna in January 1960.

He then travelled for further studies, returning to Nigeria in 1968, when he was appointed Chief Accountant of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria. In 1971, he became the financial controller of the New Nigerian Development Company in Kaduna, before becoming the companies general manager in 1975.

Mutallab served as a government minister under General Murtala Mohammed and General Olusegun Obasanjo between 1975 and 1978.^[11] First as Federal Commissioner (i.e., Minister) of Economic Development (1975),^[12] he was relieved of the position after the 1976 military coup d'état attempt that led to the death of General Murtala Mohammed.^[13] However, he was later named the new Minister of Cooperatives and Supplies (1976).^[14]

In 1978, he left the cabinet^[15] and was made executive vice-chairman, managing director, and CEO of the United Bank for Africa (UBA).^[16] He held the office until 1988, and was a major financier of the 1979 presidential election,^[17] which brought the National Party of Nigeria to power in the Second Republic led by President Shehu Shagari.^[18]

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,

From 1999 to 2009, he was the chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Nigeria's oldest and largest bank.^[19][20] In 2009 was he chairman of several companies, including Impresit Bakolori Plc, Incar Nigeria Plc, and Spring Waters Nigeria Limited (SWAN).^[21] He is the major shareholder in Barade Holdings and Barumark Investment and Development Company.

Muttalab played a major role in introducing Islamic banking into Nigeria, and he is the chairman of the Nigeria's first Islamic bank, Jaiz Bank International Plc, which was established in 2003.^[22]

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.^[23] 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.^[24]

Son: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

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 Sanaʽa Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen to study Arabic from August to September 2009.^[25][26][7] His son apparently left the institute after a month, while remaining in Yemen.^[7][26][27] 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.^[7] His father threatened to cut off his funding, whereupon his son said he was "already getting everything for free".^[7]

Mutallab reported to two CIA officers at the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on 19 November 2009,^[26][28] regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that he might be in Yemen.^[7][29][30] 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.^[31] His US visa was not revoked.^[7] On 25 December 2009, Umar was implicated in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253.^[25]