Ismaila Isa Funtua: Prominent Industrialist
Ismaila Isa Funtua OFR, mni was a Nigerian statesman who served as a Federal Minister in the Second Nigerian Republic.
He was a very influential figure in the Buhari administration, and a long time close associate of President Muhammadu Buhari; and a prominent member of the infamous Kaduna Mafia, a loose group of Nigerian businessmen, civil servants, intellectuals and military officers from Northern Nigeria
His son Abubakar Isa Funtua is married to President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, Safinatu.
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Ismaila Isa was born in Funtua in January 1942. He received Islamic education, where he learned the Qur’an, Islamic jurisprudence, and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. He later attended the Commercial College in Zaria, Federal Training Centre in Kaduna, and the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
He also attended the University of Manchester and was the Monitor-General of Course 9 of the Senior Executive Course at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies.
A highly capable administrator, Isa Funtua started his career in the Katsina Native Authority, where he eventually rose through the ranks working in the defunct North Central State.
He later joined the United Textiles Limited in Kaduna, working as a personnel manager where he showcased great managerial finesse. Isa Funtua later became the Federal Minister of Water Resources in the Second Nigerian Republic.
He was a member of the 1994 Constitutional Conference under General Sani Abacha; was listed as a target by the regime.
He then retired into private business where he became a director of several companies. He was the founder of Funtua Textiles Limited and managing director of the Democrat Newspaper.
He was also the founder and Chairman of Bulet Construction Company (one of the largest indigenous construction companies in Nigeria), responsible for building several federal buildings. He was a Life Patron and the President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria.
Alhaji Sama’ila Isa Funtua is an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic NIPSS and a recipient of the national honor of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR) conferred on him in December 2003.
Ismaila Isa Funtua died after “a cardiac arrest” on 20 July 2020
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