Mallam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the Nigerian President died on April 17, 2020. The Chief of Staff died in Lagos due to complications from COVID-19 25 days after testing positive. Few days before his death, Abba Kyari had assured Nigerians that he would soon resume his duty through a statement he signed himself.
“I have not experienced high fever or other symptoms associated with this new virus and have been working from home. I hope to be back at my desk very soon,” he said
The late Chief of Staff, regarded as the most influential person in the current administration of President Mohammadu Buhari, said he had made his “own care arrangements to avoid further burdening the public health system, which faces so many pressures.”
Kyari further said: “This is a precautionary measure: I feel well, but last week, I tested positive for coronavirus, the pandemic that is sweeping the world. I have followed all the protocols government has announced to self-isolate and quarantine.”
Little known about the late Abba Kyari
Although not much is known about Abba Kyari’s early life, The West African Pilot News gathered that he hailed from Borno state. Born on November 17, 1938, Kyari was married to the sister-in-law of Ibrahim Tahir and had four children.
In 1980, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Warwick and received a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge. In 1983, he was called to the Nigerian Bar after attending the Nigerian Law School.
He obtained a master’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge and later attended the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also participated in the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School, in 1992 and 1994, respectively.
Kyari worked as an Editor with the New Africa Holdings Limited, Kaduna in 1988, and served with the Borno State Executive Council as Commissioner for Forestry and Animal Resources in 1990. He also worked as an Executive Director, Management Services, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and was appointed a Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2002.
Between 2000 – 2005, he served as Honorary Member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Investment in Nigeria.
Late Kyari was a holder of the Nigerian Honour Award of Officer of the Order of the Niger (O.O.N).
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