Former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye is dead.
He was aged 78.
He reportedly died Sunday (January 17) morning in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
Reports said he would be buried before 4 pm Sunday (January 17) in his home town (Ago-Iwoye) in accordance with Islamic rites.
Martins-Kuye was born on 16 August,1942 in Ago Iwoye, Ijebu constituency of Ogun State.
He studied sociology at the University of Ibadan (1965-1968) and then Economics at the Harvard University Business School, graduating in 1983.
He gained qualifications as a Chartered Accountant.
Martins-Kuye was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
He was a senator in the Nigerian Third Republic.[
Martins-Kuye became a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) towards the end of the Sani Abacha regime.
He was a candidate on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform for governor of Ogun State in 1999, but did not win.
He was appointed Minister of State for Finance in June 1999 during the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo, serving until June 2003.
During his tenure, the Savannah Bank was closed down in February 2002, a controversial move that he claimed was due to non-compliance with regulations rather than financial distress.
In July 2002, as Minister of Finance, he announced that Nigeria’s GDP had grown by 4% annually by the World Bank’s estimate, the highest rate for ten years.
He described himself as godfather of Ogun politics, leading the conservative group of the Ogun State PDP.
He claimed to have installed Gbenga Daniel as governor, but by 2010 had become an opponent of Daniel.
His ministerial nomination in March 2010 by acting President Goodluck Jonathan was controversial, since he had apparently not been on the list of ministerial nominees in Ogun State submitted by Governor Gbenga Daniel.
Some leaders of the PDP state chapter wrote a petition protesting the nomination to the national PDP chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor.
On assuming office on 6 April, 2010 as Minister of Commerce and Industry, he called for a 100% improvement in the quality of implementation of the nation’s budget.
He called for expenditure on programmes and projects that would impact directly on the living standard of the people.
He reportedly left behind his two wives and children.
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