Mallam Aliyu Mai-Bornu (1919 – 23 February 1970) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

economist, and the first indigenous Governor of the

Central Bank of Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959. The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are t ...

Life

Early life and education

Mai-Bornu was born in the town of Yola to parents of Kanuri heritage. His father was a councillor in the Lamido Native Authority and initially opposed Mai-Bornu's attendance of school until he was persuaded by the Lamido to give Mai-Bornu a chance. Mai-Bornu attended Yola Elementary School, Yola Middle School, and was admitted to Kaduna College in 1938, graduating in 1942 as an English language teacher. He started his teaching career at his alma mater, Yola Middle School, from 1942 to 1946 before proceeding to another one of his alma maters, Kaduna College (1946–1952), and soon joined the Northern Teachers Association. In 1952, he returned to Yola as deputy headmaster of the Yola Middle School and later left Yola to be a house tutor at the Veterinary School in Vom for five months. He earned a government scholarship to travel abroad and studied economics at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

in the United Kingdom, graduating in 1957.

Career

Mai-Bornu returned to Nigeria and obtained a post as administrative officer with the

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria (or Arewa, Arewancin Nijeriya) was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired t ...

Public Service (1957–1959) serving in the Public Service Commission and Ministry of Finance and Trade. When the Central Bank started operations in 1959, he was seconded to the Central Bank of Nigeria as an assistant secretary. He rapidly rose through the ranks from assistant secretary to deputy secretary, then secretary. In 1962, he became the first Nigerian to be appointed deputy governor. On July 25, 1963, Mai-Bornu was appointed governor of the Central Bank (1963–1967). After leaving the bank, he was appointed director and general manager of the Nigerian Tobacco Company (1967–1969). He served on the board of directors of the company until his death on 23 February 1970. His portrait features on the 1,000

Naira The naira (sign: ₦; code: NGN; , , , ) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the ...

note brought into circulation on October 12, 2005.

References

1919 births 1970 deaths Nigerian Muslims Nigerian bankers Central bankers Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria Kanuri people People from Adamawa State {{Nigeria-business-bio-stub