The Chairman of the Borno Elders’ Forum, Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari died yesterday at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) at the age of 81.
The Secretary of the forum, Dr. Bulama Mali Gubio, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the funeral prayer is scheduled to take place at 11:00am today at his Maiduguri residence.
Ambassador Galtimari was born in Maiduguri, Borno State in 1938 and started his elementary education in Yerwa Central Elementary School, Maiduguri, in 1947 and moved on Borno Middle School, Maiduguri, in 1951.
In 1954, he proceeded to the Government College, Maiduguri, where he obtained his West African School Certificate in 1959.
From 1960 to 1961, he was at the Institute of Administration, Zaria and gained admission in 1962, into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Administration in 1965.
From 1966 to 1967, he was at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, where he further bagged a Master of Arts in Public and International Affairs (MPIA).
In September 1972, he was appointed Permanent Secretary, Economic Planning and Political Division, Military Governor’s Office, still in the former North-Eastern State. From August 1975 to April 1976, he was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in the state.
In January 1984, he was appointed Secretary to the Borno State Government, a post he held till August 1987.
In September 1987, he was appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida as the Ambassador Extra-Ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria to Chad Republic and served till March 1991.
In May 1991, Ambassador Galtimari voluntarily retired from the Federal Public Service.
In 2009, after the Boko Haram uprising in July of that year, he was appointed by the then Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Inquiry which investigated the crisis in the state, and submitted a detailed report.
He was later appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan to lead the Federal Government dialogue with Boko Haram.
