For Ukumbi Afrika, his passing is not simply the death of an elder statesman. It is the departure of one of the generation of African leaders who believed that the continent’s economic destiny must ultimately be shaped by Africans themselves.
There are some men whose lives cannot be adequately measured by the offices they occupied. Alhaji Bamanga Muhammad Tukur who died on Saturday, September 12, 2026, was one of them. Tukur was a public servant, businessman, politician, administrator and pan-African economic advocate. But perhaps he will be most remembered as a builder of institutions and ideas. His career, spanning more than six decades, reflected a conviction that Africa could not afford to remain merely a market for other people’s ambitions.
For the African Business Roundtable (ABR), the institution he helped build and led at the highest level, his passing is particularly profound. For Ukumbi Afrika, whose mission is closely aligned with the Roundtable’s vision of an economically stronger and more integrated Africa, his death represents the loss of a foundational figure in the continent’s long conversation about economic development.
Tukur’s journey was far from a straight line. He rose to national prominence in his country Nigeria in the 1970s as General Manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, serving from 1975 to 1982, at a time when the country’s rapidly expanding economy was placing enormous demands on its ports. His experience at the NPA gave him an early appreciation of the relationship between infrastructure, commerce and national development.
In 1983, he entered elective politics and became Governor of the old Gongola State, whose territory comprises present day Adamawa and Taraba states in Nigeria. His tenure lasted barely two months before a military coup in December 1983 ended that Second Republic in the country.
It was an abrupt interruption to a political career that had barely begun. But Tukur did not allow the reversal of political circumstances define the rest of his life. He turned to business, establishing BHI Holdings, popularly known as the DADDO Group of Companies, and built a substantial private-sector career. He later returned to government as Minister of Industries between 1993 and 1995 while the military was still in power.
In 2012, following the return to civilian rule in Nigeria in 1999, he became National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, then the country’s ruling party. His tenure was at time of intense internal divisions and political tensions within the party. He would eventually resign as National Chairman in January 2014.
Yet political setbacks did not end his public engagement. If anything, it gave him time for what was perhaps his most enduring contribution to society – pushing for African economic emancipation through private sector involvement in the setting of continental economic agenda, and structured economic cooperation among African nations. As Executive President of the African Business Roundtable and later its Grand Patron, Tukur became a persistent advocate for a stronger African private sector and greater African participation in shaping the continent’s economic priorities. As Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, he similarly championed closer cooperation between governments and businesses. He understood that governments alone could not build the Africa that Africans wanted. Investment, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and productive enterprise had to be central to the continent’s development.
That conviction was remarkably forward-looking. Long before terms such as the African Continental Free Trade Area, African value chains and economic sovereignty became prominent in policy discussions, Tukur was advocating greater cooperation among African businesses and stronger private-sector participation in development. He promoted public-private partnerships and argued that African entrepreneurs needed a meaningful role in closing the continent’s infrastructure and development gaps.
But building institutions across a fragmented continent was never easy. African businesses faced weak infrastructure, limited access to capital, small and disconnected markets, and institutions struggling to achieve financial sustainability. Tukur’s response to such challenges was characteristic: he continued to build, advocate and convene. The Roundtable he led also continued to confront these realities. In 2009, the African Development Bank and Japan committed $500,000 in technical assistance to strengthen its operations, membership and long-term financial sustainability.
Tukur understood that institutions must outlive their founders to be meaningful. That legacy remained visible decades after the Roundtable’s establishment. Today, ABR and the NEPAD Business Group Nigeria are still bringing together policymakers, investors, financial institutions and business leaders to discuss how African businesses could take advantage of the opportunities created by the AfCFTA. Just last year, in 2025, a delegation of ABR visited Tukur in his capacity as Grand Patron and President Emeritus, acknowledging his foundational contribution and continuing influence. It was a fitting moment: an elder statesman watching a new generation carry forward an idea he had helped nurture.
Tukur belonged to a generation that witnessed Africa’s transition from colonial rule while also experiencing military coups, political instability, economic dependence and persistent underdevelopment. He knew the frustrations of public life and the disappointments that accompany it. Yet he remained engaged. When political office ended, he turned to enterprise. When partisan politics became difficult, he continued his continental economic advocacy. Through each chapter, he retained his belief that Africa could build a stronger economic future.
That belief is central to the African Business Roundtable’s continuing relevance and resonates deeply with Ukumbi Afrika’s mission: to tell the story of an Africa increasingly defining its own economic narrative, deepening its markets, building its businesses and seeking greater ownership of its resources and future. Bamanga Tukur understood that story long before it became fashionable to tell it. He leaves behind a legacy that extends beyond political titles and public appointments: a commitment to African enterprise, institution-building and the principle that Africans must have a decisive voice in shaping Africa’s economic destiny.
For his family, his passing is a personal loss. For Nigeria and Adamawa, his home state, it is the departure of an elder statesman. For Africa’s business community, it is the loss of a longstanding advocate. For the African Business Roundtable and Ukumbi Afrika, it is the passing of a founding generation’s voice.
We honour Alhaji Bamanga Muhammad Tukur for the institutions he helped build, the challenges he endured and the larger African vision to which he remained committed. Now, his work must continue through the many institutions he left behind.
Author: Saheed Lukman
