Ibrahim Ayagi

PROFESSOR IBRAHIM AYAGI OFR (1940 - 2020) was a Nigerian administrator, economist and columnist who was chairperson of the National Economic Intelligence Committee during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

After a brief stint as a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, he made a cabinet member of the Kano State Government in charge of economic development.

Life Ayagi grew up in Unguwa Ayagi quarters of Kano, a diverse neighborhood within the city hosting a sizable number of residents from Nupe and Yorubaland. His father was an Islamic scholar who died when Ayagi was a young child. When Ayagi was of learning age, he was enrolled into a Quranic school as was customary for many of his Muslim age mates. Ayagi was introduced to Western education (boko) by friends who attended Western schools and who taught him what they had learned at school. After his father's death, his mother remarried but the family struggled financially. Ayagi then went to live with an uncle in Sarari quarters, there, whenever, his uncle's children went to school, Ayagi went along with them and was recognized as a student.

He returned to Kano and was appointed Director of the Kano State Foundation. The foundation built two schools, and traded in farms supplies but his tenure ended in controversy due to a confrontational style in his dealing with the state government.