Nathan Quao

Nathan Anang Quao, (21 November 1915 – 15 February 2005) was a Ghanaian statesman and educationist who served as Secretary (Minister) at the PNDC Secretariat from 1984 to 1993 and Special Assistant to President Jerry Rawlings from 1993 to 2001. Quao was the founding headmaster of Keta Secondary School in 1953 and was appointed the first chairman of the Ghana Education Service Council in 1974.

Early life and education Quao was born at Adawso in the Eastern Region on 21 November 1915 where his father Daniel James Quao of La was based as a general commodities merchant. His mother was Dinah Naa Densua Addy of Ga-Mashie. Later on, he was appointed the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966. The Executive Council stood as the collective executive authority until the election of the prime minister in the Second Republic.

In the Second Republic, he held the positions of Secretary to the Presidential Commission in 1969 and Secretary to the Council of State in 1970 and subsequently Secretary to the President upon assumption of the office of president by Edward Akufo-Addo. In 1978, he was made chairman of the reconstituted Ghana Education Service Council. In 1980, he became a member of the University of Cape Coast Council.

Quao was chairman of the board of Agricultural Development Bank from 1990 to 2002.

Personal life and family He was married to Dora Tawia Quao (née Mettle) with two children. Quao was the uncle of the Ghanaian economist and diplomat, Amon Nikoi, who was the Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1973 to 1977 and Finance minister from 1979 to 1981. His brother-in-law, the Rev. Carl Henry Clerk (1895–1982) was an agricultural educator and Presbyterian minister who was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1950 to 1954. Clerk was also the Editor of the Christian Messenger, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963.

Death and state funeral Nathan Quao died in Accra on 15 February 2005 of natural causes. He was accorded a state funeral on Friday 8 April 2005 at the Forecourt of the State House and buried at the La Public Cemetery by the Ghanaian government as a token of the state's appreciation of his distinguished service to the country. In addition, the Association made a book compilation of Quao's writings and memoirs to preserve his legacy.

A boys' dormitory at the Keta Secondary School, Quao House was named in his honour as the founding headmaster of the school.

The Nathan Quao Street in the Accra suburb, Kaneshie, was named after him.

In 2018, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) instituted the Nathan Anang Quao annual lectures "not only to celebrate Mr. N.A. Quao a distinguished civil servant but also to continue to emphasize on the critical need for civil and local government service staff to exhibit professionalism and remain non-partisan in the performance of duties and service to the country."