One of Nigeria’s pre-eminent pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Umar Abdulazeez, a medical doctor, industrialist, and political figure, passed away on 1 February 2023 in Lagos, according to family sources.

Abdulazeez was one of the pioneer medical doctors to graduate from the University College Hospital Ibadan, along with one time education minister, Jubril Aminu, who later became a vice chancellor at the University of Maiduguri.

He was born in Okene, Kogi State, in August 1938, educated at the famed Government College Keffi, [now Nasarawa State] the University of Ibadan, and the University of Edinburg where he earned his postgraduate fellowship in surgery. He lectured briefly at the Ahmadu Bello University before moving in private sector leading to his setting up of Biomedical Services in Ilorin, the country’s first intravenous pharmaceutical fluid manufacturer early years of the eighties. Under his leadership, Biomedical Limited grew to become one of the largest quality healthcare providers and largest employers in the country, providing jobs to thousands of Nigerians.

In the wake of return to politics 1993, Abdulazeez collaborated with the late General Shehu Yar Adua to found the defunct People’s Front, a precursor of the Social Democratic Party [SDP]. He was the Chairman of the People’s Front.

He was also a respected community figure and the Tafidan of Ebira Land. He is survived by three wives, 19 children and many grandchildren.