By Godwin Anene
A former minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, is dead.
Graham-Douglas, who also served as minister during the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida, died at 82.
The elder statesman died on Monday at a private hospital in Abuja, the nation’s capital, where he was said to be receiving treatment.
Born May 8, 1939, hailed from Abonnema in the Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He was married to Muriel and blessed with 12 children and many grandchildren.
Chief Graham-Douglas was the son of a native court judge in Abonnema and his Napo Graham-Douglas was the first indigenous Attorney-General of Nigeria.
In 1989, the military Administrator of Ibrahim Babangida appointed him Federal Minister for Social Development, Youths and Sports.
He was later moved to the Ministry of Aviation, where he oversaw the deregulation of the aviation industry.
Graham-Douglas was also a member of the Special Tenders Board, which developed the Abuja FCT.
In 1992, Graham-Douglas became chairman of the Southern Minorities Movement, one of the groups that merged into the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He was a candidate in the PDP primaries for the presidential nomination in 1998 but lost to Olusegun Obasanjo.
President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Graham-Douglas Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity in June 1999.
In July 2000, Graham-Douglas was moved to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In November 2000 he headed a delegation that visited China, where he signed the 2000-2002 Executive Plan of Cultural and Educational Exchange between China and Nigeria.
