President Muhammadu Buhari says his late associate, Ismaila Isa Funtua, greatly assisted his administration to find its feet and to grow.
Buhari, in a condolence letter to Funtua’s family, described his death as a “major national loss.”
Funtua, who was a former president of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, died two weeks ago.
He hailed Katsina like the President Buhari.
The President, in the letter which he personally signed, told Funtua’s family that their patriarch’s death was not their own loss alone, but that of the entire country.
Buhari in the letter written in Hausa, said, “Malam Ismaila was of great assistance to me and my administration.
“He helped in many ways to strengthen the government and the country before his ultimate demise.”
He further eulogised the late Funtua for his “kindness, generosity and support for public causes, big and the not so big” during his lifetime.
Funtua was the founding managing director of Democrat Newspaper, life patron of NPAN and life executive member of the board of the International Press Institute.