The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the country has recorded the first coronavirus death on Monday.

The deceased, Suleiman Achimugu, was a former managing director of Pipelines and Product Marketing Company.

According to NCDC in a tweet, “the 1st #COVID19 death in Nigeria has been recorded. The case was a 67 year old male who returned home following medical treatment in UK”.

“He had underlying medical conditions- multiple myeloma & diabetes & was undergoing chemotherapy,” it added.

The family in a press statement sent to The Guardian said “he died of COVID 19 on 22/03/2020 some days after he arrived Nigeria from the UK.”

“He was in self isolation upon his return from the UK and personally called NCDC after experiencing some discomfort that are related to COVID 19 symptoms,” the family spokesman Abubakar Achimugu said in the statement.

“He tested positive and was promptly evacuated to the specialist hospital. He died while recieving treatment,” the statement added.