A Second Republic Minister of Steel, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, is dead.

Unongo died on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 87.

The elder statesman died at a hospital in Jos, Plateau State.

The former Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has been battling with ill-health lately.

The late Unongo was born on September 26, 1935 and belonged to the Kwaghngise-Anure-Abera ancestry in Turan of Kwande Local Government Area in Benue.