Right things to make Nigeria great

Right things to make Nigeria great On November 29, 20188:42 amIn Gambo Dori1 Comment By Gambo Dori IT was an evening on the second Sunday in November that friends and relations of Mohammed Abba Gana, an engineer and former FCT Minister and Special Adviser to President Obasanjo on Civil Society, congregated at the Ladi Kwali Hall of Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. The occasion was to witness the conferment of a lifetime achievement award on the statesman by the Nigerian Festival of Awards. The ceremony was not just glitter and pomp. There were a lot of those as well as plenty of bonhomie too. Map-of-Nigeria The occasion was graced by a former Second Republic Governor of Borno State, Mohammed Goni, in whose cabinet Mohammed Abba Gana served as Commissioner of Works. Ambassador Bunu Sheriff Musa, a former Federal Minister was there and a host of colleagues from way back, including many of us whom Mohammed Abba Gana had mentored in the last 50 or so years. However, what really arrested my attention was the speech he made as a recipient of the prestigious award. As the statesman he is, his speech encapsulated those right things that he thinks are needed to make Nigeria a great and secure nation. He started by going down history lane, telling us that among all races and in all countries when things go wrong it’s because of the type of leaders they have and when things go right it is also because of the type of leaders they have. Therefore, he said: ‘If the citizens want development and prosperity, security and welfare, good education and healthcare, etc., they should search for and identify good leaders and elect them into power’. In his view the time has come to establish a leadership recruitment process and criterion to be used by all the political parties. He recalled an attempt made by the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, when they published such criterion which was produced under the chairmanship of Sunday Awoniyi in October 2002. It contained recommendations which if they were adopted by the political parties and used in the selections of candidates for elective/non-elective positions, things could have been much better for the whole country. However, he surmised the country needs to get on to surmount its leadership deficits. And the way forward is need to get at least five things right to make Nigeria a great and secure, peaceful, united and prosperous country free from hunger and poverty. In his words: ‘The first thing we must get right is that we must as a people positively change our attitude to government, politics, religion, ethnicity, and business. Secondly, we must urgently review and improve/correct our leadership recruitment process so that knowledgeable, competent, honest and patriotic leaders with the right attitude to governance will emerge at all levels of government and even the organised private sector. Thirdly, no society can progress and prosper without adopting and implementing or being guided by some moral/ethical code of conduct. Right now all the moral values and traditional and cultural values, which used to guide our individual and social behaviour are in danger of disappearing. Fourthly, we must vigorously check the rapidly growing tendency of materialism in the country. There is so much unhealthy greed for individual/personal wealth through whatever means. This escalating individualism is one of the few other reasons why there is so much poverty and hunger in our country. Fifthly, we are really not doing enough as government, as viable organised sector operators, well-endowed individuals for the vast majority of our citizens. Our prosperity must be reflected in the general wellbeing of our citizens.’ Power and piety: Last Friday marked exactly one year of the public presentation of the book,Power and Piety, that chronicles the life and times of the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi, the illustrious grandfather of the incumbent who also bears the same name. The book is written by Mohammed Sabi’u Umar and Ahmed Tijjani Abubakar. I missed the public presentation of the book and could not lay my hands on a copy till recently. Obviously the rise and fall of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi had been a fixture of biographers and associated historians over the last 50 years and any new book on this subject matter is bound to arouse public interest. The story always seems to take a fresh dimension any time it is retold. However, this book is a lot different for two reasons. Firstly, the book started in Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, as a dissertation for a 1973 B.A. History Degree which Mohammed Sabi’u was pursuing. It had, therefore, some rigorous beginnings in the academics. Secondly, the idea of turning the dissertation into a book remained with the author for all this time, enabling him to pursue other sources of material as well as interview more prominent colleagues of the Emir. The authors were further encouraged by Professor Saad Abubakar, whom as a lecturer had supervised the original dissertation, this time staying at the background dispensing scholarly advice. The result is a book that is rich in material and honest in analyses. The story of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi is familiar and is now very much part of our history, particularly because he rose to reign in the period of the adjustments from the independent Emirates to the consolidation of the colonial administration via indirect rule. It was also the same period when the educated indigenous elites were being prepared to succeed the departing colonial masters. Emir Sanusi assumed the throne of his father in 1953 when the powers of the emirates were at their highest. And he had come to the throne as one of the most prepared princes of the time, having understudied his father, Emir Abdullahi Bayero, for many years. The colonial administration was at its twilight and preparations for independence would start in a short while. The educated elites were bristling in their eagerness to get their hands on the levers of power and were not showing any tolerance to share power. As a result, many emirs and chiefs suffered the pains of abdication in that period. Lamido of Adamawa (1952), Emirs of Argungu (1953), Dikwa (1954) and Bauchi (1954), plus the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland (1954) were all removed, one after the other, by the Northern Nigerian Government. Even in the palace of the Shehu of Borno, in 1953, these kinds of intrigues nearly succeeded to remove him. By the time Emir Sanusi had assumed the Kano throne the colonialists were in full retreat and the newly educated elites as politicians and technocrats were getting ready to take power. The throne of Kano was deemed as primus inter pares (first among equals), superintending over the most populous and wealthiest Native Authority. Kano city had also the advantage of occupying the central space up North, and was for centuries the centre of commerce in the region. Emir Sanusi inevitably became one of the most influential personages of the time, earning almost twice the salary of the Governor General of Nigeria as salary. He was in full control of the political situation in Kano having been in the forefront of the formation of the Northern People Congress, NPC, and the emergence of his cousin, Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, as its leader and subsequently Premier of the region. In fact, he was held in such high esteem that when Sir Gawain Bell, Governor of the Northern Region, was going on leave in 1960, Emir Sanusi was asked to act for him, despite the fact that there was a sitting Deputy Governor, H.A.S. Johnston. In three years, however, things turned awry between the Emir and the new powers in Kaduna leading finally to his abdication. There were various interpretations leading to the abdication. The authors left nothing out treating each with sobriety, humanity and dignity. The book is a treasure and should be sought out for keeps.

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