Appointments made so far by President Buhari are already signaling the ‘return of the old school’ to run the affairs of the country, at least in the next four years.
In his usual ‘sudden’ and ‘unsuspecting’ manner, the President last Thursday, appointed Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff and Babachi David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
In his usual ‘sudden’ and ‘unsuspecting’ manner, the President last Thursday, appointed Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff and Babachi David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Hammed Ali who was initially touted to have been penned to take over from Ibrahim Lamorde, as Chairman, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was surprisingly announced as Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs.
Kyari, 77, a chip off the old block and an indigene of Borno State was born in 1938.
He enlisted in the Nigerian Army in1959 as an Officer Cadet and attended the 12th Regular Officers’ Training School, Teshia, Ghana March 1959.
According to information obtained from Wikipedia, Kyari had played a major role in 1966 in assisting the Igbo soldiers to flee from Kaduna. Kyari was later appointed Governor of North-Central State in July 1967.
Hammed Ibrahim Ali, another chip off the old block, is 60, born January 15, 1955. He retired Nigerian Army Colonel. Ali had served as Military a Administrator of Kaduna State, Nigeria (August 1996 – August 1998) during the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
These appointments have shocked political watchers because of wide spread speculations that the President had chosen Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Ameachi and Ogbonnaya Onu as his Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Government of the Federation respectively.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the trio of Tam David West, a former minister of Petroleum, Ahmed Joda and Tunde Bakare could make the ministerial list, having passed the President’s integrity and transparency clearance test in the countdown to an unannounced September date, he has promised to unveil his full cabinet.
Buhari’s body language and utterances have since indicated his preference for very credible and untainted Nigerians to hold sensitive positions of government.
He has also been seen to want to distance himself from names seemingly linked to allegations of corruption.
The President also seems to trust the old hands in sensitive positions that require direct interface with funds, more than the younger generation who some say may easily be lured with financial benefits.
David West, 79, was born in Buguma, Rivers State and became a professor in 1975.
He served in the government of Murtala Muhammed in 1979 as a member of the fifty-person Constitution Drafting Committee for the Federal Military Government.
He also served under the President Buhari military government as a federal minister of petroleum and energy from 1984 to 1985, and later as the minister of mines, power, and steel under General Ibrahim Babangida, 1986.
Joda, who is reported to be 85 years old, is a Nigerian administrator, journalist, politician and was among a class of super permanent secretaries in the 1970s. Amongst a cadre of group three level perm secs that played a major role during the Nigerian Civil War.
He worked with Ahmadu Bello in the Northern regional government and in1999, headed a Committee on Assessment of Federal Government parastatals and also a panel on poverty alleviation.
If the President finally appoints the former minister of Petroleum, David-West, and Ahmed Joda as members of his cabinet, more chips would substantiate his preference for the ‘older generation’ as cabinet members.
Obo Effanga, a political analyst and social activist, believes that as far the appointees could deliver on their assignment, there was no issue with age.
He is however, worried that the trend could mean “that there is a dearth of younger hands who can be trusted,” saying however that the younger generation needs to be prepared for public office in the future.
His words, “For me, the first thing in any appointment is to look at how competence, track record and integrity will affect the job. Can I trust this person to handle the code of conduct of the office, for instance?
“Unless it can be shown that the person’s age will affect performance, it should not be an issue. The carriage and way and manner they go about their assignments should be able to rob off positively on the other staff working under them, middle and lower level staff.
Effanga is of the opinion that there is the need to bring back credibility to public office in Nigeria, even if this means bringing back those who have been tested in the past and worked credibly provided their health can carry them through the task of governance.
“I also expect a mix as we should be grooming new sets of leaders for the country,” he however added,
“What this means for us as a country is that there is a dearth of people who can be trusted to deliver with a high sense of integrity. What we need to do is that right from the lower level of education we need to bring back morality and ethics, teaching and imparting ethics and morality in our people from an early age.
He also suggested that children need to be trained on issues of efficiency in the way they do things, adding that there should be a “clear reward system in the country where people are punished and are also seen to be punished when they do wrong and not glamourising and celebrating those who have acted contrary to the state”.
Elizabeth Archibong
