Between Adamu Adamu and Dr. Bichi

Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, the former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), said that, Malam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, orchestrated his sack from office for his refusal to pay kickbacks to contractors working for Mallam Adamu. I’m not pro or against Dr. Bichi. I also hold no brief for the […]

Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, the former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), said that, Malam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, orchestrated his sack from office for his refusal to pay kickbacks to contractors working for Mallam Adamu.

I’m not pro or against Dr. Bichi. I also hold no brief for the education minister. However, the case of Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa has brought to the fore two salient issues- The educational level of Nigeria’s political leaders has increased considerably, but good governance in the country has reduced drastically. Some of Nigeria’s poor administrators are from the academia .

The absence of an appreciable level of good governance in Nigeria despite the high educational level of its leaders is a strong indication that leadership’s array of certificates doesn’t matter, but the individual character and behaviours.

A professor or a PhD who teaches basic knowledge in the classroom, when given a political position or public office behaves like a motor park tout. Though, some educationists have observed that public office holders, who possess high educational qualifications and misbehave, did not earn such qualifications scholarly. Hence, they display disgraceful character in positions of authorities. Other people have also summed up the reason for the lack of good governance to the fact that most individuals in leadership positions in Nigeria are never prepared for the job.

In a nutshell, the Nigerian system is so corrupted that the easy way to secure a public office is to have the right godfather or belong to the political party in power whether at the centre or in the states and during electioneering campaign all that is needed of one is to climb to the podium, rain abuses on the opponents, shout the name of your political party and dance. Shikenan! Such system would never produce good administrators.

 

Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa state