In my days as permsec, I disagreed with ministers – Dasuki
The expectations were high. We were jubilating at that time that the Europeans were going to leave our country and we were going to take over the reins of power. We expected to lead our own people aright because we knew their problems and we are better equipped to solve them. The oyinbos (Europeans) were […]
The expectations were high. We were jubilating at that time that the Europeans were going to leave our country and we were going to take over the reins of power. We expected to lead our own people aright because we knew their problems and we are better equipped to solve them. The oyinbos (Europeans) were in bariki (GRAs) but we mingled with the people and we knew their problems. The Europeans imposed themselves on us so on the eve of independence we were jubilating because we would rule ourselves according to what we thought was right.
Forty-nine years after independence, will you say that those expectations were fulfilled?
Unfortunately no! After independence, we had a very good crop of leaders but the problem started in 1966 when the military struck. And from that time, we have been going from bad to worse. Kullum gara jiyada yau (things are getting worse by the day).During our time as civil servants, our loyalty was to the service and not to the governor or prime minister but now it is different. As civil servants, we were the accounting officers and once the budget was passed and the governor signed the warrant, then we will have our allocations and then we will do all the spending according to the rules. Now, everything goes to the governor: he has to sign all the vouchers. I don’t know how they do it. I understand that in some states when the governor is away, they can’t even pay salaries. This is the position that we now find ourselves.
What was the relationship between the permanent secretary and his minister?I was permanent secretary for six years and I served two ministers; I was the professional and minister was the political boss. He told me what he wanted and if it was possible, I would find how to accommodate it and if it was not, I told him the danger in pursuing that demand and I will refuse to do it. And if necessary, I would go to the council and defend it in case there was disagreement between the minister and myself.
But can’t he overrule you since the minister was your boss technically speaking?
No, politically speaking and not technically (general laughter). I think they accepted the fact that anybody can become a minister but not anybody can become a permanent secretary. The minister just said what he wanted but the man who will implement it was the professional and that was what I was. Where it was impossible to do what a minister said, I will not implement and nobody would have kicked me out. And my loyalty was to the service and not to the minister.
As permanent secretary, was your appointment based on a fixed tenure or you were expected to reach a certain age before leaving?
No, no, no. When you reach the normal retirement age, you retire. And we were not greedy. Long before my time was up, I retired in 1968. The reason for my retirement was that I was permanent secretary for six years in northern Nigeria. The region was divided into six states and for me, it looked greedy to go and become a permanent secretary in one state out of northern Nigeria. I figured that I was not the only qualified Nigerian, so I gave other people a chance.
But some people may interprete your action to mean that the position was beneath you, having been permanent secretary of northern region to go and hold the position at state level. Why didn’t you go to the North West to help develop the civil service?
All my assistants were there, why should I go? They were all transferred and they were looking forward to that position which I had held for six years, why should I hang on?
How were contracts awarded? Was it the permanent secretary who awarded contracts or the minister?
We had a tenders’ board; they did their work independently. I didn’t even know how they worked. As permanent secretary I had nothing to do with it. My business was in administering whatever was approved by the parliament, signed by the governor; contracts and other thing were not my concern.
Was the council, comprising the premier and his ministers involved in contract awards?
Maybe in very major contracts but most of these things are discussed and budgeted for in the parliament. Afterwards, whatever is related to your ministry, you will see it. I was only involved in the activities of tender’s board as a representative of the railways but when I was in mainstream civil service I had nothing to do with tenders’ board.
How many ministers were there in northern Nigeria?
Of hand I can not recall but they were not more than 15 or 16.
Did they have special assistants? How many were they?
People then were not looking for jobs(Laughter).Ministers had no business looking for assistants; they had the permanent secretaries, deputy perm secs and assistant perm secs right down to the chief clerk. They were all career officers; what more assistance did they want? This is a new thing to us.
How was recruitment into the civil service done? Did politicians push through their candidates?
Wallahi whatever you do, if you take it to the civil service commission where Abubakar Imam and others were, they will not accept. If you don’t have the qualification, no matter who you were, you will not be given the job. The minister had no business to come and ask me about recruitment. When I was permanent secretary, there was never a time that my minister asked me for a favour. There was only one time and that was when I was in the railways. Then there was going to be a tender and a junior minister in the ministry of transport indicated interest in a particular fellow to win the bid. I promised him that if he fulfils the conditions, I will give the support. The minister’s candidate came third in the process so we chose the candidate who came tops and I left Lagos. Before I came to Kaduna, the secretary of the railways called to inform me that the junior minister told them not to announce the results. I asked him if he sent the results to him, he said no. Then I asked him how the minister got to know about the results. I went to the premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello and told him what happened and I said if I was on the tenders’ board on my own, I would have resigned. I was there as a representative of northern Nigeria and I worked in the interest of the railways not that of a minister. The premier called Inuwa Wada, the defence minister, asking him to tell that junior minister to leave civil servants alone to do their work. The junior minister then requested to talk with the premier but the premier refused to either listen to him about it or see him, when the minister requested to do so. The junior minister then called the secretary of railways and changed his story; he said that he was trying to contact the senior minister who was in Canada that was why he asked the results not to be announced. He claimed to have contacted the minister who said that he should go ahead and release the results.
Who was that minister, what is his name?
No, I will not tell you his name but he is still alive.
What was the relationship between the ruling party and the government? Were party officials interfering with the act of governance?
We didn’t recognize party officials! Whatever is discussed in the parliament and it is agreed upon, it was our responsibility to implement. We had nothing to do with NPC officials; there was never a time when any party official came to ask me for any favour. May be they were asking ministers who were their party men. There was only one case that I can remember when the secretary of the party came to lobby my minister because he wanted part of a community merged with his own area. The minister asked me to prepare a memorandum to the council in order to get an approval. I told the minister that it was wrong to do so and I asked him who gave them the authority to conduct a plebiscite? I told the minister that if he wished, he was free to prepare his own memo and present to council. The matter went to the premier and I repeated the same thing in his presence. I said that once we started doing this kind of thing, there would be no end to it. Afterall, who asked them to conduct plebiscite.. But I told the premier that I swore my loyalty to the service of northern Nigeria; you, as head of government, if you give me the instruction I will carry it out, not because I believe in it. The premier said that he would not instruct any civil servant to work against his conscience, and he came up with the idea of sending another perm sec there and whatever he recommended would be implemented. I said as you so wish. So, Mr Darlong who was in the ministry of education was sent to the area and he came up with the same thing that I said. Then they said ai duk bakin su gudane (civil servants are one and the same, they don’t undo each other)and that was the end of the matter.