The wise words of Kashim Shettima
During the heat of the campaign in 2022, Kashim Shettima, then Senator and running mate to the presidential candidate, regularly offered us his entertaining, funny side. I made a compendium of such witty remarks in a piece on this page, on 14th Nov 2022, titled “The Many Wisecracks of Kashim Shettima”. After taking the readers […]
During the heat of the campaign in 2022, Kashim Shettima, then Senator and running mate to the presidential candidate, regularly offered us his entertaining, funny side. I made a compendium of such witty remarks in a piece on this page, on 14th Nov 2022, titled “The Many Wisecracks of Kashim Shettima”. After taking the readers through many of the puns, the then vice-presidential candidate spun, and the massive amount of hilarity he caused across the nation, I concluded thus: ‘We still have a few months of the campaign to go, so I guess we still have more wisecracks and aching ribs to come. And I bet you, should their ticket win next year, the presidential villa will not be the same dull place again.’
Fast forward to the present, Kashim Shettima is now sitting pretty in the presidential villa, and readers can affirm that the state house is not ‘the same dull place again’. On any occasion, whether representing his principal, the President, or acting on his own, Kashim Shettima has maintained his own old self. His speeches are still seasoned with puns that draw guffaws from his audience, which serves as a relief in that kind of tense atmosphere. Far more than that, his speeches get down to earth, addressing the issues at hand with the types of words and turns of phrase that would gladden editors of media houses.
The 31st National Economic Summit, which took place last week in the Abuja Transcorp Hilton Hotel, was one of those events that brought out the vice-president’s wisest sayings. I was a delegate to the summit, where I had a good ringside view of events. The VP represented the President and dutifully read out the prepared speech, detailing what they have achieved so far, the challenges they met on the ground, and what is ahead. At the tail end of the speech, the VP suddenly raised his face from the lectern, went extempore, his eyes fixed on the audience and said:
“I want to dwell on something very dear, a topical issue that is very dear to the heart of every Nigerian. Aliko Dangote is not an individual; he is an institution. And he is a leading light in the Nigerian economic firmament. How we treat this individual will determine how outsiders will judge us. If he had invested $10b in Microsoft, in Amazon, in Google, he probably might be worth $70-80b by now. But he opted to invest in his country, and we owe it to future generations to jealously guard, protect, promote and project the interest of this great Nigerian.
“I wish to call for caution, retrospection, and a deeper sense of patriotism from both the labour and the organised private sector in defining and improving the relationship between labour and industry, in the interest of maintaining our steadily improving economic fortunes. It is not about holding the whole nation to ransom because of a minor labour dispute. Nigeria is greater than PENGASSAN. Nigeria is greater than each and every one of us.”
As the VP addressed the audience with calm assurance and persuasive clarity, I could see delegates exchanging nods, and some allowed relieved smiles to cross their faces, visibly reflecting the reassurance instilled by his remarks. The speech was well-received and roundly clapped for. Nigeria is greater than PENGASSAN became a catchphrase, resonating in the media from that moment and appearing as a headline in most newspapers that reported the story. When the clapping died down, one could discern an audible sigh of relief from the seated guests, many of whom are investors or potential investors in the many sectors of the national economy.
This reassurance had to be made public by one of the highest government functionaries because, when the fight broke out between Dangote Refinery and PENGASSAN, many accused the government of not taking a firm approach to the matter. The arrival of the Dangote Refinery had been a welcome relief. Since it started operation, there has hardly been any shortage of petroleum products in the country, and prices have remained relatively stable. For any union, whatever it grouses with the Dangote Refinery, to attempt to cause disruptions in the supply chain would not have had public support. If PENGASSAN had succeeded in disrupting the supply chain, then investor confidence in the Nigerian economy would have been severely depleted.
The government’s seemingly tepid approach to the crisis was dissimilar to how General Sani Abacha, then Nigeria’s Head of State, handled PENGASSAN in a similar situation. Probably some of us were nostalgic for that time in 1994, when General Abacha had swung the big hammer on the officials of PENGASSAN. They had waged a devastating strike by shutting down the oil industry, aiming at toppling his regime. Abacha came out furious, fired the leadership of PENGASSAN and replaced them with his appointees. Afterwards, throughout his tenure, there was relative peace in the oil industry.
Obviously, that would not be possible now, when the rule of law has replaced military fiat. Nevertheless, I hope both the unions, the government, and Dangote refinery have learned valuable lessons from this debacle.
When I reflect on this episode, the wise words of the VP resonate with me: Nigeria is greater than each and every one of us.