Yushau A. Shuaib with First Class Igbo Traditional Ruler, the Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien during a special event in the King’s Palace in 1993

Exactly 20 years ago in October 1993, I received the Best Writer and Researcher Award while serving as a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Delta State. Impressed by some of my writings and research efforts, Governor Olorogun Felix Ibru consequently offered me automatic employment in the Government House, Asaba as Public Relations Officer in the state Civil Service.

A few months later, another double award of automatic scholarship and NYSC National Honours Award was announced for me by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The honour by the Federal Government also went with an offer of automatic employment in the federal civil service that was not subject to either federal character principle or space availability.

Since then I had found myself working in various organisations as either Press Secretary or Head of Public Relations as I continued to write official Press Releases and personal opinion articles. Some of those organisations include Federal Ministries of Information, Finance, Health, National Assembly, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), National Press Centre and finally National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Since April 2013 when I was recalled from NEMA due to the influence of Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who had earlier spoken to me on phone alleging that I accused her wrongly in one of my writings, I had made up my mind about the civil service that I had served diligently and professionally without allowing myself to be influenced or intimidated by anyone.

In the course of these past months, my salary was suddenly stopped without any official notification to that effect. I had been summoned, issued letters of queries and confronted with verbal threats in the vain hope that I would retract the write-up and tender an apology. Of course, I stood my grounds in the same way that I had politely declined the minister’s request during the telephone conversation.

Finally on Thursday October 3, 2013, I received a letter of retirement from the Federal Civil Service, which was backdated to June 20, 2013. Though the letter erroneously referred to me as Assistant Chief Information Officer (ACIO) (because as of fact, I had been promoted a Chief Information Officer (CIO) with effect from January 1, 2012), it contained the charge that I was retired for criticising a public officer.

After consultation with my family members, all of who believe that my life is more precious than political and administrative scheming, I accepted my disengagement from the civil service effective today (October 9, 2013) leaving my traducers in the ultimate court of the creator.

I must extend my gratitude to the government of the state where I started my journey in the civil service and its people and to the Federal Government for finding me worthy to be a civil servant of the Federal Republic and allowing me to serve in various capacities in the last twenty years. I have received tremendous support and encouragement from editors of both mainstream media and publishers of online media across the country all of who also showed keen interest in the recent development. I will never be able to show enough gratitude to you all.

I understand the weaknesses inherent in the public service but must express tremendous appreciation for the concern and understanding displayed by some officers in the public service and top members of the Federal Civil Service Commission. For personal reasons, I declined to accede to their friendly advice that I should take certain actions that might enable me keep my job in the service but which I believe would assail my conscience.

Finally, I thank all my colleagues, friends and admirers who have been my pillars of support. I put my trust in God Almighty and rest assured in the solemn belief that Nigeria shall be great.

Yushau Shuaib

The post I Cease to be A Civil Servant- Yushau A. Shuaib appeared first on YAShuaib.

It was through my opinion and feature writings that I won some awards in the university and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at state and national levels. Though I deferred an admission offered to me by the University of Nigeria Nsukka to pursue Masters Programme in PR after I was honored with Automatic Scholarship for being the best Writer during the NYSC, I accepted automatic employments by both the Delta State Government and the Federal Government in 1993 and 1994 respectively.

In my letter of acceptance, I reflected that I would continue to write opinion articles that will be geared towards making Nigeria a better society that every Nigerian will be proud of. My experiences with great Igbos, Itshekiris and Urhobos formed the fulcrum of my early write ups during my youth service and after I started work at the Government House, Asaba. Their leaders, who took me as their son, protected and provided for my needs. Prof. Chike Edozien, the Asagba of Asaba, Chief Paulinus Akpeki and Ugoh of Okpe Kingdom were among some of the great people that made my youth service year and work experience a worthwhile adventure in Delta State.

When I moved to the Federal Civil Service, I never stopped writing. In fact most of my deployments to different offices were largely influenced by my enthusiasm for generating news items, issuing press releases and producing well-informed features stories.

As a Nigerian and a public official, I have always been conscious of my responsibility to ensure that the general public perceives government in a good light. I have strived to be a good ambassador of the government and people of Nigeria. I performed my roles with the best of intentions.

My writings can be divided into two major categories: official and unofficial. A careful perusal of my writings in the media will show that I sign the first category in my capacity as information/PR officer of the different places that I have been posted to. In the second category, I have been careful to make it clear that I write in my personal capacity as a private citizen. To make that point even clearer I affix my personal home address or email to personal opinions.

Since my employment, I have published books, issued over 2000 news releases, wrote news features and personal opinion, all in my bid to promote the activities of government and contribute to the peaceful coexistence of the diverse groups in the country. Most of my writings are accessible on my blog: www.yashuaib.com.

The recent article, which generated a lot of reactions and comments, was not done to malign anyone. Incidentally, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a personality I have a lot of admiration and respect for. I believe that she is aware of this. And so, when I put pen to paper in what has become routine to me to express my viewpoints on some recent appointments into top positions in her ministry, I never expected that it would be perceived negatively. It was to draw her attention to the strong speculations making the rounds which, in my view, she is not only capable of addressing but would do well to be aware of.

Maybe I should add here that during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration in which Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was also an influential member, I wrote some critical opinion articles on the activities of the president, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Nasir el-Rufai, Mrs. Oby Ekwesili, and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), among others. During the short-lived administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua, I x-rayed some of the president’s policies and those of Segun Adeniyi, his spokesman. I even wrote critical commentaries on my supervising Minister then, Mr. John Odey, who on some occasions, publicly responded to and addressed some of the my issues raised in my write-ups. As late as 2012, I wrote an article on President Goodluck Jonathan with the title “Flood in the Eyes of the President” and it was published in most national dailies. Following this, I received words of encouragement even from some of his aides and was consequently requested to support my postulations with photographs.

The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani-Sidi, who had intervened several times to resolve the current issue with Madam Minister, is one of the bosses that have tolerated my critical opinions on various issues. We disagree and later agree on issues like normal human beings do.

In essence, encouraging responses that I have received in the past have served as the impetus for me to continue with my cherished hobby. To me, I am simply contributing to the betterment of our country. It was in view of the above, therefore, that I was encouraged to pen the open letter to the Finance Minister on some developments, which I strongly believe she has the capacity to address.

I was initially elated when I received a telephone call from the Minister on Wednesday March 20, 2013 at 6.15pm. Naturally, I was happy that, once again, my effort has yielded fruit. Receiving a call from someone that a reputable international news organization described as one of the most influential women on earth is humbling. I felt jubilant when I heard “Shuaibu, this is Okonjo-Iweala!” However, when she added “Why should you do this to me? You can’t praise me and condemn me and call it constructive criticism. Haba Shuaibu!” I knew that my opinion had not been viewed positively.

Despite the huge difference in age and status, the Minister took her time to explain to me why so much of what I concluded was not the case. During the conversation, the Minister even read portions of my write-up.

While feeling flattered and honored that a world-class technocrat like the minister was humble enough to personally call me and explain her position to me, I couldn’t help wondering why this particular piece attract such concerns and why so much more meaning than I intended has been read to it.

To me, the article was as harmless as every other that I had written in the past. I was still contemplating how to tackle the seeming complications when just a few days afterwards, hate comments and rejoinders pointing out that my article had been inspired by ethnic and religious considerations began to appear in newspapers and Nigerian online forums.

I want to emphasise, once again, that my article was written with the purest of intentions, and even a cursory internet search will reveal that I have done this religiously in the last 20 years. Contrary to insinuations of ethnocentrism, sectionalism and sponsorship in many of the reactions and rejoinders to the opinion, I take full responsibility for the views that were expressed. I have never written with, or caused articles to be published with malice. I am a strong believer in the oneness and potentials of this country, and most of my opinions have been centred on great Nigerians that I admire and will not want to see fall into disrepute.

Despite this, however, I have realised that the said opinion has caused great discomfort to some individuals and groups. I want to reassure my elders and my good brothers and sisters, especially from a section of the country, who might have felt offended by my write-up that I harbor no grudge against them. I will not like to see this discomfort and the continuation of unnecessary hate comments. After all, we are one big family.

Yushau A. Shuaib
www.yashuaib.com

The post My Writings and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appeared first on YAShuaib.

One of the major reasons some of us believe strongly in ability of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was the way and manner she carried major players both from the North and the South along while she were Minister of Finance between 2003 to 2006. She were never accused of discrimination or bias against any of the diverse groups of the ethnically charged and religiously polarized nation. The same will be said of her then principal, Olusegun Obasanjo who, despite some of his shortcomings will never be accused of tribalism. He is a detribalized leader and a nationalist to the core who believe strongly in the Nigeria project.

The choice of her nominees into top public appointments and even the composition of her associates cut across every segment of Nigeria including those in her Economic Team like Nasir Elrufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Bode Agusto, Dr. Mansur Mukhtar and Chukwuma Soludo among others.

Her achievements too were glaring. We recall that in 2005 she led Nigeria to striking a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay a portion of Nigeria’s external debt amounting US $12 billion in return for an $18 billion debt write-off.

She ensured transparency in monthly federation account allocation by the introduction of monthly publication of the disbursements in selected media. She was instrumental to helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from an international ratings agency. Even when she left the government in 2006, her nongovernmental organisation, NOI Global Consulting, partnered with the Gallup Organization to introduce what may be described as the first credible opinion poll, the NOI poll, into the Nigerian polity.

With these at the background, it was not surprising that when she were reappointed by President Jonathan as Finance Minister and when she were shortlisted for the post of President of the World Bank in 2012, she received overwhelming support from all Nigerians. An online publication even claimed that some Northern Mallams were praying for her success in the mosques. Everyone at that period believed that she were a detribalized Nigerian with real-world experience of policy-making.

The reason for writing this write-up is to alert her to some disturbing trends as regards some recent appointments into top public offices in Nigeria in view of their economic and political implications. As the most powerful minister and an Igbo Princess from the Niger Delta by virtue of being a daughter of Obi of Ogwashi-Uku community in Delta State, I believe she should continue to live above board.

Recently the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) made some disturbing allegations of ethnic cleansing of Yoruba in federal appointments by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Wife of the sage, Chief HID Awolowo and the retired Bishop of Akure, Rt. Rev. Bolanle Gbonigi in Ikenne Ogun State after the meeting of the forum accused the administration of systematically excluding the Yoruba nation from the federation in terms of appointments without justification. They called on the government to redress the “systematic discrimination” against the Yoruba nationality in federal appointive positions without delay, saying that the Yoruba have been getting “crumbs” from the administration.

No sooner than the Yoruba allegation was made that the Northern Senators Forum (NSF) also publicly lamented gaping marginalization against the North over appointments and promotions in the military. According to these distinguished Nigerians, there are lopsidedness in employment and postings in the Nigerian Army in favour of the Igbos, which is clearly in the breach of the principle of Federal Character.

She should be aware that many Nigerians are referring to a book, ‘Chinua Achebe Teacher of Light’ which she co-authored where she expressed bitterness about how her tribe was dealt with before, during and after the civil war and insinuating that now that she is in authority, she is determined to correct all that she perceived as injustice against her people. Some even insist that what she is doing now is promoting regional and ethnic agenda to the detriment of other groupings in Nigeria by manipulating appointments.

To drive the point home, her name has been lately mentioned as collaborating with another Igbo top ranking appointee in government to ensure the reinstallation of Ms Arunma Oteh as Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) despite the glaring allegations against her and consistent calls by the National Assembly for her removal. Okonjo-Iweala stood her ground, damning all and today, Oteh remains in the position.

While the debate on Oteh’s saga was yet to subside, a coalition of youths, led by human rights activist and President of Civil Rights Congress, Shehu Sani, queried the rationale behind the appointment of a new Chairman for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) when a northerner, Kabir Mashi was already in the position and improving the revenue base of the agency, especially VAT collection for the Federation Account. Under Mashi FIRS has continued to record steady increases in the collection of taxes that it closed the 2012 financial year with a total collection of N5 trillion where N1.8 trillion (36.07 per cent) came from non-oil taxes.

The group claimed that the committee that Okonjo-Iweala set up was a smokescreen just to give a semblance of due process and fairness whereas it was populated mainly by her Igbo kinsmen. They added that “We don’t believe there is transparency in the process, and we caution the President against the excessive ceding of his own power to the finance minister.”

They publicly criticized her of playing an ethnic game with many of the appointments made in the country since she returned to the saddle. Some of the other positions, they alleged, which were created and filled during this period include those of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Sovereign Wealth Fund, Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) and even the recent appointment of a 40 year old lady as Director General of National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

People are wondering at the coincidence of only Igbos beating every other person at competitive interviews conducted by her nominated international consulting groups. The only semblance of federal character principle in some of those institutions is the appointment of ceremonious but temporary chairmen who are merely figure-heads, with mandates for mere advisory roles.

The use of catchy phrases such as “best brains,” “foreign trained,” and “foreign-based” to deprived qualified, competent and experienced Nigerians to aspire to top positions is quite inimical to the progress of our nation. The erroneous impression that some competitive and sensitive positions can only be filled by unique intelligent tribes must be corrected.

Experiences have shown that in practical situations, some so-called foreign trained and bookish first class graduates could not do better than other Nigerians who have the competence and experience to prove their worth in most difficulty terrains.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should also note that blatant disregard to the sensitivities and sensibilities of others while arrogantly promoting only people from her tribe may expose them to hatred with potentially explosive consequences such as those experienced in the 1960s when most federal positions were occupied by a particular tribal group.

For those of us who still respect the Hon Minister of Finance and Economic Development, we strongly believe she should dissociate herself from current allegations of ‘biafranization’ of top public offices in Nigeria. We are in democratic government where policy issues should not be done in dictatorial manner of ‘we-are-now-in-power’.

I therefore urge her to ensure that appointments into important positions should be done in credible and transparent manners that can withstand public scrutiny. I believe strongly that only those that mean well will dare to tell the truth on the general feeling in the country.

Yushau A. Shuaib
www.yashuaib.com

This article by Yushau A Shuaib has been published in national dailies including, National Mirror, Blueprint, Leadership, Peoples Daily, Daily Trust, it has also appeared on Sahara reporters, Daily Post, Premium Time, Economic Confidential, Eagle News, Nigeria Viallage Square, etc….

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