My story is similar to the story of many of my generation. I was born in a southern Adamawa village to a nomadic trader and his wife who was a farmer. I grew up as a shepherd and a farm boy. I was the only child of my parents. My father had to be imprisoned by Local Council authorities before he could allow me to go to school. [eap_ad_2] At 11, I lost my father and my whole world fell apart. With the help of my mother, other relatives and friends of my father, I pulled myself up from this doldrums and despair. I faced the future with uncommon confidence, hope and faith in God. I am where I am today because I did not give up. I struggled to acquire a good education because the opportunity was made available. Most people never had a chance and their potentials were never discovered and their contributions to national development thus curtailed. I worry today that too many of our young people who could have improved their lives and that of this nation have not been getting the opportunities to do so.
In the 20 years that I spent in the Nigerian public service, I built a solid reputation for myself as a diligent, honest, hardworking and innovative staff. I retired as an accomplished and fulfilled public servant. That is what every Nigerian who had diligently served this country deserves and not dehumanization, humiliation and neglect.
I became politically active in 1987 because my imagination was captured by a leader, the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who started with persistent determination and diligence to construct bridges of understanding and love across the ethno-religious divides inherent in our society. He convinced all of us who were bold to defy the status quo to participate in his noble passion. We were convinced that it was the only way to preserve our national unity and establish a structure of peace necessary for national development. Even after his death, we have continued with renewed vigour to pursue this dream.
My politics has always been guided by the enduring values of fairness and justice, honesty of purpose, the pursuit of excellence, selflessness and the love for my country. These values also characterize my conduct in business.
As Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, I worked closely with my boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also a passionate defender of Nigerian unity. We re-integrated our country into the international community following years of isolation; we professionalized our armed forces; we embarked on fundamental economic reforms articulated by an Economic Team, which I had the honour to chair. We focused on macro-economic stability and transforming critical areas such as banking, insurance, oil and gas, telecommunication, pension and the Civil Service. We created novel institutions that should lay the foundation for good governance and accountability such as the Bureau of Procurement (Due Process), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), SERVICOM, whose Golden rule is “Serve others as you would like to be served.” Sadly, most of these institutions are now mere shadows of themselves.
We also paid off nearly all of our foreign debt which was crippling the country; we stabilized the exchange rate of the naira as well as interest rates, and reduced inflation. What needed to follow was for these macro-economic gains to be further translated into improved welfare for our people.
With the reforms in the telecommunications sector we increased the number of functioning telephone lines from 200,000 at the inception of our administration to over 70 million by the time we left. Our reforms also led to an increase in the market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange from N400 billion to over N8 trillion by 2007 and to nearly N13 trillion by 2008.
We also handed over well-articulated master Plans for the development of multi-modal transportation system, including a contract for the modernization of the railways. We also commenced the implementation of the Gas to Power Master Plan, with a target of 26,000 megawatts of electricity expected to be delivered by 2015.
This is the story of the service of an administration, which I am proud to have been a part of. These achievements were made possible because of the vision, commitment and dedication of leadership. Good leadership is what it takes to make good things happen. Did we resolve all of Nigeria’s challenges? Of course not! But no one would say that there was leadership vacuum or a lack of commitment, plan and execution.
