Emir Sanusi: Many People in Public Office Today Were Not Properly Raised

•Says politicians destroy public service

Alex Enumahin Abuja

The Emir of Kano, AlhajiSanusiLamidoSanusi, has identified the absence of proper upbringing as a major factor affecting the quality of leadership in the country.

According to Sanusi, Nigeria of recent have been ruled by people who didn’t have values, people seen as thieves and criminals.

He made the assertion last night, while speaking as a guest on Channels Television programme: Politics Today.

Reflecting on the tenure of former Head of State, the late General Murtala Mohammed, the 14th Emir of Kano, who said he was in secondary school, when the then head of state was assassinated recalled that students were taught in school various values including the need to have a good name above material possessions.

“The truth is that many people in public offices today were not properly brought up,” he said, adding that, in his days at Kings College, Lagos, they had a subject called “Civic” where from a very young age pupils were thought the importance of honesty, integrity and the need to leave behind a good name.

Sanusi, who was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan lamented that a lot of people in government today, were there for the wrong reasons, including the pursuit of wealth.

“You don’t go into public office to make money… if you want to make money go into business,” he said, citing business mogul such as AlikoDangote, Nigeria’s richest man.

The Emir lamented that the erosion of value has unfortunately permeated all areas in the country with religious and traditional leaders worshipping money bags.

He maintained that a society where material wealth was glorified, a society where people who had stolen public funds were rewarded with appointment can never make any meaningful progress.

“We need to begin to address the sense of value and ask ourselves what will become of us when we die” Sanusi said, just as he queried the rationale for stealing public funds by persons over 70 years.

Accusing politicians of destroying the country’s civil service system, he urged current public servants to be determined to always do what was right at all times and leave a good legacy behind.

Sanusi pointed out that the civil service was the backbone of good governance and civil servants ought to be protected at all times from politicians who might want to use them for their selfish gain.

According to the Emir, there was hardly a Permanent Secretary today that could say “no” to a minister or president.