On Kachikwu and the Trouble with Memory

The trouble with memory is that it does not sit still. A comment made in passing can swell into a headline, then into a narrative that was never quite what the speaker meant. This, it seems, is the knot Ibe Kachikwu has been trying to untangle.

When the former minister recently spoke at an NCDMB lecture, much of the reporting zoomed in on his recollections of subsidy battles and refinery failures. What did not travel as fast were the nuances, the context, the clarifications. His friends insist there was no criticism, only respect.

They argue Kachikwu remains grateful to his late boss, Muhammadu Buhari, who once gave him the opportunity to serve his nation. To him, even difficult moments were lessons, not grievances. The idea that he left office in bitterness, they say, is little more than a convenient fiction.

His record, after all, was not a quiet one. From the “seven big wins” policy framework to gas commercialisation, from enforcing strict local content rules to navigating the Petroleum Industry Act, Kachikwu’s imprint remains visible. He even carried Nigeria’s flag into OPEC, chairing its conference and later APPO’s ministerial council.

But his life did not end with Abuja offices and policy documents. Since leaving government in 2019, he has been writing, teaching, and consulting.

The Harvard-trained lawyer who once dabbled in journalism now lectures on energy law across continents, with thirteen books stacked behind his name.

What keeps him moving? Perhaps the belief that public service is never a straight line but a set of curving roads, each with its lessons. He insists that speaking frankly about challenges is not betrayal but patriotism. It is the voice of someone who, even outside the corridors of power, has not stopped thinking about Nigeria.

And so, the clarifications arrive. Not as apologies. Not as rebuttals. Just a reminder that memory is messy, context matters, and sometimes the story is less about scandal than about perspective.