Isyaku Dikko pays tribute to Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary general of the United Nations
The initial title of this piece was: “Amina Mohammed: An amazon at 60”. But I decided to check a dictionary to be sure of the meaning of amazon. And this is the definition according to the dictionary: “a woman from a group of female soldiers (2) a tall and strong woman.“ It is therefore appropriate to use it here figuratively or metaphorically. However, it dawned on me that Amina does not need attachment. Let her be herself. Amina. Just like legendary Amina, the strong leader of the historic Zazzau Kingdom, who was so accomplished that she is simply known in history as Amina without a middle or surname for identification. But the scope of Amina Mohammed is wider as the Deputy Secretary General of United Nations.
I was the Focal Officer of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in my state for about four years from January 11, 2008 when Amina was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs. And having worked with her for the period, my conclusion about her is that her passion for public good is REAL. No grandstanding. Few examples may suffice.
The first place we visited when she came to Katsina State for official visit was the Babbar Ruga General Hospital on the outskirts of the state capital where about 200 VVF patients were languishing in hopelessness as they were abandoned by their families and society. The women were a sorry sight and before I finished my briefing I saw tears rolling on her cheeks. “Let us go back to the office”, she requested after my briefing. No grandstanding.
On reaching the office she asked a simple question: how do we save these women? We strategized on what to do and with her decisive support the intervention was successful. At least, this was the verdict of Dr Kees, the medical doctor in-charge, a Dutch who is more Nigerian at heart than many Nigerians. He is one of the three leading experts on the VVF in the world.
Many women are excited about material things. Not Amina. She is more excited about ideas, competence and honesty. She had the opportunity to make billions in the MDGs office but she didn’t. She doesn’t need much money because her needs are few. She is not flamboyant in her dressing nor is she interested in flashy cars or houses. Amina is accomplished and confident enough not to be defined by material things. This made it easy for her to hold everybody accountable either at the headquarters in Abuja or in the 36 States and Federal Capital Territory managed by the Focal Officers.
Amina is organised, focused and committed. She was monitoring spendings in the states from her office. One of the conditions for accessing funds by the states was the authority to monitor bank accounts directly from her office. We were also meeting as Focal Officers every month to present report on completion of projects. In most cases we were presented with reports on completion of projects based on the visits to states by monitoring teams from her office. Many civil societies and development partners were involved in the designing, implementation and monitoring of the projects. There was a day an American called me and said that he was in my state to monitor our projects. When I asked him how we could meet he replied that he didn’t want to meet me, just for my information. He said “thank you” and switched off.
The staff at the headquarters had to sit up because she was staying in the office working until some hours in the night. She had zero tolerance for laziness, incompetence and dishonesty. Of course, she took care of these by organising regular and intensive capacity training programs for staff in the states and headquarters.
Amina is a proud Nigerian. Although her mother is British, she relishes telling whoever cares to listen that she is Fulani from Gombe. Interestingly, while Amina is the Deputy Secretary General at the United Nations, Professor Tijjani Bande, an accomplished professor of Political Science, is Nigeria’s Representative at the same United Nations. These are two outstanding Fulani who have become international citizens on merit and do not perceive issues from the prism of ethnicity or other primordial sentiments. Nigeria never had it better at the United Nations with Professor Bande and Amina occupying responsible positions.
Undoubtedly, Professor Bande is a fantastic human being. This I know because he was my colleague as lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.
Now you know why the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr António Guterres, confirmed Amina as his Deputy for the second term of five years approved for him recently. Nobody can get a top United Nations job through ‘magumagu’ or ‘wuruwuru’.
In making the offer to Amina Mr Gutress said: “After being elected, I have the pleasure to invite the Deputy Secretary General to remain in my second mandate and I hope she will accept”. Wow! (Cable News June 18, 2021)
Amina was first appointed Deputy Secretary General in 2007. Earlier in 2015, she served as Special Adviser to the then Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon on post MDGs (2015) development plans. Based on the work of her office, the United Nations came up with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which all member countries have subscribed to.
Finally, based on my interest in gender issues, my advice to Amina is to reflect on the advice of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, to the five women who made history recently by emerging as Managing Directors of five top banks in the country. We have to celebrate their competence and capacity like Amina because no shareholders in the world will hand over a big bank to a mediocre simply because she is a woman. Sanusi is emphatic: “The best advice to these fine women bankers is first to go out there and prove that they can do better than the men, as the female Directors we appointed in CBN did. Second, do NOT be “queen bees” who love the attention of being the only female there. Keep the ladder, reach out and help other women to the top. Implement women friendly policies, have creches, pay for the babies and nannies of nursing mothers when they go on official assignment abroad, encourage remote access and work from home for women on extended maternity leave, etc.
Finally, the real gender issues in Nigeria are far beyond getting women to Boards. For each one of you, there are millions of girls who are not completing primary school. Issues of forced marriage, domestic violence, arbitrary divorce, “sex for grades” in universities, bankers are Nigerians and you cannot just be focused on money. Use your position and power to fight for the Nigerian girl and woman, especially the poor and voiceless ones”.
God Bless Amina as she celebrates her birthday at 60.
- Dikko is a retired permanent secretary
