Former Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, has explained that his unrepentant attitude of speaking truth to power cost him his positions as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Emir of Kano.
In his address at the closing ceremony of the AIG Public Leadership Programme Class of 2021 in Abuja, yesterday, Sanusi regretted that instead of the civil servants sticking to ethics and performing their duties creditably for the benefit of the masses, “over 80 per cent of them have lost their conscience” for personal gains.
His words: “A public servant is a servant to Nigeria, not to any head of state, governor or minister, this is what is missing now in the country; hence the judiciary, health, agriculture, education, transport and power sectors are not working.
“I advise you to go and resign, if you are a civil servant and fail to stand and care for the people you’re supposed to plan for, by executing favourable government projects. Remember, your failure would surely affect your children tomorrow.”
Noting that he has always stood to speak the truth to power, hence he was removed as CBN governor and Emir of Kano, but that did not stop him from doing what he sees as the right thing.
Sanusi added: “Today, you see civil servants stealing millions and billions of naira meant to build roads, provide power, water, education, food and transportation, to the detriment of the majority of Nigerians. All of these have given birth to Boko Haram, killer herdsmen, bandits and numerous arms struggles, especially among the youths, which resulted in the worst threats to human lives all over Nigeria.”
He called on the beneficiaries to impact their knowledge in the service of their fatherland by redirecting the civil service to productivity based on transparency, accountability, dignity and results for good governance.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, the Chairman and Co-founder of Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the foundation spent £563,000 to train 49 top civil servants for the Public Leaders Programme Class of 2021.
According to him, having partnered with the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, the foundation drew top executives as beneficiaries from across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). “But we are expecting the second batch of training to be increased to 100 beneficiaries and would be extended to other countries in Africa.
“Our mission at the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation is to transform public sector delivery in Africa, and one of the ways we do this is by building capacity in the public sector workforce. With the public leader’s programme, we offer public servants a unique opportunity to access a world-class training programme that will enhance their professional skill, leadership abilities and empower them to be more effective in their roles.”
Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, expressed gratitude to the foundation for lifting the capacity of the federal civil service through the training, stressing that the training would be reproduced in the entire service through the beneficiaries.
