Adamu Adamu: Beyond a practitioner minister

Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi was an editor at Thisday Newspapers when Former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki “poached” him and made him an adviser. Abdullahi rose to become Saraki’s commissioner of education. If you ask Kwarans about Abdullah’s era as education commissioner, you will always be left with deluge of favourable reviews.

Abdullahi would later become a minister of Federal Government in whose time Nigeria won the Africa’s Cup Nations for the third. From the Zik of Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, to Adamu Ciroma, from Abubakar Rimi, to Segun Osoba , Nigerian journalists have not only made some telling contributions in our nation’s building, but have remarkably proven their mettle as well. We are, perhaps, the unsung heroes of Nigeria’s development, especially its struggle for independence.

In the last 24 hours, however, there’s been an army of vociferous voice who feel that Malam Adamu Adamu, the newly appointed education minister, should be better off elsewhere, not in the education ministry where professors have always held sway. It’s understandable. Norms will always be norms even if they are not working. And probably a model must never be challenged even by a government that makes the word “change” as its mantra.

But are ministers supposed to be practitioners or leaders as Dr. Aliyu Tilde would put it?

This is where the misconception arises. Ministers as supervisors of their ministries, departments and agencies are supposed to be policy drivers, not necessarily practitioners.

Thus if President Muhammadu Buhari, the man who wears the shoes and knows exactly where it pinches feels that Adamu Adamu is the best man to be in charge of driving his educational policy, why shouldn’t we give him a massive benefit of doubt?

It’s worth noting also the fact that the selection aides or cabinet members and assigning portfolios for them, is the sole prerogative of Mr. President. The message therefore from PMB is that: he has not found a man with that deep insight of his mind who can also boast of loyalty and unparallel integrity to do the job like Adamu. It’s a development which many, including –very surprisingly–some journalists find very difficult to come to terms with.

The truth is that as an ex-military general, PMB can be absolutely trusted to have developed the capacity to manage human resources efficiently. It’s part of a general’s duty to strategically deploy commanders, in this case, ministers.

Someone I hold in very high esteem has described Adamu as a man with all credentials of a genius. A versatile scholar, a cerebral commentator on both local and international issues is not supposed to be a man that we can easily shrug off with our pen, in favour of depth of academic qualification. I‘ve been told that Adamu’s degree at Columbia Journalism School is a reference for media practitioners.

Yet wherever Adamu had worked, whether at Stear Motors, or defunct New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) he’d left as Mr. Integrity, a quality not in abundance supply among our administrators.

But if we can trust PMB with the whole country not because of the amount of degrees he has, Adamu, too is good enough to steer proceedings at the Federal Executive Council meetings. I can understand if others don’t see a man with distinguished journalistic career as capable of revolutionalising our decayed educational sector, but not when that weird view comes from a fellow journalist.

My heart bled as the reality dawned on me. If we doubt ourselves, why should we blame the politicians, for viewing us as only good enough of being the press secretaries, they hire and fire at will– no matter how versatile we might be. Some of us are unbelievers themselves, too.

Perhaps the biggest irony of this certificate thing is the fact that some of the best things that happened to this world since sliced bread were the handiwork of people not known for the depth of their academic qualification. I don’t know how difficult it’s for Aliko Dangote to employ Professors in his group of companies. I don’t know how many Bill Gate and Mark Zugerbark have in their firms.
Yet while acknowledging the efforts of our PhDs and professors in our political offices, it remains a fact most of them were among the worst failures we’ve seen.

It’s on record, Nigeria has witnessed most of its industrial strikes at tertiary institutions under the watch of our professors. There might be more shuts down of our universities during Professor Borishade, for instance, than during the eras of some of our moderately educated education ministers of our history. It’s also a huge shame that you cannot confidently credit the Ruqayyas of this world with the feat of turning things around in the sector.
What we need thus are people with big ideas (apology to Uncle Sam), and of course the sincerity of purpose to excel.

Malam Nuhu Ribadu, for instance, wasn’t the most accomplished cop in the country when he made EFCC that household name. The ICPC manned by the big names in the country never enjoyed that kind of recognition. It has remained in the shadows of even the worst EFCC’s era.

Lastly before I round off, I would like Nigerians to appreciate the fact that surprises will remain a constant part of this administration. In military science, you always plan to catch people unawares. You deploy elements of surprise to deal a heavy blow on your enemy’s camp. It’s like we are getting used this as interesting feature of state craft under PMB. I am bracing myself for more.