By Aminu Aliyu Yantagwaye
I am a 30-year-old political scientist with with B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in the field, I’m currently pursuing my doctoral degree with a research focus on the impact of cryptocurrency on Nigeria’s diplomatic relations with the US and China. At least, you can understand I am not just a roadside charlatan who is trying to pour flames into a fighting crowd. Within years of studying and experiencing various political regimes and changes in Zaria, I am compelled out of concern for documenting political events and preserving history as it unfolds, to write for the repeated time in defense of Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, the visionary Speaker of the National House of Assembly representing Zaria Federal constituency.
My motivation isn’t driven by the lousy reason of party affiliation or godfatherism and sponsorship, but rather by the disturbing trend of Facebook “faceless tigers” who are deliberately hell-bent on ameliorating their particular political disassociation with Hon. Dr. Abbas Tajudeen by not reporting the contributions and functions of the perfect legislation of the Speaker to his constituents. And if you ask them what their expectations of the Speaker are, they simplistically say “jobs” and “federal appointments.”
At a point, I look at these people and wonder if the outcome of their social media rants has reflect the widespread intellectual leprosy plaguing some of our youth. In my experience, the Speaker, Dr. Abbas Tajudeen leadership style is akin to the analogy of a situation where two people are involved in community service. As such, the first man distributes “sachet water” to a city of a thousand thirsty constituents, and Dr. Abbas Tajudeen establishes “sachet water companies” that create sustainable sachet water and distribute them in bags to the people.
I am sure you know Nigerian politicians are not known for giving things in abundance and multiple, but that is what Dr. Abbas Tajudeen does, unequivocally putting him on a political journey that is unprecedentedly risky, and not minding the fate or outcome of it. Among the achievements of the perfect legislation of the Speaker is ensuring that people who possess the right qualifications from his federal constituency get to where they deserve without impunity, at a time when high government officials are being alleged to attach reciprocal benefits to federal executive appointments, but here Abbas does it for free and out of the goodness of his heart, and service to humanity.
Today, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Muhammad, is from Zaria federal constituency; the CEO of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Dr. Danjuma Ismail, is from Zaria; the DG/CEO of Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Dr. Bayero Salih Farah, is from Kaduna; the DG/CEO of National Research Institute for Chemical Technology is from Zaria. The Board Chairman, National Assembly Commission, is from Kaduna; the Board Chairman, North West Development Commission, is from Kaduna State.
For the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Corps Marshal has over a million personnel under his supervision, and his appointment is a history-making type because it is the second time, since Danyaro Ali Yakasai, a North Westerner headed the agency, and the first time from Zaria. So as NCAT, NARICT, and the National Assembly Service Commission. Each of these parastatals I mentioned above, the CEOs have the capacity to employ over a thousand Nigerians to fill their manpower deficit.
At best, this is an opportunity which the Speaker has provided and facilitated for his federal constituency to compete favorably among other constituencies across Nigeria. This equally means that the Speaker is not an ordinary parliamentarian and has moved from the norms of providing a number of 5 to 10 federal slots, but federal executives’ vacancies that will provide large-scale appointments to match the teeming and growing number of graduates in Zaria, Kaduna, and the North West at large. Is this not an era of breakthrough? Is there a political figure in the whole of Nigeria, in the Tinubu administration, that can be paraded with these high-quality achievements? I challenge anyone to mention one who does it without expecting reciprocation whatsoever.
So again, what are your expectations of the Speaker? In just two years in office as the Speaker of the National Assembly, more than 200 federal vacancies have been filled by his able constituents; a total of more than 800 Senior Legislative Aides and Legislative Aides have been appointed under his office, with a large number of them from the nooks and crannies of Zaria federal constituency. With the least paid taking home a whopping salary of ₦150,000 per month. This is just a pinch from the sea of what the Speaker brings to Zaria, and the man is just warming up. I promise more in the next episode.
Yantagwaye writes from Zaria and can be reached through aminualiyu149@gmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sky Daily
