An Encounter with Incorruptible Patriarch – PRNigeria News

Abu Gidado: An Encounter with Incorruptible
Patriarch
By Yushau Shuaib

On his 66th birthday on April 2, 2006, I wrote a tribute on the
incorruptible nature of Alhaji Abu Muawiya Gidado, Nigeria’s former
Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the monthly meeting
of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) during the
Abacha administration.

I was his personal aide and spokesperson when he was Minister
between 1994 and 1998. As he clocks 79 on April 2 this year, it is
necessary to revisit the life of Alhaji Abu-Gidado as a man of
unquestionable integrity, who distinguished himself through
selfless service, godliness and simplicity.

Although tribute is usually paid to the memory of heroes, it is
certainly more important and instructive to celebrate the exemplary
leadership qualities of the living, as a way of encouraging others
to emulate their virtues and inspiring ways of life. In any case,
why wait for a hero to pass on when we have ample opportunities to
testify to their goodness while alive, and whatever gives one the
feeling of surviving such a person? Such are the ironies of
life!

As a spokesperson in the Ministry of Finance back then, before I
was assigned as his aide, Alhaji Gidado once said that a
responsible person is conscious of his responsibility to the family
and society. When he therefore encouraged me to marry early rather
yield to temptations and indiscretion, I complied and later named
my first child after him.

The Ministry of Finance during the military era was very
powerful, combining both executive functions and those of the
legislature in a democratic dispensation. The Minister was
responsible for budgetary allocations and the appropriation of
funds, while approving foreign exchange allocations, tax
exemptions, import waivers, and the settlement of contractors and
special grants.

As the Chairman of parastatals under the Finance Ministry and
Chairman of FAAC, Abu Gidado stood for justice and fairness in the
disbursement of allocations to all the tiers and arms of
government. His official interventions and benevolence rescued a
number of financial institutions and business enterprises from full
weight of official sanction, while other genuine contractors and
consultants thrived appropriately under the dispensation.

Yet, often to the dismay of the beneficiaries of his official
magnanimity, Abu-Gidado rejected their various acts of gratitude,
whether in the form of the allotment of shares, cash gifts, free
products or other forms of appreciation. Not only did he routinely
decline the inducements of stakeholders, he always insisted that
his aides returned suspicious gifts, with the acknowledgment of the
receipt of such by the senders. I and his security orderly, Ahmed
Ibrahim who is currently an EFCC officer, were involved, in most
cases, in returning these gifts.

Since I was responsible for keeping the finances of his office
for maintenance, travelling and other contingencies, he always
directed me to refund unutilised funds to the treasury, including
unspent estacode for foreign trips. For instance after a 1994
diplomatic-business tour of more than 10 African countries within a
week in a President Jet, Abu-Gidado instructed me to refund the
huge unexpended estacodes and contingency funds meant for a month
tour. The jet was flown by the Flight Commander Samuel Atti and
Captain Alkali Mamu who both retired as Air Vice Marshalls (AVM) in
the Nigerian Airforce (NAF).

Before the introduction of the monetisation policy by the
federal government, he keenly guarded against wastage of public
funds on frivolities and extravagant social pastime. He was so
uncompromising that he withheld endorsements from questionable
expenditures and projects. For instance, when it was the practice
for top public officers to have official guest houses, with all the
services involved and amenities provided by the government, he
declined this, even though he is polygamous. He only maintained an
official residence in Abuja.

The former Minister never allowed nepotism to becloud his sense
of judgment, as he did not allow members of his family to benefit
from projects and contract awards within the ambit of the ministry.
As a man of God who thinks about death as if he would die at any
moment, he used to keep a special diary in which he recorded money
he borrowed from individuals, with amounts sometimes as meagre as
five hundred naira then, for the simple reason that his family had
the obligation to settle all indebtedness from his assets at his
demise.

Banner of Book Launch Nightmare for the Rich at Sheraton Hotel
Abuja on October 10, 1997

With an understanding of his strict lifestyle of contentment but
my own need for an additional source of income to augment my meagre
official remuneration, I had pleaded with him to support the launch
of my first book, ‘Nightmare for the Rich in 1997.’ Although, he
reluctantly gave his endorsement and accepted to be the Chief Host,
for fear of a conflict of interest. He nevertheless allowed me to
use his name on the invitations. His name attracted top public
functionaries, finance commissioners and chief executives of
corporate organisations to the event. In fact, Bar Jimoh Ibrahim,
Mr. Waziri Kyari Mohammed, Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Hajia Hamrat Imam and
Mr. Kayode Naiyeju were among top dignitaries who made generous
donations at the book presentation. That was how I built my first
house the same year!

When Abu Gidado was relieved of his appointment by the
administration of General Abubakar Abdulsalam in 1998, he requested
the presence of the Director of Finance and Supply, Mrs Grace
Archibong and her staff to take an inventory of the items in his
official residence. He accounted for and returned every single bit
of public property in his possession, including cutlery, and even
broken plates.

Immediately after the inventory was taken, instead of the
official vehicles attached to him, he used his personal cars to
convey himself and his family back to his hometown in Katsina. Mrs
Archibong, who later became a Federal Permanent Secretary, was
emotionally moved at the astonishing personality of Alhaji
Gidado.

Before his appointment into the public service, his career in
the private sector was meritorious, as he rose rapidly to the
position of the Retail Manager (North) for Shell Nigeria limited,
and then became General Manager, Arewa Textiles Limited, before
later becoming Deputy Managing Director with Peugeot Automobile
Nigeria (PAN).

His patience after a frustrated attempt at getting into the
civil service of the old Kaduna State was however subsequently
rewarded with an appointment the following year as a Commissioner
in the the same Ministry, where he subsequently became Deputy
Chairman of the State Executive Council, which handed over to the
incoming civilian administration of Balarabe Musa in 1979.

Alhaji Gidado’s past high-profile engagements include serving as
a member of the Boards of Directors of Peugeot Automobiles of
Nigeria, Arewa Textiles and DPMS/IBM. He was a member of the Board
of Governors, Kaduna Polytechnic; Chairman, Katsina State Water
Board, and Finance Commissioner in the former Kaduna and Katsina
States. He also served in TCPC Sub-Committee for Privatisation and
Commercialisation in the Automotive Industry; director of some
multinational conglomerates, and he represented Nigeria’s interest
in the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), and Afreximbank, before
serving as Federal Commissioner in the Revenue Mobilisation,
Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Abu-Gidado’s life is a clear testimony to the existence of
incorruptible Nigerians who do not worship money or idolise
godfathers to reach the peaks in their careers and earn public
respect. Their simple lifestyles and self-contentment give them
comforts that elude many powerful and wealthy people in
society.

As Alhaji Abu Gidado graciously steps into his 79th year on
earth, while remaining hale and hearty, may we learn and imbibe
enduring lessons from such a great person.

Yushau A. Shuaib
www.YAShuaib.com^[1]
yashuaib@yahoo.com