Sanusi: Nigerian leaders see public office as family business

Muhammadu Sanusi, Emir of Kano, says Nigeria’s political elite deliberately sabotage the country’s progress by treating public office as “family business”.

Speaking on Wednesday at the 15th anniversary of Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria in Lagos, Sanusi said the political class sidestepped opportunities for national development because “public office is about themselves, their families, and people close to them, not about the country or the citizens”.

“We have done enough damage and maybe we need to stop. And I think this is the point Omobola is making about missed opportunities. Not just missed opportunities, I think sometimes deliberately missed opportunities,” he said.

“The reason we miss these opportunities is because we have people who think public office is about themselves, it’s about their families, it’s about people close to them, it’s not about the country. But public office is about the citizens.”

He urged young Nigerians to reject the dysfunctional country that has been “manufactured” for them and build one that fulfils its true potential.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the current system is one built on “ethnic rivalries, religious conflicts, and competition for personal aggrandizement”, adding that Nigerian youths must unite across all strata and articulate a clear, achievable vision for a different nation.

“The important thing for me is that as citizens, each and every one of us will remember that the nation belongs to us. It does not belong to the government, it does not belong to politicians, it belongs to us,” he said.

“We own this country and wherever we find ourselves, we must remember that we are holding one small part of Nigeria and we have a duty to do what we must, to contribute our own quota to this country.

“What we need to do is try to come together and articulate a clear and achievable ideological position, a vision for what kind of Nigeria we want to have.

“And it has to be a Nigeria different from the Nigeria that has been manufactured for us, a Nigeria of ethnic rivalries, religious conflicts, race seeking, competition for aggrandizement.

“It has to be a country that realises its potential in the committee of nations.”