In this exclusive interview with Daily Trust, Muhammad Kabir Sa’id, the minister of environment under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, spoke on diminishing moral values in Nigerian politics, what he has been doing since he left office.
He also said only the government of the day could answer questions on the escalating insecurity and other problems in the country.
What were you doing before your appointment as a minister?
I graduated from the university when I was 23 years old.
I worked in Kaduna Polytechnic for 10 years, joined politics and worked with General Shehu Yar’adua.
My people in Daura asked me to contest for the Constituent Assembly in 1988/1989.
After that, Yar’adua asked me to resign and join his party.
I went to Katsina. By then we had a political association called Peoples Front and I was the state organising officer while Umaru Musa Yar’adua, the late president, was secretary.
When the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) were created, they asked me to contest for chairmanship.
Initially I declined because I said I didn’t have the experience, but I was virtually forced.
I was there until the end of the SDP. Umaru Musa was my secretary and we did very well.
When the SDP was scrapped, I became ‘dormant,’ so to say, and eventually, when Obasanjo came on board, I was part of the people who helped.
Eventually, he made me a minister.
What have you been doing since leaving office in 2003?
I am old now, so I am always at home.
I go to the mosque because in politics, I am outdated. But, AlhamdulillahiI, I was able to assist a lot of people.
I am always happy when I remember that I was in the student affairs in the university and God guided me to assist a lot of people.
Even as a minister, Allah guided me because I never thought of acquiring money.
The value system of the country has changed, but at that time, I knew that the best thing was to succeed and make a name, not money.
Money is important, but how do you acquire it; legally or illegally? Now all I do is to go to mosque and read my Qur’an.
You said you’re old and outdated, but a lot of politicians who are older than you are still active in politics.
I agree. When I was asked to contest for the chairmanship of the party, I can assure you that I didn’t spend a penny; I didn’t even have it to spend.
On my appointment as a minister, I didn’t ask anyone.
I knew about it on Monday and I was appointed on Tuesday.
How did you know about your appointment as a minister?
It was by the then Governor Umaru Musa, who was my friend.
He asked me to see him and I went to Katsina.
He told me on a Monday, and when I came back, on Tuesday, a friend of mine called from Abuja and said my name was on the list of new ministers.
These days, politics is not what it used to be.
To be in politics now, you need to have money.
It is like business; you invest so that when you go into office you get your money back and make profit.
That is why I said I was outdated. These days, you have to go and lobby for appointments and pay money.
If you go to the electorate you have to appease them. So it is very difficult for me to get involved in real politics because I don’t have the money and I don’t believe I should give people money to elect me. It is wrong.
If I am contesting because I want to serve the people, why should I give people money to vote for me?
In Islam, there is a hadith which states that if someone asks for an appointment, don’t give him, but if he is called to do it, he must accept it.
So, as a Muslim, I am guided by this. If you are qualified for something and called to do it, your mind won’t go after money; you will try to serve the country.
And that is the most important thing – to serve the people with all honesty and diligence.
When you give out a contract and put some money for yourself, I think it is absolutely wrong. And you are destroying yourself and the country.
That is why I always sleep soundly till date.
I left ministerial appointment in 2003 and up to date, I have a good relationship with the people I worked with because we worked as a family and I never showed interest in acquiring money from government.
I left everyone to do their work. I feel happy that I have achieved something in life.
Does that mean you are no longer interested in politics?
Not really, once a politician, always a politician.
What is your opinion about the notion that the older generation should pave way for younger people to occupy elective positions?
That depends on someone’s reasoning.
For example, if you are an engineer, someone cannot ask you to conduct surgery.
So, there will be a time when the older generation will be needed to guide the younger generation, but most importantly, the value systems must be maintained.
People should be honest and diligent in serving the country, not personal interest.
The younger and older generations should work together to help the country.
We should all come together despite our religious, regional, cultural differences as Nigerians to understand one another and work hard.
We should understand that it is not about ourselves, it’s about the country and future generations.
Having left office as a public figure, what is your relationship with the people you met while in active service?
Some have abandoned me, but the staff I worked with as minister, including the lady who served me tea, still call once in a while to greet me.
My permanent secretaries and directors are still with me.
We understood one another and worked honestly for the government and country.
It is something I cherish. Whenever I think of it, I get happy.
I have no regret because if you are guided by principle and want to serve the country honestly, for the sake of Allah, he will guide you in whatever you do in life. If you have that in mind, your creator will help you and guide you.
I feel happy and contented in life whenever I remember that I once served as a minister.
As minister I instructed my staff to allow anybody who wanted to see me, even if that person was a labourer.
I did that because I was just a servant. So my doors were opened for everyone.
If you came with a request I could not grant, I would tell you honestly that I would not be able to do it.
You are from the same state and region as President Muhammadu Buhari, where insecurity has claimed many lives; would you say the government is doing enough?
I have answered this question – our value system has changed. We also need to understand issues before making conclusions.
I am not in government, so I don’t know what they are doing, but if you want to know why these problems are escalating, you have to ask the government.
They may give you their reasons. It is in the Quran that you should never conclude on an issue based on how you see it until you ask the person involved.
We have competent people in government, but there are those who are only interested in what they can get.
If the security system was working, kidnappers can be located and arrested; they can be tracked through their telephone conversations and arrested.
But like I said, I won’t conclude until we ask the right people.
I cannot say that somebody has done very well or otherwise until I ask.
What is happening is very disturbing, and it is really unfortunate.
But I won’t say it is their fault until we investigate.
It may be that government pumped a lot of money and somebody cornered it instead of working to solve the problems.
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