By: Solace Omolaiye
It is common phenomenon in Nigeria, to see individuals
meritoriously or otherwise elected or appointed into public,
civil, and private services or offices become corrupt. They make „grand‟ and petty ill-gotten financial gains,
aside from outright bribery; embezzlement; graft;
kickback and absenteeism nepotism, short-payment of wages, salaries, etc
The later prompt my interest on Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu today.
We are aware of diverse corruption taking place in MDAs today, as there is a popular belief that our MDAs are merchants of corruption that use proxy companies and individuals to make away public funds, some meant for the poorest peopple among the masses.
In most cases, most of these allegation on corruption is traced to the handiwork of the minister or head of ministries, parastatals and agencies because nothing happened in their various MDAs without their knowledge and approval.
So any failure or cases of corruption are directly tied to them.
These was supposed to be the case of the Ushering and Entertainment committee of the just concluded APC national convention but alas we have a woman who stand for uprightness, transparency and equitable distribution of resources meant for the masses.
Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu single handedly made herself available to supervise and coordinate the various units in this sub committee, she made adequate availability of personnel to meet the needs of millions of people that would be present in the National convention, when the available personels were less than what she wanted, she ordered that more people be registered to adequately take care of each states delegates and guest coming for the national convention. I witnessed for the first time in my life that a program of such magnitude and number of people didn’t lack food and drinks, as these was made available and supplies made adequately. Foods from different good and reputable eateries were brought in from the beginning of the program till the next day as the convention crossed over a day. Drinks were in adequate supplies that hardly you see anyone complained of not eating or not having something to drink.
This is my first time of witnessing such a proper arrangements in a public gathering.
As the case maybe, there are usually bad eggs that will like to sabotage the efforts of good leaders, this was the case when some of Dr Ramatu Tijani team members who couldn’t siphoned money meant for foods and drinks decided to take their corrupt benefits from the wages meant for ushers of the convention. Remember Dr Ramatu Tijani make sure the number of personels to man the ushering and entertainment unit were adequate beyound the number that was purportedly arranged with most of them not physically available for the job in the D-day. The wages which was supposed to be paid were shortpayed to few people while others were not paid at all. When the information got to Her Excellency, Dr Ramatu, she made herself available the next day and personally did the verification of those who worked with her subcommittee and paid them fully their wages, with lots of side packages which put smiles in the face of the people that constitute the ushering team.
As I witnessed this today, it affirms several testimonies from her workers, beneficiaries of her philanthropical empowerment programs who always talk good of her as a motger, philanthropist and a good Administrator. it seems as a film-trick, a fiction but this reality of a person whom most called “mummy” in the ministry and accross the Nation, due to her pragmatic approach to see things done correctly, transparently and equitably to the benefit of all.
If we have Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu in all ministry, parastatals and agencies, I will say corruption is buried in Nigeria. For everything about public service failure is tied to the absence of corporate governance code, in which the head monitor, make an independent investigation, coordinate to ascertain correct results are achieved as a team. Proper corporate governance mechanisms are an important risk mitigation tool that can translate into palpable benefits for the people. This cannot be imposed in absential, the leader must always be involved.
People in leadership positions must understand that they hold the resources in trust for the entire citizenry as well as posterity. They should, therefore, ensure that national resources are transparently expended and publicly accounted for in such a way as would bring increasing level of benefit to the majority of Nigerians. For in this lies the possibility of building protection for our people.
Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu has gotten the solution to corrupt system in Nigeria and I wish this can be replicated in every sector of our economy and in every MDAs.
God bless Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu for setting a good record for others to learn from.
