The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has condemned the practice of rewarding individuals who have stolen public funds with ministerial appointments.
Speaking on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, Sanusi emphasised that Nigeria’s value system has collapsed, with material wealth being prioritised over honesty, diligence, and compassion.
Sanusi said that a society that rewards people who have stolen money with ministerial appointments would continue to reproduce itself with similar values.
According to him, “The Nigerian society must stop rewarding people who stole the nation’s commonwealth as public office holders with more public opportunities. The entire value system of the country has been eroded.
“A society in which material wealth, no matter how you get it, is respected, is glorified, where people who are known to have stolen money get rewarded with ministerial appointments, that society will continue to reproduce itself.”, he said
The monarch further said, “We don’t have a sense of disgust for people who hold public office and amass wealth; we reward them with appointments, with more public offices, and more opportunities to amass wealth, and this is what Nigeria has become”.
Sanusi also lamented that many public office holders were not well-brought up, leading to their misbehaviour and faulty orientation.
His words: “We have been ruled by people who have no values; they have no name behind them, and they have no desire to leave a name after them.
”These are people who define themselves by what they own; how many houses they have, how many private jets they have, how many billions they have in bank accounts. And they think that is something.
“It is not important to them that people look at them and they only see thieves, they see criminals, they see people who have taken the commonwealth. It is simply not important because for them, values do not matter,” he said.
He further emphasised that people should not enter government to make money, but rather to serve the nation, saying, ”many people go into government to make money, but you don’t go into government to make money.”
The Emir called for a complete regeneration of values in Nigerian society, stressing that both leaders and citizens were responsible for this change.
Emir Sanusi, we need an entire regeneration of values. It is not about one person, the president or the governors, or the ministers cannot on their own change this country.
Sanusi also highlighted the need to strengthen the civil service system, enabling civil servants to resist pressure from politicians to engage in corrupt practices.
