I Knew Nothing About Education Sector When Buhari Appointed Me – Adamu

BY TEMI OHAKWE – Outgoing Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu has admitted to being uninformed about Nigeria’s education sector when President Muhammadu Buhari surprised him with the Ministerial appointment on November 11, 2015.

Making the confession of being a novice at a valedictory session with officials and heads of parastatals of the Ministry on Thursday in Abuja, Mallam Adamu, who has entered the record books as the longest-serving Education Minister in Nigeria since independence, said he had to apply wisdom in running the Ministry’s affairs during the eight years on the saddle.

And to address the challenge of not having any previous knowledge or experience about the sector, the Minister confessed to relying on appointing some professors of education and other good hands, with the help of the officials of the Federal Ministry of Education that enabled him to kick off smoothly and make progress.

According to the 69 years old Nigerian accountant, journalist, and politician; “I didn’t know anything about the education sector when I was appointed Minister except superficially. But when Buhari decided to make me Minister of Education, I called some people to assist me to work on a policy document on education because I was a novice in the sector.

“Thereafter, I shared my ideas with them and they assisted me greatly, and I remain grateful to all of them for these years of hard work and dedication.”

While appreciating the President who found him worthy and trusted him with such a responsibility, “even when I was apparently not ready and unprepared for such task”, Mallam Adamu said; “I was busy making recommendations and suggestions to the President on who to appoint into his cabinet in 2015. All of a sudden, he announced my name to my surprise and that was it. We worked together till 2019.

“In 2019, I approached the President and suggested that he reshuffle his cabinet because, in the eyes of many, it was unusual in our society for a President to work with the same Ministers for four years. Buhari had graciously allowed his Ministers to stay in office for four years. Ordinarily, Ministers stay in office for two years before they are reshuffled.

“But I know him very well and I knew it will be difficult for him to do that. But I decided to make it easy for him by promising to bring people that would do the job better for me and others who served as Ministers in the first tenure,” he said.

“I promised him that I will give him names of competent people from at least, 19 northern states. So, I suggested to him to drop all the Ministers that worked with him in the first tenure including me, but I knew it would be difficult for him.

“But to confirm that I can do the job, I gave him a name from Bauchi state whom I had expected him to replace me within the cabinet. That was how Maryam Katagun became Minister of the Federal Republic.”

Offering insight into the engagement with President Buhari, Mallam Adamu disclosed that Maryam Katagun’s name was only thrown up as his likely replacement in the cabinet, but somehow surprisingly, the President decided to keep her while also retaining him in the Federal Executive Council (FEC)

“Up till now, he never explained to me why he did that. However, I remain eternally grateful to the President for trusting me with such responsibilities. He has shown me love and trust over the years. In 1994, when he picked up the assignment in Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), he gave me an offer to work with him as Personal Assistant. That was how I found myself in Abuja,” the outgoing Minister said.

Commending all those that worked with him in the last eight years, particularly the Ministers of State, Mallam Adamu particularly mentioned Goodluck Opiah, who served briefly as Minister of State for Education, describing him as a brother whom he worked closely with to achieve the desired results in the country’s education sector.