Former Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has urged Nigerians to carefully assess a presidential candidate’s qualifications before choosing them to be the country’s next leader.
Sanusi made this known at a gathering in Lagos State on Wednesday
The former monarch said that competency, not ethnicity or other prejudices, should be the basis for choosing the country’s leaders.
Prior to the elections, the electorate, according to Sanusi, should examine the plans and programs of the candidates.
He said, “Political aspirants should also be asked about their plans for hospitals and education amongst other key undeveloped areas in the country.
“The government has lost respect for the profession and no amount invested into education can be gotten back in salaries in this country. Doctors and teachers deserve a decent life and respect.
Education and healthcare are the basic foundation for the development of a nation, and the rate of brain drain is high because prepared budgets in the health and education sectors have been embezzled and mismanaged.
“In 2016, 18 % of inflation was recorded which made the price of everything on average to double every four years. A bag of rice which sold for N8, 000 in 2015, now cost N35,000.
“In 2011, a debate was held right here in this same venue about fuel subsidy. We did everything within our powers to tell Nigerians to cater first for priorities, but we now spend a borrowed N6.7trn on fuel subsidy which will continue until June 2023.
“Inflation, exchange rates, cheap fuel that is not produced by our refineries all create negative impacts, and are also a brain drain of the economy which cannot be addressed in isolation.”
In West Africa, Sanusi is a well-known traditional and religious figure. He may have political and spiritual power over the second-largest Sufi order in the world, the Tijaniyyah Sufi order of Nigeria, which has more than 30 million devotees.
He was educated both religiously and secularly as a young man while growing up in his grand-royal uncle’s palace. Sanusi held positions as a banker, political economist, professor, and Islamic intellectual before to his accession.
From 2009 to 2014, he presided as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, bringing about financial reforms up until his suspension for exposing the $20 billion oil crisis.
