- By Halimah Olamide
A former head of public agency gives reasons why workers of Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission were jubilant over the removal of their former Registrar
A former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Waziri Adio on Tuesday said the wild jubilation by officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) after the replacement of the agency’s former Registrar, A.G Abubakar cannot be divorced from the diligence and the no-nonsense posture of the former Registrar while in the saddle.
Adio, who served as the boss of the transparency organisation, said he had close dealings with the removed Registrar adding that Abubakar was a man given to transparency and delivery in public service.
Adio, who is currently the boss of an Abuja-based policy organisation, The Agora Policy said Abubakar came across as an official who has implemented what he called far reaching reforms in his tenure as the Registrar.
“As head of NEITI, I engaged often with Mr. A.G. Abubakar who was then CAC’s lead on Beneficiary Ownership (CAC was the lead agency on BO under the OGP). He came across as diligent, persuasive and passionate. Not surprised that as CAC’s RG, he quickly got this key reform done,” Adio wrote on Tuesday.
Saying the action of the civil servants who jubilated over Abubakar’s removal was not surprising, the former NEITI boss said those going to public offices with the intentions to serve diligently and transparently should expect what he called the “Abubakar Treatment.”
“He’s also known to have implemented other far-reaching reforms as the head of CAC and within a short period. Ordinarily, I should be surprised by the pushback by some of CAC’s staff during his tenure and their tasteless jubilation following his removal. But I am not If you plan to shake things up in govt, be prepared for the Abubakar treatment. There would be pushbacks, rollbacks and scandal-mongering by status quo beneficiaries. This is the lot of reformers in our clime. But don’t be deterred. History will be kind to the Abubakars.”
After leaving office as the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Adio had authored a book “The Arch of the Possible.”
in his book, he had detailed his years in service as the boss of the agency revealing how he manoeuvered his ways within the many huddles that bureaucracy place in the way of diligence service .