Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: A Man in Need of a Unifying Mission?
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Oluwatoyin Adepoju
May 24, 2024, 1:25:05 PMMay 24
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Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
A Man in Need of a Unifying Mission?
Sanusi as Central Bank Governor
Source: Vanguard
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Abstract
An exploration of vision and complexities in the professional life of banker, scholar, social reformer and traditional ruler Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Does Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, earlier deposed as Emir of Kano, after being removed as the governor of Nigeria's central bank, and now reinstated as emir, a move challenged by a suit against that move, not have better things to do with his time than occupying the throne of the Kano emirate, illustrious as that is?
What scope of activity does the emirate afford a man who once won a price for Central Bank Governor of the year for his work as Nigeria's CBN governor, even as his work was featured in the prestigious Financial Times, if I recall correctly? What scope of opportunity will the emirate provide such a technocratic mind, such an accomplished financial professional?
What scope of activity does the emirate afford a man who once won a price for Central Bank Governor of the year for his work as Nigeria's CBN governor, even as his work was featured in the prestigious Financial Times, if I recall correctly? What scope of opportunity will the emirate provide such a technocratic mind, such an accomplished financial professional?
Sanusi has also struggled, against virulent opposition, to articulate the need for far reaching social reforms in the Muslim North, a region caught in the tensions between its own brand of Islamic tradition and modernity.
To what degree has he been able to advance this mission beyond the flashpoints represented by his creatively provocative speeches of some years ago? Has he been working more quietly on that front, away from the public eye?
Sanusi is also an Islamic scholar of repute. To what degree will the emirate empower him with the time and resources to pursue this aspect of his vocation?
From Wikipedia on Sanusi
As CBN governor, Sanusi was critical in revealing how Nigeria's political/economic structure works to benefit the political class against the interests of Nigerians. Has he been able to continue such vital work? Could he have continued it, being beholden to politicians for his public existence, from then Kano state governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, who made him Emir of Kano after he was removed as CBN governor, to current Kano state governor Abba Yusuf and his government that are working to reinstate him as Emir of Kano?
Is Sanusi not excessively embroiled in politics, particularly Northern Muslim politics, for his own good? His attempted reinstatement as Emir of Kano comes amidst an effort at creating a major upheaval in the religio/political structure created by ex-governor Abdullahi Ganduje, the same governor who removed him from office as emir, suggesting that Sanusi remained in the running in the power play of Kano religious politics all these years. Can he really afford such expenditure of energy, focus and time if he is to maximise his potential?
Sanusi as Central Bank Governor Speaking at the World Islamic Economic Forum, London, 2013
Source: Getty Images
I have read that Sanusi is deeply implicated emotionally and otherwise in the emirate of Kano. What time and energy will that passion grant the finance professional, Islamic scholar and social reformer to unify his varied capacities and passions in order to generate an indelible impact in his society, the nation and the world at large?
Even his becoming emir in the first place was controversial, with one view holding the role should have gone to the previous emir's son, even as it was held that Sanusi's massive financial contribution to Kano from the CBN coffers during the tenure of then governor Rabiu Kwankwaso was strategic to his being granted the emirate, cushioning his removal as CBN governor by then President Jonathan, financial contributions which, along with others less large, Sanusi described as an expression of the bank's corporate social responsibilities, an initiative depicted by others as unprecedented in scope of financial giving in CBN history and which President Jonathan used as an excuse to suspend him pending investigation of those activities, in the face of Sanusi's consistent revelations about the financial rigging of the nation's economy in the interests of Nigeria's political class against the interests of Nigerians, a suspension masking what was actually a removal from an office to which Sanusi never returned, as I recall those events.
It may be seen as presumptuous to sweepingly assess a person one has never met, a person living in a society one knows little about, a person operating in terms of values one only glimpses from a distance, a person shaped by forces one is only little acquainted with, but is the circle of human life, the scope of possibilities and possible impact available to anyone not universally uniform, though actualized in various ways?
Will the ultimate question, in the assessment of anyone's life, including that of Sanusi, not be, what has been the person's achievement, in terms of self development and impact on the world around them?
Attaining exalted office is itself a mark of achievement, even within controversies about the kind of achievement, of questions of meritocracy represented by politico/religious traditional institutions, from the Ooni of Ife to the Oba of Benin to the Emir of Kano.
Attaining exalted office is itself a mark of achievement, even within controversies about the kind of achievement, of questions of meritocracy represented by politico/religious traditional institutions, from the Ooni of Ife to the Oba of Benin to the Emir of Kano.
Sanusi as Emir
Source: The Elites
Ultimately, though, the questions will be- what became of the technocratic and social vision of the man from Kano, did they flicker briefly, only to be swallowed by struggles after attainments not representative of his best potential?
Reading the comprehensive though brief Wikipedia article on Sanusi may suggest my account of his career might be simplistic, that Sanusi has already made defining imprints in various fields, his voice as social reformer in the Muslim North amplified by his Emirship when he held that title, an office that did not preclude his other technocratic activities, but I'm publishing my assessment anyway, since it could contribute to critical exploration of Sanusi's intriguing life, a biographical complexity the Wikipedia article highlights.
Reading the comprehensive though brief Wikipedia article on Sanusi may suggest my account of his career might be simplistic, that Sanusi has already made defining imprints in various fields, his voice as social reformer in the Muslim North amplified by his Emirship when he held that title, an office that did not preclude his other technocratic activities, but I'm publishing my assessment anyway, since it could contribute to critical exploration of Sanusi's intriguing life, a biographical complexity the Wikipedia article highlights.
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