The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, says it is worrisome that the older generation is refusing to leave the scene for the younger generation.
Onaiyekan, who is a former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said this at the presentation of a book titled, ‘ Dignity in Service , ’ authored by the late Dr. Matthew Mbu , a former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Also , the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi , said at the event that he earned “only N950 , 000 ” a month out of which he also paid his aides .
The cleric said the post- independence leaders like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Abubakar Tafawa- Balewa , were young when they did great things for Nigeria .
He said it was this sort of orientation that caused the late Mbu to be appointed a minister at the age of 23.
Onaiyekan, however , wondered if the younger generation could be given the sort of opportunity that existed in the 1960 s .
The cleric said, “The point I want to make is this; today when you hear that a young boy was a minister , my mind always goes to those days too and I ask , how many people were old then? The people we now see as ancestors were all young people . I will like to find out the age of Tafawa Balewa and even Awolowo at that time .
“They were all relatively young and when Awolowo and Azikwe broke grounds then, they were young . I think this is the story we need to tell to our younger people but the question is , where is the space for our younger people when old people like me are still hanging around?
“We have to find a way of giving room to younger people to show what they can do also . Mbu has shown that young people can perform but we have also had experiences of young people who have not performed. ”
The cleric , however , stated that being young did not always imply that a person would be competent .
“So at the end of the day , maybe it is not a matter of the age but a matter of your own mind , your intention , your love for doing the right thing especially concern for others , politics and service to the people in the name of God . If we start to take these things seriously then probably it would not matter whether we declare to seek re - election at 79 or whether we don ’ t , ” Onaiyekan said.
In his remarks , Amaechi , who was the chairman of the occasion , said it was not true that only past leaders were honest .
While extolling the virtues of the late Mbu , Amaechi who was governor of Rivers State between 2007 and 2014 , said he would continue to promote transparency .
To prove his claim, the minister revealed that he earned “only N950 , 000 ” a month out of which he also paid his staff .
He said, “A minister earns only N950 , 000 a month . Out of this money, N350, 000 is for accommodation so there is no more money given to you . The remaining N600, 000 includes payment for your staff , personal assistants and all that . ”
Amaechi said President Muhammadu Buhari’ s government had helped to stop the culture of waste such that private citizens no longer throw lavish parties .
The minister added , “Nigerians like going to parties . That is one benefit of this government. We now assess our wealth and value money . Before , once you get money from the illegal means , we hold parties . There are very few parties these days because there is no more money to hold such parties .
“There are no ‘ owambe’ anymore because there is very little money to hold ‘ owambe. ’ The reason is that the ‘ owambe’ money used to come from the government and there is no money in the government to do such .”
Tags
Society