Mama Ngozi, not real name, couldn’t hold her joy when she found herself in the midst of other Nigerians who regard the office of Senator Babangida Hussaini as a Mecca of sort, where Muslims across the world go on pilgrimage. Mama Ngozi said if she meets Babangida Hussaini, who though not representing her senatorial district, would be the solution to the payment of the tuition fees for her two children in higher institution, having heard so much about the large heart and leadership prowess of Babangida Hussaini.
As envisioned by Mama Ngozi, when she was ushered in to see the detribalised, humane and God-fearing Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North-west), Senate Committee Chairman on North West Development Commission, she didn’t only find solace in the offset of her children’s tuition fees, but was also empowered by the senator with huge sums of money to set up a noble business to fend for self and family.
Meanwhile, the kind gesture towards Mama Ngozi, as we learnt, was just one out of numerous others Senator Hussaini has been giving to Nigerians right from his time as a federal civil servant where he rose through the ranks by dent hard work to become a permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Defence and later works and housing until he retired to join partisan politics to continue with his good work.
Honestly, the humanitarian gesture of Babangida Hussaini knows no bounds. So, I applaud Mama Ngozi for blowing his trumpet irrespective of ethno-religious or political affiliation. It is in view of the expression of gratitude by Nigerians across board, who daily trooped into the office and home of Senator Babangida Hussaini, that motivated me to draft this article to appraise his large hear for every Nigerians as well as leadership qualities.
Having been a journalist for close to two decades, I have come to realise that a good leader, especially in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, should possess some essential qualities in order to achieve his or her mission. Honestly, without apology to both lovers and haters of Babangida Hussaini, I see almost all of these essential qualities in the senator. These leadership qualities include integrity, courage, humility, compassion, and resilience.
Any society with the right leadership will no doubt develop, but if the reverse is the case, disaster is inevitable. So, if out of 109 senators, Babangida Hussaini is standing tall, we should blow his trumpet. This is because the world is going through turbulence, and amidst this turbulence, most leaders prefer fame and primitive accumulation to touching lives positively.
Thus, Babangida Hussaini deserves national and international awards for his large heart for humanity and his leadership prowess which he is excellently applying to touch lives positively across Nigeria, especially in his Jigawa North-west senatorial district. Nigeria needs a leader like Senator Babangida Hussaini in all spheres of human endeavour. Good leaders with clarity of vision and mission like Senator Babangida will no doubt help guide us and make the right policies for the benefits of all and sundry.
A benevolent leader like Babangida Hussaini will definitely take us to the eldorado. Honestly, anytime I get close to Senator Babangida Hussaini, I see him as a leader with clear self-awareness with the understanding of what brought him to his current position. His level of respect for people is legendary. He is compassionate and equipped with clarity of vision which he is applying excellently to make great impact across board.
He also has good communication skills, with the ability and zeal to learn reason why he operates an open-door policy. He also has cognitive acumen, which explains why people and experts of different academic field and professions troop to his office to collaborate in one way or the other with him in order to positively shape the society for the benefit of all. Senator Babangida also has great leadership influence which he is expending to excellently persuade lucrative or gainful partners to help develop his people.
Before I digress to talk about his landmark achievements, I can’t forget his courage, resilience, gratitude, and integrity. Let me highlight a few of his earthshaking achievements especially for his senatorial zone in the last two years. Senator Babangida Hussaini over the last two years in the senate has made a lot of impact on his people through the construction and upgrading of over 56 public healthcare facilities across his senatorial district.
He also renovated and constructed over 28 three blocks of classrooms as well as award of scholarship for over 3,000 students in his senatorial zone in the local, national and international higher institutions. Small scale businesses were also empowered with the distribution of hundreds of millions of naira in cash and hundreds of millions of naira skills acquisition material. Rural roads, agriculture, security and upgrade of rural sports facilities were also not left out.
Omeiza, a public affairs commentator, writes from the Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi state.