By Suleyman Dunoma/Abuja,
A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former deputy governor of Kano State, Prof. Ahmed Abdullahi, says he is a happy man despite not being comfortable financially.
Abdullahi, who is also a former Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), said he is trying to raise about N40,000 to N50,000 to change his car’s power steering oil as a result of his present financial condition.
He made this known while sharing life experience from childhood to his present age during an interview with Daily Trust.
Professor Abdullahi also faulted allowance being received by top government functionaries that served several decades ago, describing it as ‘haram’.
“You know some of my colleagues from other states, they were getting millions from government because they were former deputy governors. When somebody talked to me, I said no, I think that money is haram, I don’t like it.
” So even if they say they are going to give me I will not accept. I couldn’t leave my position of deputy governor and 40 years later somebody comes to say he would give me something,” he said.
Asked if he always travel, the professor of Mechanical Engineering, who was a rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, said : “I do, but I have no means. Even now, my car needs N40,000 N50,000 to change the power steering oil. I am trying to see how I could raise the money. If you cannot raise even N50,000, how can you finance yourself for travelling? But I am happy, very happy.”
Speaking on his take on the present administration in the country, Abdullahi who was Kano deputy governor in 1983 after serving as commissioner, said though the removal of petrol subsidy was a welcome development, the refusal to put in place measures to cushion the effect has become a source of concern.
“Okay it may be a fresh start but actually and unfortunately the start is not good. What I did not tell you was that I was one of the founding members of APC. I registered in 2014 when APC was established and I registered last year during the new registration.
“But it looks like there are some problems associated with the current government that will be very difficult to resolve. In the first place, it was good for them to remove the subsidy but I think they should have prepared for the cushioning effect before they removed it outright.
“You can give the new president the benefit of doubt; hoping that he will still be able to correct the mistakes that have been made. But the main problem of the current political dispensation is the legislature, both the states and the federal.I
n the states they are all in the pockets of the governors, but the federal legislators are the ones holding the executive hostage.”
On his present engagement, he said :” I only take part in NUC assignments. Now when I was in primary school, my father had a large portion of land which he inherited but because I went abroad for study, the traditional rulers at that time claimed that it was only small portion of his land that was his, the rest were loaned to him.
And therefore before I came back, they had already distributed or sold most of the land, only the small piece of was left and because of that I lost interest in farming.
“No, I left Bayero University in 2018, three years after I became a professor. Now from that time on I had been going on NUC assignments to various universities and I enjoy it very much. I am very comfortable.”
