Principal Partner compass chamber, Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammed (left) during the signing of the MOU with Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Prof. M.T. Ladan.
By Abdullahi Usman
“Greatness, generally speaking, is an unusual quantity of a usual quality grafted upon a common man.” –William Allen White
Recently, I came across a story in one of the national daily titled “Compass chamber, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies sign MoU on Capacity Building”. I wanted to flip the next page but the caption of an attached photograph of the story caught my curiosity, So, I put on my reading glass. “Principal Partner compass chamber, Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammed and Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Prof. M.T. Ladan during the signing ceremony.
So, I started guessing. Could this be the same Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammed, the immediate past Chairman of NAHCON? The strangeness gets deeper because I have never seen him wearing suit other than white on white . The story goes further “An Abuja based legal firm Compass Chamber has today signed a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on capacity building of justice sector actors, continuing legal education and specialised training programmes. The signing ceremony takes place today in the Supreme Court complex where the office of the institute is situated.”
One of memorable William Shakespeare quotes “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” This can be used perfectly to describe the unusual transiting between distinguished hajj administrators’ to a private legal practitioner. Personal self-determination is the first criteria for a successful carrier.
The fundamental message this development entails indicates that a purposeful and discipline personality can fly higher using different wings irrespective of circumstantial challenges he found himself. It is unusual for an average Nigerian who has held public office for decades to venture into private professional circles with ease.
Abdullahi labours his way to rise from a Personal Assistant to an Executive Secretary of State’s Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board to become an Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board and thereafter appointed as Commissioner of Operations and later as NAHCON Chairman. He has now established his Chamber as a legal practitioner.
It is commendable that he jettison pressure to seek another government appointment (Which he merits owing to his excellent performance). He has now dusted wear his wig and established his Chamber (Compass Chamber) in Abuja. This is exactly what an average Nigerian public office holders needs to realise that there is life and opportunity outside public office.
Well, it may not be a herculean task for a Man who has successfully managed and lead hundreds of thousands of people with diverse background to perform hajj outside the shore of Nigeria, to manage legal cases. However and unlike his former office, Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammed will need more than his managerial acumen to swim in the ocean of judicial and legal intricacies in Nigeria.
Moving forward, there is the need to review and upgraded criteria for appointing public office holders in the country. We can adapt the Chinese model of meritocracy to create a standard benchmark for assigning public service delivery tasks to individuals.
Meritocracy is a system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or social class. Considerably, advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement. As argued by Plato, in his book “The Republic” The “most common characteristic of meritocracy conceptualizes merit in terms of tested competency and ability, as measured by standardized achievement.
Finally, it is my belief adopting a system under which advancement within the system turns on “merits”, like performance, intelligence, credentials, and education in government and other administrative systems’ will go a long way in redefining the art of public good.
Abdullahi Usman wrotes from Sabon Gari Zaria
