Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also Muhammad Sanusi II, CON (Ajami: محمد السنوسي, Muhammadu Sanusi na biyu (Listenⓘ); (born 31 July 1961), known by the religious title Khalifa Sanusi II (Ajami: خليفة السنوسي), is the spiritual leader (khalifa) of the Tijanniyah Sufi order in Nigeria and the emir (Sarki) of the ancient city-state of Kano. He is a member of the Dabo dynasty and the grandson of Muhammadu Sanusi I. He succeeded his great-uncle Ado Bayero to the throne on 8 June 2014, assuming the regnal name Muhammadu Sanusi II. He spent most of his reign advocating for cultural reform in Northern Nigeria. In 2020, he was deposed by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and was succeeded by his cousin Aminu Ado Bayero. On 23 May 2024, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf reinstated Sanusi as emir of Kano.
Prior to his accession, Sanusi was an Islamic intellectual, academic, political economist, and banker. He served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014, ushering in banking reforms until his suspension after he made a controversial allegation of $20 billion in government coffers.
Quotes
[edit]- One message I have for every Nigerian: is to remember that the problems of this country are enormous, the solution is simple and that solution is we must overcome.
- We must recognize that at the heart of the problem of Nigeria, at the heart of ninety percent of our issues – from Boko Haram, to religious crisis, to ethnic crisis to unemployment to the lack of education, to the lack of health care – is that there are people who profit from the poverty and underdevelopment of this country. And these people are called Vested Interests. And so long as they remain entrenched, and so long as we do not overcome our fear of them and dislodge them, we are not going to find a solution to this problem and we are not going to reach true potentials.
- I have had a lifetime commitment and advocacy to access quality education and gender equality.
- In my work as governor of the central bank, I pushed for gender representation at the highest levels, in the boards and management of banks.
- As Emir of Kano, I pushed for codification of putting law to address the rights of women.
- As an SDGs advocate, I have focused on girl- child education in particular, as the main SDG that I’m focused on are SDG four and SDG five.
- If you educate the girl‑child, you deal with so many other socio‑economic issues and make progress towards breaking the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy and poverty.
- Teachers are a powerful force.
- There cannot be quality education if the teachers do not have the right competence and tools to impact students positively.
- We have not even started retracing our steps, closing this gap in exchange rates, closing the gap in these inflated subsidies, reducing the subsidy payments. While we are spending 108 percent of our revenues on debt service. Countries cry when they are spending 30 percent of their revenues on debt service. We are spending a 100 percent, we are all laughing. We are having parties. “If we don’t fix this, we are going to have our children curse us till eternity. So what do we do?
- We can see our challenges on the fiscal and monetary sides, and the decisions that are going to be taken to correct them are going to be very painful decisions.
- So let me request that our politicians prepare the mind of Nigerians for difficult decisions. Anybody who tells you that it is going to be easy, please don’t vote for him, because it is either he is lying to you or he does not know what job he is going to get.
- Because until you bring credibility and transparency to the management of public finance, no government has the moral right to impose hardship on Nigerians; they’ve suffered enough. But if we deal with the rent seeking, if we close the gaps, then we can ask Nigerians to make the sacrifice, and they have to make the sacrifice. We have made sacrifices but we have to make a sacrifice to reset this country.
- We need to understand that some of the difficult things will take time to work through the economy. It will take a little while for us to see a turnaround, but those decisions are absolutely necessary for us to save the economy.
- If we were to dig out all the oil that is under Nigeria’s soil today and sell it and share the money among all Nigerians, we will at best be a lower middle-income country. So oil is a resource, but it is not enough to make us a wealthy country.
- What we are going through today is at least a necessary consequence of decades of irresponsible economic management.
- Power-sharing should not only be about geographical rotation but about ensuring that credible, competent and compassionate leaders emerge to serve the people.
- More than six decades after independence, Nigeria is still grappling with issues of nationhood, equity, justice, inclusion and development.
- Although the country has recorded notable achievements, it continued to face political instability, ethnic and religious tensions, insecurity, poverty and economic hardship
- Any economic policy that does not improve the welfare of the people is inherently ineffective.
- No nation can build a sustainable future without understanding its past and addressing unresolved grievances.
- We take too much rubbish and we're all too much afraid, too much in our comfort zones. And by the time these guys finish with us, our children will not have a nation. How do we retrieve our nation? How do we give our children the opportunities that we have had, and even better?
On youth responsibility and refusing to give up on Nigeria.
- If this is your country, this is your future; take hold of it, work for it, build it. Don’t let anyone tell you to run away because you have a degree. This is your country; you’re coming back here, so let’s work to build one for you, and you help us build this country for you.
External links
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Media related to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on Wikimedia Commons
