Expdonaloaded News; Tribute to Bamanga Tukur at 80

IN the mid 70s, Nigeria was confronted with serious challenges in the area of ports administration. There was serious congestion in the ports, especially with the importation of cement; and then came a man who seemed to have waved the magic wand – Dr. Bamanga Tukur – who successfully eased the congestion to the admiration of all and sundry.
That feat of Tukur, as General Manager of the Nigeria Ports Authority shot him into national limelight and marked him as a rare leadership material.
The term leadership has been de­scribed as “a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” That definition by leadership expert, Martin Chemersm, notes that some understand a leader sim­ply as somebody whom people follow, or as somebody who guides or directs others, while others define leadership as “motivating and organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal.
Today, Tukur is a household name in the nation’s socio-economic and po­litical landscape. This even goes beyond Nigeria to across Africa and other parts of the world as he has relentlessly played key role in Nigeria and beyond. For Pius Adesanmi of Carlton university Canada, “you may not need money and material aggrandisement to acquire the status of leader, you need to come to the table with an impeccable and unimpeachable moral and ethical capital, built through years of consistency, with the block of the personal example.”
It is a resounding testimony today that Tukur’s mastery and excellent touch and personal example in several human en­deavors has made him an all round suc­cess.
Born in 1935 in Jeda Adamawa State, Tukur began his educational pursuit in Bauchi. He attended the Ahmadu Bello University ABU, Zaria reputed to be the largest university in Nigeria and second largest in Africa. A loving father and hus­band, Tukur is today an accomplished businessman, politician of no mean re­pute, an elder statesman, an industrialist and an ambassador of peace all rolled into one. The former top civil servant is also a farmer with expansive agricul­tural investments along the various river basin authorities in the country. His sa­gacity and broad based knowledge has been brought to bear in all his endeav­ours, which has also impacted positively on the nation’s business environment. As a former top civil servant, governor and minister, Tukur’s enormous experi­ence, cutting across the private and pub­lic sectors of the economy, has carved an enviable niche for him. Furthermore, his vast business empire has helped to cre­ate jobs for teeming Nigerians and ad­vanced the cause of free and unhindered business environment in the country and beyond. As someone who has seen it all, Tukur served as Executive Officer in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the then Northern Region.
He attended the popular London school of Economics, where he read Transportation and Economics in 1965. Tukur went on to obtain a master’s de­gree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburg in the United States. Upon his return to Nige­ria, he was appointed the ports manager at the Lagos port company from where he became General Manager and Chief Executive of the Nigeria Ports Author­ity between 1975 and 1982. Thereafter, he threw his hat into the political fray as he contested and won the governorship election of the defunct Gongola state on the platform of the National Party of Ni­geria (NPN) in 1983. He served in that capacity as governor for three months, as the military truncated the second re­public on December 31st 1983.
From the works of Machiavelli’s to the Sanskrit through the writings of Aris­tocratic, tzu and Confucius there is the agreement that leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humane­ness, courage, and discipline. Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebel­liousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust re­sults in folly. Dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sternness in command result in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader.
Because of this presence of this mix of essential leadership traits in him, Tukur was not deterred. He veered into busi­ness as he founded BHI holdings and DADDO group of companies. He went on to become the chairman of NEPAD business group, Afripractice Group and Executive President of African Business Roundtable. He had served at different times as a Director in the Nigeria Rail­way Corporation, the Nigerian Shipping Line, the Nigeria Army’s Central Water Transportation and the Board of Custom and Excise.
The elder statesman is a member of the International Business Advocacy Council of the United Nations Industri­al Development Organisation, UNIDO and a member of OECD Africa Invest­ment Advisory Board. He was elected chairman of the NEPAD business group in Monterrey Mexico in March 2002. That same year, the Republic of Togo honoured him with the national honour of the Commander of the Order Of the Momo, COM in recognition of his gi­ant contributions to business in Africa. He was appointed member of the Ghana Investors Advisory Council by President John Kuffor in June 2002 and conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Niger in 2003 by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Tukur has no doubt made several con­tributions to national development. And as National Chairman of the PDP, he did not betray his longstanding commitment to the ideals of discipline and justice. As he marks his 80th year on planet earth, it is worthy to note that whether in or out of government, Tukur has always used his talent, wide connection, enterprise and noble endeavors to advance the cause of an indissoluble, united and prosperous Nigeria. Through the years he has turned out to be a towering national unifying force and a rallying point who has not disappointed his admirers and supporters across the country.
No doubt, Tukur is one of our shin­ning lights. He is a good mixer and a great political strategist, who has be­come a blessing to the nation. At 80, it is expected that our nation and all men and women of goodwill will continue to draw wisdom and inspiration from this distinguished Nigerian elder statesman, matchless philanthropist and ageless ad­ministrator.