Nigeria

Abba Kyari: He was an honourable man - The Economist salutes Buhari's late chief of staff

Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 12:36 PM by Nurudeen Lawal

- The Economist magazine has described Abba Kyari as an honourable man

- The international publication said Kyari went to the heart of a thoroughly corrupt and dysfunctional system with the sole aim to reform it

- Kyari, President Buhari's chief of staff, died of COVID-19 on Friday, April 17

The Economist of London has described Abba Kyari, the late chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, as an honourable man.

Kyari died from COVID-19 complications on Friday, April 17, weeks after testing positive for the disease.

The Economist in a piece published on Thursday, April 23, described Kyari as “a largely honourable man” who wanted the best for his country.

Abba Kyari: He was an honourable man - The Economist salutes Buhari's late chief of staff — Abba Kyari was an honourable man, writes The Economist
Source: UGC

According to the magazine, the late chief of staff was often bothered about the degree of corruption in the country and thought of ways to end it.

The magazine made reference to an instance when the boss of an energy company “forgot” a bag stuffed with $100 bills at his office but Kyari was quoted to have said: “much too much of our work is spent on stopping our own people stealing”.

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“While Mr Kyari was alive, others were much less kind. Many saw him as the figurehead for a shadowy cabal that controlled policy and appointments, and granted favours and contracts,” the publication stated.

“Cabinet ministers grumbled that they could not get past his door to discuss important issues with a distant and apathetic president. Mr Kyari’s economic thinking, which seemed stuck in the 1970s, was also criticised."

The Economist said Kyari's aim was to reform the Nigerian government and rid it of corruption.

“There was some truth to these accusations. Yet there is also a broader parable of Mr Kyari. It is one of a largely honourable man who went to the heart of a thoroughly corrupt and dysfunctional system, aiming to reform it—but who struggled to overcome its inertia amid a series of crises.

“He was known to turn down offers of free upgrades to first class (he thought it vulgar) before taking his seat in business class on British Airways flights.

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“The corruption and decay of Nigeria’s state, and the inequality they bred, dismayed and worried him. Nigeria had to change, he argued. The question was whether it would be through orderly reform or chaotic breakdown,” the publication said.

According to The Economist, Kyari's hope was the President Buhari’s second term “would provide an opportunity to liberalise the corrupt oil and gas industries by making contracts and licences more transparent and taking them out from under the thumb of politicians.”

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In a related development, Mamman Daura, President Buhari's nephew, has penned down an emotional message about Kyari.

Daura said that Kyari was recommended as running mate to former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.

Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007.

In a tribute, Daura described Kyari as an intelligent man who could have been the second in command when Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999.