SHAGARI:A GOOD MAN GOES
HOME
It's difficult to
describe him in words but if there was anything like a good man then Alhaji
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari is one of them.
on Behalf of the Policy
and Editorial Board of the E.N.M.Paedia Express Multimedia Group of
Lagos,Nigeria,we like every human of good conscience salute this exemplary
Nigerian.
We pray that God will
grant his family the strength to bear this great loss,amen.
signed:Otcherhiwhegh
A.I.Adeku
30/12/2018
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari GCFR,
(February 25, 1925 – December 28, 2018[2][3]) was a Nigerian politician who
served as the first and only President of Nigeria's Second Republic (1979–1983),
after the handover of power by General Olusegun Obasanjo's military government.
Shagari also served seven times in a ministerial or cabinet post as a federal
minister and federal commissioner from 1958–1975.
Shagari was made the Turaki of
the Fula Sokoto Caliphate in 1962 by the Sultan of
Sokoto Siddiq Abubakar III.
Turaki means an officer at court, in this case referring to the sultan's court
at the palace of Sokoto. In addition, he held the chieftaincy titles of the Ochiebuzo of
Ogbaland, the Ezediale of Aboucha and the Baba Korede of
Ado Ekiti.
He worked as a teacher
for a brief period before entering politics in 1951 and in 1954 was elected to
the federal House
of Representatives.
Shehu Usman Shagari was
born in 1925 in the northern Shagari village founded by his great-grandfather,
Ahmadu Rufa'i, who was also the Village Head, and took the name Shagari as his
family name. His father's name is Aliyu and his mother's name is Mariamu.[4]
His name, Usman, means
"companion".[5] He was raised in a polygamous family, and was the sixth
child born into the family. Prior to becoming Magajin Shagari (magajin
means village head), Aliyu, Shehu's father was a farmer, trader and herder.
However, due to traditional rites that prevented rulers from participating in
business, Aliyu relinquished some of his trading interest when he became the
Magaji, or village head, of Shagari village.[4] Aliyu died five years after
Shehu's birth, and Shehu's elder brother, Bello, briefly took on his father's
mantle as Magajin Shagari.
Shagari started his
education in a Quranic school and then went to live with relatives at a nearby
town, where from 1931-1935 he attended Yabo elementary school. In 1936-1940, he
went to Sokoto for middle school, and then from 1941-1944 he attended Kaduna
College.[4]
Between 1944 and 1952,
Shehu Shagari, matriculated at the Teachers Training College, in Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria. From 1953-1958, Shagari got a
job as a visiting teacher at Sokoto Province. He was also a member of the
Federal Scholarship Board from 1954-1958.[4]
Shehu Usman Shagari
entered politics in 1951, when he became the secretary of the Northern People’s
Congress in Sokoto, Nigeria, a position he held until 1956.
In 1954, Shehu Shagari
was elected into his first public office as a member of the federal House of
Representative for Sokoto west. In 1958, Shagari was appointed as parliamentary
secretary (he left the post in 1959) to the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa and that year he also served as the Federal Minister for
commerce and Industries.
From 1959 to 1960,
Shagari was redeployed to the ministry for economic development, as the Federal
Minister for Economic Development. From 1960 to 1962, he was moved to the
Pensions ministry as the Federal Minister for Pensions. From 1962-1965, Shagari
was made the Federal minister for internal affairs. From 1965 up until the
first military coup in January 1966, Shagari was the Federal minister for works.
In 1967 he was appointed
as the secretary for Sokoto province education development fund. From
1968-1969, Shagari was given a state position in the North Western State as
commissioner for establishments.
Following the Nigerian civil war,
from 1970 to 1971, Shagari was appointed by the military head of state General Yakubu Gowon as the federal commissioner
for economic development, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
From 1971 to 1975 he
served as the Federal commissioner (position now called minister) of finance.
During his tenure as the commissioner of finance for Nigeria, Shagari was also
a governor for the World Bank and a
member of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) committee of twenty.
In 1978, Shehu Shagari
was a founding member of the National Party of Nigeria. In 1979 Shagari was
chosen by the party as the presidential candidate for general election that
year, which he won becoming the president and head of state of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
Shagari ran for a second
four-year term in 1983 and won the general election, however, on 31 December
1983, Shagari was overthrown by major general Muhammadu Buhari.[6]
Shagari is greeted by
BGEN Archer Durham upon his arrival for a visit. Location: Andrews Air Force
Base, Maryland, United States
Shagari won the 1979
election with the help of his campaign manager, Umaru Dikko. The campaign had the support of
many prominent politicians in the North and among southern minorities. The
party's motto was "One Nation, One Destiny" and was seen as the party
best representing Nigeria's diversity.
During the oil boom,
Shagari made Housing, Industries, Transportation and Agriculture the major
goals of his administration. In transportation, he launched some road networks
across the country. He also initiated a program to foster the use of mechanical
machinery in farming. This initiative favored large scale farmers in order to
produce mass products. Shagari also created a low cost housing scheme.
In 1980, with the oil
revenue, Shagari finished building the Kaduna refinery, which started operating
that year. Also with the oil revenue, Shagari concluded the construction of an
additional steel plant and three rolling mills at Ajaokuta. Shagari completed the Delta Steel
complex in 1982. In 1983, Shagari created the Aluminum Smelter Company of
Nigeria at Ikot Abasi. However,
Shagari reduced the share of oil royalties and rents to state of origin from 30
to 2 percent.[7]
Shagari's government
embarked on a "Green Revolution",
distributing seed and fertilliser to farmers to increase nationwide
productivity in farming.
The fall in oil prices
that began in 1981 affected the finances of the Nigerian government. Shagari
initiated an Economic Stabilization Program to help protect the country against
a hard landing from prior highs of the 1970s and to steer the economy towards
positive growth. Key objectives of the program were to limit import licenses,
reduce government spending and raise custom duties. However, the result from
the stabilization program was minimal.
The Shagari
administration was plagued by allegations of corruption, including allegations
of electoral fraud in the 1983 election. This, coupled with a decline in world
oil prices, and a deterioration in the national finances, hardship, lead to the
regime becoming deeply unpopular with citizens. Shagari was overthrown by
General Muhammadu Buhari in
a military coup on December 31, 1983.
Shehu Shagari married
three wives: Amina, Aishatu, Hadiza Shagari.[4] He has many children. However,
His most visible children are Captain Muhammad Bala Shagari Rtd.
and Aminu Shehu Shagari.
On 24 August 2001, his
wife, Aisha Shagari, died in a London hospital following a brief illness.
Shehu Shagari died on 28h
December 2018, at 1:30PM (WAT) at the National Hospital in Abuja at the age of
93.[8]
Grand Commander of the
Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) 
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