Article Citation: Abubakar Atiku Alkali (2019). A Review of Shehu Shagari's Beckoned to Serve (2001) (ISBN 9781299320) pp. 552. Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc. Ibadan. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1. ISSN 0794-9316
A REVIEW OF SHEHU SHAGARI’S BECKONED TO SERVE (2001) (ISBN 9781299320) PP. 552. HEINEMANN EDUCATIONAL BOOKS (NIGERIA) PLC. IBADAN
By
Abubakar
Atiku Alkali
Usmanu
Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
Department
of Modern European Languages and Linguistics
alkali.abubakar@udusok.edu.ng
Elected
on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979, Alhaji Shehu
Shagari is the first Executive President of Nigeria. He won a re-election in
1983 but about three months into his second term in office, the military
overthrew his government, proscribed all political parties and put democracy on
hold. Prior to his ascension to the presidency, Shagari had occupied several
government positions at the local, state and federal levels. He was a pupil
teacher (1944–1945), substantive teacher (1945–1951), headmaster, Senior
Primary School, Argungu (1951–1953); and senior visiting teacher, Sokoto
(1953). In 1954, he was elected a Member of Parliament, a position he held
concomitantly with that of the visiting teacher since his MP job was on a part-time
basis. Other positions include Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1958) and acting Minister of Commerce in the same
year. In 1959, he won a House of Representatives seat. In the same year he was
appointed a federal minister until 1966 when the First Republic was terminated
by a coup d’état. On his return to Sokoto after the coup, he became the
Executive Secretary, Sokoto Province Education Development Fund and
Commissioner for Education in 1969. The government of General Gowon appointed
him the Minister for Economic Development (1971) and later, Finance
(1971–1975). He subsequently became the Chairman of the Sokoto Urban
Development Authority (1976) and was elected a councillor in Yabo Local
Government in the same year. General Obasanjo’s government appointed Shagari
Chairman, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited in 1976 and in 1978, he became the
chairman of Roads Nigeria Limited. He went back into partisan politics and
became Nigeria’s president in 1979.
Shehu
Shagari had a passion for writing. He wrote Waƙar Najeriya (a book
of Hausa poetry) in 1948 and Shehu Usman Danfodiyo: Ideas and Ideals of
his Leadership in 1976. Beckoned to Serve is his
autobiography published in 2001. The book comprises fourteen chapters which
collectively serve as a treatise on the author’s childhood, education, career,
retirement as well as politics and the policies of his government among other
issues.
Chapter
One addresses the history of his native village, Shagari, tracing its
connection to the Sokoto Caliphate because it was founded by one of the
followers of Sheikh Usman Bin Fodiyo. The author recalls that the forebears of
his parents were all of royal blood and that he was born on the 25th day of
February, 1925. At the age of four years, he started learning Islamic religious
knowledge.
Chapter
Two covers the author’s pursuit of Western education. He attended Yabo
Elementary School, Sokoto Middle School and Kaduna College. A striking
narrative in the chapter is that when he absconded from the Middle School, the
Sultan of Sokoto at the time, Sultan Hassan personally sent for him and made
him to sign an undertaking that he would never leave school again (p.34).
Similarly, when he was offered a place at the Kaduna College, it was the
reigning Sultan Abubakar III that took him to Kaduna by himself (p.35). These
twin incidents reverberate the importance attached to education by our past
leaders. The chapter further presents the author’s career in the civil service
as already outlined in the introductory part of this review and an insight into
his personal life. He was into a forced marriage in 1945 which soon broke up
but of his own volition, he took another wife in 1946 and an additional one in
1959.
The
third chapter of the book dwells on the roles Shehu Shagari played in
pre-independence Nigeria as well as the political activities that took place
prior to independence. The chapter begins with the history of Colonial rule in
Sokoto, other parts of Nigeria, and indeed the rest of Africa. Equally
discussed is the evolution of political parties in the North and other parts of
Nigeria where it is demonstrated, how a fusion of some northern cultural
organisations led to the formation of the Northern People's Congress (NPC) in
1948. The formation of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) is
also seen; the members of which were those that broke away from the NPC and the
United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC), a party formed by some northern ethnic
minority groups. Prior to that period however, functional political parties
existed in the southern part of Nigeria: National Convention of Nigeria and the
Cameroons (NCNC) and Action Group (AG).
The
author recounts the reality of Nigeria's independence (the period that marked
the end of Colonial rule and the beginning of self-government in 1960 as well
as the process of writing a constitution for the country) in Chapter Four. The
chapter narrates how Shehu Shagari worked to build an indigenous civil service.
The narrative in the same chapter suggests that the use of money in politics
(which is becoming increasingly ubiquitous) dates back to the First Republic.
This is seen when J. S. Tarka demanded the sum of £50,000 before he could agree
to an alliance between his party, UMBC and NPC, only for him to renege after
taking an advance (p.101). It is also in this chapter that the author tells his
readers that Nigeria became a Republic in 1963 and that the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) was inaugurated in the same year.
Chapter
Five covers the period of transition and the turmoil that was to culminate into
a 30-month civil war in the country. The 1959 general election was the
precursor of the storm that led to the war. Action Group was said to have
freely used money, bicycles and other commodities to “purchase party support”
leaving the other parties with no option than to follow suit (p.108). This is
responsible for the “monetization” of the country’s political process to date.
In the same vein, the 1962 and 1963 population censuses, in which some regions
in the country were alleged to have inflated their population figures, marked a
period of rising tensions. There was a strike by workers in 1964, the Tiv
riots, also in 1964 which left many people dead, the general elections of 1964
during which campaigns were conducted with "rancour, intimidation and
violence"; and the October 1965 elections into the Western Region House of
Assembly during which Action Group thugs unleashed terror on their opponents in
what was called "Operation wetie”. The climax was the bloody coup d’état
of January 15, 1966 in which the Prime Minister, the premiers of Northern and
Western Regions, and other top government functionaries were assassinated. The
coup brought Gen. Aguiyi-lronsi to power. His regime was characterised by all
forms of violence, which subsequently led to the murder of Gen. Ironsi and
transfer of power to Col. Gowon. Col. Ojukwu, who refused to subordinate
himself to Gowon's authority, eventually declared a sovereign state of Biafra,
consequent upon which on July 6, 1967 a war, which lasted 30 months and claimed
thousands of lives, broke out.
In
the same chapter we also learn of the creation of 12 states out of the four
regions on 27th May, 1967 and in the same year, Gen. Gowon
enlarged his cabinet to include civilians. There is similarly, an account of
the reasons behind the country's continued underdevelopment. This is said to
result from the fact that Western powers were apprehensive that Nigeria had
growth potentials to the extent that the country might not require any
assistance from the West and might even grant aid to some African
countries; hence, most of them sided with Biafra during the Nigerian civil war.
In
Chapter Six, the author writes about his return to Sokoto after the 1966 coup
d’état and becoming the Executive Secretary of Sokoto Province Education
Development Fund which was set up to improve the level of education in the
Province. He was later appointed Commissioner for Establishment and Training
for the North-Western State in 1968 and later reassigned to Education. In 1970,
Gen. Gowon appointed him Federal Commissioner to replace Alhaji Yahaya Gusau
who had resigned his appointment following a disagreement with his permanent
secretary.
We
see in this chapter the efforts made by the Gowon regime to rehabilitate the
war-ravaged areas of the east as well as the contributions of foreign
governments to those efforts in addition to the introduction of the Universal
Primary Education (UPE) programme, which many a Nigerian would think, was
conceived of by Gen. Obasanjo. We learn of the conversion of Nigeria’s currency
from the one based on British Pound Sterling to the decimal currency of Naira
and Kobo. This was done on 1st January 1973. The period witnessed the formation
of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the establishment
of the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF) at the African Development Bank (ADB) with an
initial capital of N50 million, an equivalent of US $80 million. At that time,
the US Dollar exchanged for $0.625 to N1. In 1975, Nigeria made available to
the IMF, the sum of US $200 million as loan (p.176). The same chapter further
mentions the overthrow of Gen. Gowon's government on 29th July
1975; bringing in Brigadier Murtala Muhammed as the head of state. This forced
Shehu Shagari to return home and become a councillor for establishment and
training in the Local Authority. Gen. Murtala was subsequently assassinated in
an abortive coup on 13th February, 1976. Gen. Obasanjo became the new head of
state. The Obasanjo administration took steps to actualise the new federal
capital territory and set in motion, a transition to civil rule. Local
Government areas were created following Local Government Reforms of 1976.
The
author writes in Chapter Seven of the presentation of the report of the
constitution drafting committee in 1976, which recommended a presidential
system of government. The Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) was inaugurated
in the same year while the election of the members of the Constituent Assembly
was held in 1977. A draft constitution was presented to the head of state. The
Supreme Military Council incorporated the Land Use Decree, the NYSC Scheme,
National Security Organisation and the Public Complaints Commission in the
document. The constitution was subsequently inaugurated in September 1978. The
ban on politics was lifted and five political parties – Unity Party of Nigeria
(UPN), Nigeria People's Party (NPP), Great Nigeria people's Party (GNPP),
Peoples Redemption Party (PRP); and National Party of Nigeria (NPN) were
registered. The author secures the nomination as his party, albeit, against his
wish. He decides to pick Dr. Alex Ekwueme as his running mate. He shares with
his readers, the rigours of his presidential campaign and the dilemma of pardon
for Gen. Gowon and the former rebel leader – Chief Ojukwu. He says: "the
whole campaign was not so much about policy issues... Nor was the campaign
fought on ideological lines..." (p.219). This partly explains why the
politicians themselves are without any distinctive ideology and as a result,
membership of political parties in Nigeria has always been a marriage of
strange bedfellows.
Chapter
Eight talks about the author's Swearing-in Ceremony and the arrangements made
to add colour to the event at the end of which he settles down to business,
which was anything but smooth due to the activities of political opponents, the
issue of revenue allocation formula, etc. In the chapter, the author defends
his government against allegations of corruption by pointing out that
corruption was a universal phenomenon. To buttress this point, he cites the
incident of some US Congressmen shown on a CBS TV telecast, taking bribes from
phony lobbyists and the July 1994 "cash-for-question" scandal in
Britain which resulted in the suspension of two MPs while one was rebuked
(p.269). He also says it was discovered in 1981 that "since 1979 about 90%
of Nigerian MPs had been pocketing the pay of some 2,450 non-existent aides
worth millions of Naira" in addition to allegations of travel frauds.
There was the allegation that members of the House of Representatives Finance
Committee were bribed with the sum of US$120,000 at Geneva Airport in 1981
(p.270). He says he made attempts to create a Code of Conduct Bureau and
Tribunal but his efforts were frustrated by the National Assembly. In the same
chapter, he says he had to contend with the controversy over states creation,
the move to establish the National Open University and the introduction of
austerity measures.
In
Chapter Nine, Shagari shares with his readers, the details of his office and
residence at Ribadu Road, his schedules as President and Commander- in-Chief of
the Armed Forces as well as his kitchen cabinet, giving details on a one-by-one
basis of his personal staff, Special Advisers and Special Assistants. He gives
details of how he combined the duty to the country with that of his party and
the demands of his family. He writes briefly on his government's relationship
with global, continental and regional organisations such as the United Nations,
the OAU and the ECOWAS. Shagari discusses briefly his government's programme of
action in which the majority sectors of the economy were emphasised. Some
contentious issues such as the Bakolori massacre, the Maitatsine riots and the
Shugaba Darman affair are also explained.
In
chapter Ten, the reader learns of the focus of Shagari’s administration's
Foreign Policy and External Relations. Although Africa was the centrepiece of
his government’s foreign policy, his administration nonetheless extended its
hands of friendship to all peoples of the world and maintained a policy of
non-alignment. The administration was active in the OAU and acted as mediator
in the Western Sahara dispute, the Chad crisis, as well as other conflict areas
in Africa. It also handled with circumspection, the Nigeria/Benin boundary
dispute and the quarrel with Cameroon, resisting pressures from Nigerians to go
to war with the latter. The government played vital roles in ECOWAS, the
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) the African Development Bank (ADB) and the
United Nations Organisation (UNO). The chapter takes a look at what the author
calls the delicate part of diplomacy, i.e. protocol which sheds light on how a
president was expected to conduct himself during a state visit to another
country and how he should receive other visiting heads of government.
In
Chapter Eleven, Shagari examines the national economy. He mentions the
structure of the Nigerian economy which was agriculture-based before the 1970s
and the dramatic transformation into one based on oil. It is shown that the
1977-78 oil demand crisis, coupled with balance of payments and domestic
financial crises compelled the country to negotiate a Euro-currency Loan of US$
1.75 Billion. This marked the beginning of Nigeria's external debt crises into
which the country has continued to plunge. He tries to justify the Nigerian
economic situation at the time of his administration which he argues was as a
result of the world economic recession and therefore not peculiar to Nigeria.
Reference is made to other countries that also had to resort to external borrowing
and his government's effort to bring the country out of the woods.
Chapter
Twelve tells the reader how Shagari's government launched its second term after
its re-election for another four years. The author admits making mistakes
during the first term which he attributes to lack of experience with the
presidential system of government. He is seen blaming everyone but himself for
the failure of his government. These include his political opponents, a
northern elite group called the "Kaduna Mafia" and some academics
both in northern and southern Nigeria. He tells his readers how he dismissed
several security reports brought to him about the impending change of
government on the strength of previous reports which turned out to be deceptive
and this became an albatross around his neck. He finally tells of how his
government was overthrown, how he was driven to safety from Abuja to Keffi in
disguised clothing, how Group Capt. Usman Jibrin accommodated him in his farm
and later at a village called Tunga and how he was finally taken to Lagos
through the Makurdi Air force base.
Chapter
Thirteen is the detention diary which recounts the events that took place from
the day the author was taken to the state house, Marina on 3rd January, 1984 to
the time he was put in solitary confinement in a house at No. 2 Ruxton Road,
Ikoyi while the Vice President and some ministers were sent to the Kirikiri
Maximum Security Prison. Shagari says a Radio was made available to him in
addition to newspapers but that he could not speak to anyone. He however made
some recordings, mostly of national events he read in the newspapers or. he
heard over the Radio which he calls soliloquies. The chapter mentions the
overthrow of the Buhari regime and the ascension of Gun. Babangida to power,
which brought with it, some reprieve for Shagari as he was allowed to
receive visitors and was also moved to another house at Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi
and to yet another house at MacDonald Road, also in Ikoyi. He was subsequently
acquitted by the Justice Uwaifo panel and granted a conditional release on 1st
July, 1986.
The
author relates to the readers in the final chapter of the book titled
"Epilogue: Freedom", the re-unification with his family in Shagari
village and the initial financial difficulties he encounters due to the
non-payment of his gratuity and the freezing of his account. We learn that the
account was later defrosted and the sum of N62, 804.74 in the account was used
to increase the working capital of his farm which had been registered as a
limited liability company. The farm was about the only investment he had. In
the end, the conditions of release were cancelled and Shagari regained full
freedom.
In
sum, the author presents a book, very rich in his own biography, the political
and to some extent, economic history of Nigeria. It is an excellent compendium
for understanding the nature of Nigerian politics from the First Republic to
the present. The book is written in the narrative form, with occasional use of
flashbacks and the diction rendered with elegant lucidity. There are also few
proverbs and idiomatic expressions, but it is bereft of philosophical
postulations.
The
author however portrays himself as an advocate by making judgements in his
writing rather than allowing his readers to do so. Few examples are where he
says: ".... I am able, with humility to raise my head high in the midst of
a corrupt world where bribery, greed and graft are widespread even among those
who profess to have taken up arms in order to fight and eradicate them"
(p.538), and: "I am glad that even though I was forcefully retired from
public service I have not left it with a bad reputation" (p.539). Most of
the time, the author's judgments are influenced by his prejudices as shown in
the following instances. He says of Gowon: "But in spite of the untidy
manner in which the decision was made and executed and, more seriously, the
difficulties which the scheme encountered in later years, General Gowon
deserves especial kudos for his noble intention in undertaking what was
certainly one of the world's boldest social experiments" (p.170). He also
speaks of Gen. Obasanjo thus: "I understand from someone close to him,
however, that he had expected me to be constantly consulting him on all matters
of government since he had an obsession of being a super-administrator,
super-diplomat and of course a military genius" (p.453) and again says:
"whatever one might think of Obasanjo regime's overall record, one aspect
of it stands out admirably well: the phased transition to democracy"
(p.191). These may be seen as objective assessments of the two former leaders
and a confirmation of Samuel Johnson's dictum that: "Wherever human nature
is found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue; a contest of passion and
reason," but surprisingly, Shagari throws objectivity to the dogs when it
comes to talking about Gen. Buhari, apparently because the latter headed the
government that ousted him. He says of Buhari: "It is now the military
rather than civilians who have staged a coup on the excuse that Buhari and his
clique have been practicing the same misdeeds that they had accused others of
committing" (p.502). He further says: "I make bold however to claim
that whatever our faults, those who took over from us with their declared
intention 'to correct the mistakes of the past' have not performed any better,
inspite (sic)of the unlimited powers at their disposal" (p.539). The
description of Gen. Buhari's regime as the most authoritarian regime the
country had ever seen (p.93), is seen as hyperbolic. This is because the author
conveniently becomes oblivious of his own statement that: "On balance,
however, one has to concede the fact that as a human being, no one person can
bear the burden of presidential powers alone; and in the course of carrying
this burden he has to trust those who solemnly affirmed their loyalty to him
and to the nation" (p.340). This should have guided the author in his
tirade against the person of Gen. Buhari.
Shagari
displays a tendency of looking at every action as a sabotage of his
government's efforts. He indicates that: "apart from the multitude of
institutional constraints" these was a "A virulent and hostile
opposition" whose "main pre-occupation was to paralyse the federal
government" and he says it "penetrated the civil service" where
“spies and saboteurs" were planted to undermine and frustrate the president's
initiatives" and concludes that an uncompromising leader could never have
completed his term in such circumstances (p.34). He seems to have forgotten the
words of Harry S. Truman, former U.S president that: "... I discovered
that being a president is like riding a Tiger. A man has to keep riding or be
swallowed".
Before
looking at the flaws in the book, it is important to quote Alexander Pope who
says: "whoever thought of a perfect piece by man to see, had thought of
what never was, never is, and never will be". It is only natural
therefore, that this book is not entirely free from the printer’s devil:
· There are switches from British to American English spellings and
vice versa throughout the book. Examples are subsidised (p.418) and subsidized
(p.422), centers and centres (p.429), manoeuvre (p.108) and maneuvers (p.480).
· Punctuation problems are also evident in the book which in some
cases affected the intended import of the statements. In the preface, the
author quotes Abraham Lincoln without enclosing the statement in inverted
commas and the following sentences are inadvertently lacking proper punctuation:
· "A formidable Arabic Scholar, he made tremendous impact on
his pupils some of whom later ranked among the most authoritative Nigerian
Islamic scholars men, like Sheikh Abubakar Gummi..." (p. 31).
· "The laboratory apparatuses he set up were viewed as
instruments for making rain, thunder and lightning an imitation of the works of
God!" (p.32).
· "The army reorganised displaced persons resettled and
rehabilitated; and attacks on corruption pursued" (p.138).
· "Waziri's inclusion gave the NPP a northern muslim aspect.
While he too gained a nationwide party added to his huge personal following,
especially among the northern and eastern minorities of Borno, Gongola, Cross
Rivers (sic) and Rivers States" (p.205).
· "... twenty 20 million naira..." (p.270)
· “Ghanaian, residents in Nigeria, who had no valid papers were
advised to proceed to Apapa Port where, the Ghana authorities said, Ghanaian
ships would be brought to collect them" (p.331).
· "The relatively broader base provided by a wide range of
agricultural exports, domestic self-sufficiency in food and other non-oil
mineral products were eroded as the nation became overwhelmingly dependent on a
single product oil" (p.386).
· "Board of Governors" approval is written in place of
board of governors' approval (p.372).
There
are equally cases of vague neologism in the following sentences:
· "The 1954 election was the first election ever held on party
political basis in the North" (p.70).
· "Several rival groups throughout the federation resented its
privileged and pre-eminent status was particularly the members of the Northern
Consultative Committee of older politicians and civil servants who enjoyed
considerable influence during the Ironsi and Gowon regimes" (p. 190).
· "The political atmosphere was once lively if sometimes
confusing" (p.216).
The
book is also not without typographical errors, some of which are highlighted as
follows:
· On the acknowledgements page, regime is written as Regime, others
as o thers, academics as academicians, while on page 2 and in various places in
the book, Danfodiyo is written as Dan Fodio, Kurdabi as Kurdaba (p.18) Zakira
as Zakara (p.19) Hizibs as Hijabs (p.25) Mamman as Manman (p 30) cook/steward
as cook-steward (p.39) later as latter (p.135) parastatals as Para-statals
(p.156) Supremos as Supremoes (p.185) infrastructure as infra-structure (p.201)
winning as wining (p.208) lawmaker as law m aker (p.210) nowhere as no where
(p.222) Seyni as Senyi (p.233) altogether as all together (p.216) Gray Longe as
Grey Longe (p.238) in spite as inspite (p.245, 444 & 539) state-based as
state-base (p.274) intact as in tact (p.299) advanced stage as advance stage
(p.310) uncompleted as un-completed, rebuilding as re-building, reconditioning
as re-conditioning (p.317) reorganise as re-organise, redeployed .as re-deployed
(p.318) reactivate as re-activate (p.322) Cameroon republic as Cameroons
republic, showdown as show down (p. 324) other as order (p.322) customs as
custom (p.329) decongestion as de-congestion, regrouped as re-grouped, warlike
as war like (p.325) immigrants as immigrations (p.330) member states as members
states (p.331) positions as position (p.332) tele guide as tele-guide (p.336),
destabilise as de-stabilise, state governors as states governors (p.339) and
misunderstanding as mis-understanding (p.344).
· Former Chadian leader's name is written as Goukhuni Waddeye
(p.344) Gokhouni Waddeye (p.354) Goukhuni Waddeyi (p.352) and Goukouni Ouaddei
(p.233), Heads of State as Heads of States (p.344, 347, & 349) bloodshed as
blood-shed (p.346) closed-door meeting as close-door meeting (p.348) ceasefire
as cease-fire (p.352) organisation as organzation (p.350)
Further
typographical errors are
· Ghaddafi as Ghadafi, reinforced as re-enforced (p.353) anywhere as
any where (p.354) disown as dis-own (p.355) madman as mad-man (p.356)
afterthought as after thought, everybody as every body (p.362) pastime as pass
time (p.364), past time (p.451) and pass-time (p.530).
· A town in Cameroon Republic is written as Garua (p.365) and Garoua
(p.361), reiterated as re-iterated (p.365) unending as un-ending (p.377)
handshakes as hand shakes (p.378) Zia Ul- Haq as Zia El- Haq (p.379) thereupon
as there-upon (p.379) and there upon (p.458) reaffirm as re-affirm (p.380)
crises as crisis (p.389) oil-induced as oil induced (p.390) reassuring as
re-assuring (p.405) over the two-year period as over the two-years period
(p.407) shortcomings as short-comings (p.391), hallmark as hall-mark (p.414),
(p.416) administration as Administration (p.425, 428 & 528) relocated as
re-located (p.428) motorcycle as motor cycle (p.431) Nigerian public as Nigeria
public (p.432) recrimination as recremination (p.442), falling as failing
(p.444) persistent as persistant (p.445) diligently as deligently, consequences
as consequencies (p.448) patriotism as patriotizm (p.440) indiscriminately as
indiscrimately (p.450), day-to-day as day to day (p..455) bypass as bye-pass
(p.456) dignitaries as dignitories (p.459) reassuringly as re-assuringly
(p.461), laid down as layed down (p..466) December 31, 1983 as December 31,
1990 (p.467) pecuniary as percuniary (p.448), all right as alright (p.493 &
499), rationale as rational (p.521); as well as interview as iterview (p.522)
among others.
There
are likewise some omissions which are capable of changing the intended meaning
in the following sentences:
· "Some 500 million was paid to about 700,000 workers as
arrears alone" (p.171). 500 million what?
· "Nearly 800 million was spent in laying the basic
infrastructures and amenities that transformed a remote wooded and desolate
area into a thriving modern city" (p.313), 800 million what?
· "... Selling at an average of 40 per barrel" (p.131). 40
what per barrel?
· "In 1981, the National Assembly enacted a new law which fixed
the national minimum wage to N1500" (p.431). N1500 per what?
Then
there are sentences with inconsistent collocations and a few grammatical issues
as in the following:
· "Abuja was also connected with (to) the national electricity
grid" (p.312)
· "... in every nook and corner (cranny) of the federation
..." (p.312).
· "The visit was marked with pomp and pageantry (pomp and
ceremony/circumstance)". (p.361).
· "... and a horse for my son... whom the president knew was
(a) keen polo- player" (p.381).
· "He also affirmed the regime's respect to (for) fundamental
human rights" (p.500).
· "In 1981, the National Assembly enacted a new law which fixed
the national minimum wage to (at) N1500" (p.431).
· "It was claimed that Nigeria was bankrupt because it was
finding it difficult to meet her (its) short-term debt and trade payment
obligations" (p.401).
It
is therefore recommended that efforts should be made by the publishers to
correct the highlighted and other errors in a subsequent reprint. And to the
reading public, the book is a timeless exposition and a good reference material
for students, scholars, government officials and the general public for it is a
rich collection of historical events that took place in the pre-independence
and post-independence Nigeria.
 (ISBN 9781299320) pp. 552. Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc. Ibadan){kind=link}
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