The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has decried the erosion of values in Nigeria, stating that the country is beset by self-centred, corrupt rulers without moral principles. Mr Sanusi also acknowledged that it is beyond the power of President Bola Tinubu to change the situation.

“I think we need an entire regeneration of values. It is not about one person, the president or the governors, or the ministers cannot on their own change this country,” the former CBN governor stated in an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday.

Mr Sanusi added, “We have been ruled by people who have no values; they have no name behind them, and they have no desire to leave a name after them. The entire value system of the country has been eroded. 

“There are people who define themselves by what they own: how many houses they have, how many private jets they have, how many billions they have in bank accounts. And they think that is something.”

The Kano emir pointed out that Nigerians “don’t have a sense of disgust for people who hold public office and amass wealth; we reward them with appointments, with more public offices, and more opportunities to amass wealth, and this is what Nigeria has become”.

Mr Sanusi explained that many Nigerian leaders were not well-brought up to understand the essence of public office, stating that they were only interested in stealing and mismanaging the nation’s wealth.

“Many people go into government to make money,” said Mr Sanusi. “But you don’t go into government to make money. A society in which material wealth, no matter how you get it, is respected, is glorified, where people who are known to have stolen money get rewarded with ministerial appointments, that society will continue to reproduce itself.”

Mr Sanusi is concerned that  corrupt leaders act with impunity without regard for whether “people look at them, and they only see thieves, they see criminals, they see people who have taken the commonwealth”. 

“It is simply not important because for them, values do not matter,” Mr Sanusi noted.