People who have stolen money shouldn’t be given ministerial appointments – Sanusi

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said the entire value system of the country has eroded, lamenting that people now respect and glorify material wealth regardless of how it was gotten.

Sanusi made this known while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.

The monarch warned that Nigerian society must refrain from rewarding people known to have stolen the nation’s commonwealth as public office holders with more public opportunities.

“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,” he said.

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“We 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.”

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According to the Emir, many people occupying public offices lack proper upbringing, which accounts for their misbehaviour and faulty orientation of the essence of being in public offices.

“Many people go into government to make money but you don’t go into government to make money,” he continued.

“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. These 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.

“It is not important to them that 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,” he said.

While reflecting on the memories of the late former military head of state Murtala Muhammed, 50 years after, Sanusi said the Nigerian society needs a regeneration of values, charging leaders and citizens alike to take up the responsibility.

He said, as far as he’s concerned, material wealth shouldn’t be elevated beyond values such as honesty, diligence, compassion, among others.

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“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 change this country,” he added.

In conclusion, the monarch accused politicians of destroying the civil service, reiterating that Nigeria needs to go back to strengthening the system to embolden civil servants to say ‘no’ when asked by politicians to break the rules.