Presidency
Shagari's Ministers | ||
---|---|---|
OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
President | Shehu Shagari | 1979–1983 |
Vice President | Alex Ekwueme | 1979–1983 |
Transportation | Umaru Dikko | 1979–1983 |
Agriculture | Ibrahim Gusau | 1979–1982 |
Adamu Ciroma | 1982–1983 | |
Commerce | Maitama Bello Yusuf | 1981–1983 |
Communications | Akanbi Oniyangi | 1979–1981 |
Isaac Shaahu | 1981–1983
Steel Audu ogbeh |
|
Minister of Defence | Iya Abubakar | 1979–1981 |
Akanbi Oniyangi | 1981–1983 | |
Housing | Wahab Dosumu | 1979–1982 |
Alhaji Ahmed Musa | 1982–1983 | |
Abuja | John Kadiya | 1979–1982 |
Abubakar Iro Danmusa | 1982–1983 | |
Education | Sylvester Ugoh | 1982–1983 |
Foreign Affairs | Ishaya Audu | 1979–1983 |
Justice | Richard Akinjide | 1979–1983 |
Steel | Ali Makele | 1979–1983 |
Shagari won the 1979 election with the help of his campaign manager, Umaru Dikko, political men of prominence in the North and among southern minorities, and some money bags interested in protecting their interest. Nevertheless, the party captured the ethnic and social demographics as good or even better than his adversaries. The party's motto was "One Nation, One Destiny" and it tried to promote this motto even to its detriment. Shagari, made Housing, Industries, Transportation and Agriculture as the major goals of his administration, particularly in his early stages of governance during the oil boom. However, most of his programs had incongruous outcomes. In Housing, he launched a large scale housing program that built estates such as "Shagari Estate" but also launched the careers of Nigeria's legendary money bags who swamped the Nigerian ports with imported cement to complete the housing projects. In Industries, Shagari completed the Delta Steel complex in 1982, and spent hundred of millions of dollars on the Ajaokuta Steel complex and the Steel rolling mills. However, allegations of kickbacks to prominent politicians hovers like a cloud on those projects. In transportation, he launched road networks across the country, the ministry headed by Umaru Dikko, was vital in the programs of the NPN led government. In terms of agriculture, a Green Revolution program was initiated to foster the use of mechanical machinery in farming. It favored large scale farmers in order to produce mass products. However, it was hampered by the prevalence of retired military officers, who had acquired land as parting gift under the previous administration and had the necessary hectares to influence large favors under the program.
Read more about this topic: Shehu Shagari
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