Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi: The Walking Renewed Hope

OMOGBOLAHAN BABAWALE

Hope is the absence of fear (insecurity) in a broader perspective. When in 1998, the late business mogul and philanthropist, Moshood Kashimaawo Olawale Abiola threw his hat into the 1993 presidential race, he hung his revival mandate on the concept of ‘hope’. Hence, his sloganeering was Hope’93. Thirty years later, the then Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) visited his predecessor, late Muhammadu Buhari in January 2022 to intimate him of his desire to join the presidential race. He would go on to anchor his manifesto on Renewed Hope. Why was this so? The reason is not far-fetched. In hope, there is optimism of a life devoid of narrow confines. In hope, life is expected to be dearth of higgledy-piggledy. Hope is a harbinger of salubrity in all spheres. Hope brings about security of lives and properties.

Akin to the nucleus in a cell, hope is the oxygen of human soul – analogous to the air man unconsciously breathes. It encompasses the human existence while surreptitiously guiding, pushing and encouraging us as individuals. Like the medicine that heals the soul’s deepest wounds, the words of Orison Swett Marden, American inspirational author and founder of 1897 Success Magazine is apropos in this context; “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.” This piece will remain vacuous if the author fails to share a quote quite profound and apposite from Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Russian novelist and essayist who said, “To live without hope is to cease to live.” Hope as the opium of the living is why leadership across all levels preaches it.

Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, the numero uno of the country’s lead agency on energy, i.e the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) is walking in the shadow of his principal – Mr. President. Every of his action and inaction – whether as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Commission or as Mustapha Abdullahi as an individual, his footprints have, till date, been marked with consolidating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agenda of a working and egalitarian Nigeria. As a technocrat, his visible handwritings of impactful leadership at the Commission can not only be felt, but also seen. As a political son of the master himself, his Midas touch is tellable by several progressive folks who have at one time or the other been beneficiaries of his large-heartedness. No tale by moonlight image laundery when it comes to his altruism.

President Tinubu promised Renewed Hope to the Nigerian people. Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi is delivering this hope in the energy sector, to bring into fulfilment Mr. President’s promise. The Ozone layer in recent times has constantly been threatened, posing existential threat to the inhabitants. Several advocacies have gone into alternative energy to reduce emissions. Our hinterlands are always often exposed to hazards through incessant burnings. Mothers are endangered. Infants are more vulnerable, yet, they are in the larger population adversely affected. What did Dr. Abdullahi do as a critical thinker in this regard? He thought to himself, “Mr. President must deliver on his promise.” In ensuring a safer environment, the Commission under Dr. Abdullahi pioneered the Commission’s Clean Cooking advocacy with presentation and distribution of clean cooking wood stoves with no emission to vulnerable families.

Understanding that giving hope to Nigerians without actionable steps taken remains effort in futility, Dr. Abdullahi had to walk his thoughts one step at a time. First, by improving on the existing template and expanding local production of photovoltaic (PV) electricity to provide alternative energy to millions of households through establishment of an assembling plant located in Enugu, South East geopolitical zone. This move would ultimately provide sustainable, reliable, affordable, and decentralized power source capable of reaching the remotest part of the country – thereby giving light and hope to Nigerians. Beyond accentuating Mr. President’s promise, the economy is developed. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) improves as local production swells up. A case of killing several birds with just a single stone.

A thinker like his boss, his recent landmark N10billion Solarization Project was a game-changer – part of what forms the fulcrum of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda on energy diversification. Apart from putting a stop to the perennial energy debt of the country, the project comes with a high potential to foster energy sustainability, self-reliance, global access, as well as long-term benefits which include but not limited to greater employment opportunities, cleaner and safer environment in the face of recent call by the international community that countries must move away from fossil fuel and embrace green energy. The energy he has put into reviving the once almost-obscure Energy Commission has further confirmed his suitability for the office as its Chief Executive.

Like I recently mentioned in a published write-up, if appointment were to be based on individual’s competency and/or capability, it is no gainsaying that Dr. Abdullahi would definitely not have fallen beyond the first 10. The fact that he is always in the news, not for the wrong reasons but always to push and prove that the Renewed Hope agenda of Mr. President is NOT a FLUKE! With a leadership matching the deliverables, this author is again of the opinion that the appointment of this young man of Ebira ancestry is nothing short of a round peg in a round hole. He is another proof that Mr. President did not make a mistake in entrusting the future of the country in the hands of her youth population.

Blessed art Nigeria in the appointment of Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, a technocrat of repute, and an altruist beyond viva voce. He is a walking Renewed Hope!

Omogbolahan L.A. BABAWALE is the Convener and Lead Resource Person of The Think-Tinubu Initiative (3TI). He writes from Lagos. officialczar2@gmail.com