A Tale of Discipline and Integrity: The story of Shehu Shagari and the presidential jet

In the First Republic, Shehu Shagari served as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

On one occasion, Balewa’s mother was visiting him in Lagos. While the Prime Minister travelled to Kaduna for an NPC convention, Shagari was assigned to attend to her. During his absence, the elderly woman became homesick and insisted on returning home immediately.

Shagari tried to persuade her to wait for her son’s return, but when she refused, he arranged, thinking he was doing the right thing, for her to be flown home on the presidential jet.

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When Balewa returned and learned she had gone home, he inquired about her mode of travel, road or rail? Shagari innocently replied that she had gone by presidential jet.

The Prime Minister was furious. He explained that even he could not use the presidential jet for his trip to Kaduna because it was a party convention, not an official state function. To fly a private individual with no government business on state resources, he said, was grossly irresponsible.

Balewa ordered Shagari’s immediate dismissal. It was only after intense pleas from Sir Ahmadu Bello and several emirs that Balewa relented on one condition: the full cost of the flight would be deducted from Shagari’s salary in instalments. Shagari was still paying off the debt until the military coup.

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This episode speaks volumes about the integrity and discipline that once guided public office. Today, by contrast, we witness ministers freely using the presidential jet to attend political declarations of interest, a level of decadence unimaginable in Tafawa Balewa’s time.

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