The Essence of Public Service
Public service, the act of working for the government or in the public sector as an elected, appointed, or career official, carries with it a moral and cultural significance that transcends money and fame. It involves deploying one’s talent and labor in the service of something greater than oneself—the common good. Many U.S. public sector lawyers could earn significantly more by working for Wall Street firms, yet they choose to remain in public service because they find fulfillment in its ethos.
In Nigeria, this ethos—placing the public above the self—is rapidly disappearing in our public life, but can still be seen in the careers of a few individuals. It is within this context of reclaiming the lost glory of public service that we must assess the career of Mahmood Yakubu, not just as the nation’s longest-serving ‘Ballot Boss,’ but as a true public servant.
The Legacy of Mahmood Yakubu
Anyone who examines Yakubu’s entire public service career will see that his accomplishments are designed for long-term public impact, not personal gain, but for the national good. It is no exaggeration to say that the current public university system in Nigeria is largely the creation of Mahmood Yakubu. While not entirely, the most consequential developments of the past 15 years in our federal and state universities owe their funding, if not ideation, to TETFUND, which became a truly impactful agency following Yakubu’s reforms.
The Educational Tax Fund (ETF) initially had a broad mandate to intervene at all levels of the educational system. However, this led to a limitation as resources were spread thin across thousands of primary, secondary, and tertiary education institutions, along with duplication of strategy and effort with UBEC. Consequently, the ETF could not make the strategic impact on our education sector as envisioned.
Yakubu changed this by arguing that the ETF should focus solely on the tertiary education tier, where infrastructure, research, and staff development were critical needs. This shift in focus, enshrined in law as the TETFUND Act 2011, enabled Yakubu to roll out new or expand existing policies that remain the fund’s core interventions to date: massive expansion of campus infrastructure, human capital development, funding for research and academic publishing, increased transparency in funding allocation, disbursement, and utilization, institutional innovation, and geographical equity.
Transformative Policies
Consider the Academic Staff Training and Development (AST and D) policy, one of the most successful and impactful policies in recent Nigerian history. Since its commencement in 2009/2010, it has sponsored 23,938 lecturers for PhD and 17,700 for master’s degrees, totaling 41,600 beneficiaries across all three categories of federal and state tertiary institutions in the country.
A favorite metric for assessing public officials in Nigeria is whether they have done something that benefits other Nigerians without direct personal benefit. The AST and D fits perfectly.
The enduring impact of Yakubu’s TETFUND reforms is that they guarantee about 85% of the costs of infrastructure, academic staff training, research, and sundry things other than staff salaries in a typical Nigerian university. This, in turn, has emboldened the federal and many state governments to establish over 60 additional universities between 2011 and now.
Impact on Elections
While at TETFUND, Yakubu played a significant, sometimes leading, role in virtually all the education policies of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administrations. His work extended beyond education to INEC, where his ten years of service also left a lasting impact. For lack of space, let’s consider the Electoral Act 2022, largely spearheaded by INEC under his leadership.
This Act has been a real game changer in Nigerian elections, addressing several issues. First, it removed ambiguity regarding the legal position of election technology, allowing INEC to use technology from voter registration to result transmission. Second, INEC implemented this by rolling out technologies like BVAS, IVED, and IREV, leading to better election management outcomes. Third, the Act stipulated clear timelines for party primaries, submission of candidates, and the conduct of main elections.
These changes have had a significant impact, as seen in the 2023 general elections, where opposition parties performed better against an incumbent party than ever before. The strict timelines allowed opposition candidates enough time to build movements and mount strong challenges.
A Lasting Influence
The Electoral Act 2022 is a law for all parties and for posterity, with INEC’s 143 new recommendations for election management set to strengthen it further. Its operation over time is likely to result in a change in overall political culture in Nigeria, compelling all actors to play by the rules consistently.
As Yakubu exits the stage, we can confidently say that barring any reversal of gains at INEC, the world of Nigerian elections will get better tomorrow because he did his part today.
