By Dirisu Yakubu  

Dr. Lazarus Zaka Gaza was the Director, Human Resource Management, Federal Capital Territory Administration and one time Director, Finance and Administration at the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, Dr. Gaza speaks on the possibility of harnessing the pluralistic Nigerian society for the good of all even as he advises the youths to start small rather than wait for the big white collar jobs.

You retired as Director at the Federal Capital Territory Administration. Tell us how it started for you?

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Dr. Gaza: My recent sojourn was at the prestigious National Institute for Policy & Strategic Studies Kuru-Jos, Plateau State, where I graduated and obtained my Member of the National Institute (mni) in 2020.

My career began as a Community Development Inspector 1 at the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory Abuja from 1989 to 1990. From then I held several positions including Programme Monitoring Adviser, FCT, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 1996 to 1998, Council Secretary, Abuja Municipal Area Council from 2003 to 2004, Head of Department of Administration Area Council Service Commission, Abuja from 2004 to 2006, Director FCT Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board FCTA, Abuja from 2008 to 2014, Managing Director Upper Niger River Basin Development    Authority, Federal Ministry of Water Resources from 2015 to 2016. I was also Director, Admin & Finance Agriculture & Rural Dev. Secretariat, FCTA, Abuja from 2016 to 2018.

I had a stint in politics when I contested election for Federal House of Representative and I won.   So, the political history of the FCT cannot be written without my name, because I am the first elected member of the House of Representatives in Abuja Municipal and Bwari Area constituency, but when the military took over, they dissolved the National Assembly.

Educational background

I went to L.E.A Primary School, Garki, Abuja, after which I attended Government Teachers College Bida, Niger State. In 1982 I went to the famous Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where I obtained Bachelor’s degree in History/Political Science. I obtained MSc in Rural Development Studies in 1990, Master in Public Administration (MPA) in 2007 and then bagged qualifications with a PhD in Geography all from the Ahmadu Bello University from 2002 to 2007.

What is your advice to young Nigerians out on the streets in search for jobs?

Do not depend on white collar jobs alone. There are so many ways the youth can help themselves. Instead of waiting as a graduate to secure white-collar job, find something doing no matter how small. Some prominent business men did not wait for white collar jobs. 

They are big today because they started small. The Bible says do not despise the days of your small beginnings. It’s not compulsory for you to start big. In fact, wisdom lies in starting small because it will enable you learn the robes and develop potentials that can handle big things. You can start from somewhere and before you know it, you become big. Don’t stay idle. Engage yourself with something. It’s not everybody that will get government job. 

Thousands of our youths are graduating yearly and it’s impossible for government to employ everybody. Go into the private sector. Be creative and you will excel. There are a lot of opportunities in this country. Remember that most societal challenges are actually opportunities. Let’s maximize the benefits of our diversity and use it to our advantage.   We have come a long way as a people and as a country. Instead of taking arms, let us have some dialogue and find a solution to accommodate one another so as to develop this beautiful country that God has given us.

What is your major inspiration in life?

Life is all about having a vision.   When you occupy a position whether career or elected position, you must have a vision, if you want to make any significant contribution in this world. Just like the Bible says “My People perish for lack of vision.” I always ask myself what it is that I want to achieve and do for my people. Throughout my career, I made sure I impacted on the lives of the people that God brought my way. I always look for ways to add value to people’s lives. 

I like supporting people to attain the heights of their God-given potentials. That is my inspiration in life – to see people become a much better version of themselves. And I’m happy that I was able to do some things for people while I had the opportunity to do so. I have a legacy that is still there and many people can testify about them.

 These are the kind of things that give me satisfaction: my modest contribution towards uplifting others. As a civil and public servant, I made sure I served well to the best of my ability per time. I am humbled by the opportunities I had and used positively to impact on people, especially the youth.

I look forward to another opportunity to serve my people and Nigeria, because there is still more work to be done. When you look at the crisis we have today as a nation, you would realize that most of them are caused by poverty and illiteracy. If we can educate more people and, or develop their potentials to become self-sustainable or gainfully employed, 50 or more per cent of our challenges would have been addressed about the various insecurities and youthful restlessness that have recently been bedevilling our communities in particular and the country in general.

There have been clamour for the patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods in the past few years. What is your take?

We should look inward instead of outside because looking inward promotes development; we have both human and material resources that can develop this country. When we depend on outside, it drains our economy and we are made to be so much depended as if we are enslaving ourselves. We should produce what we eat instead of going outside to import everything into the country. Some importations destroy the growth of our arts, science and technology. 

Most developed countries of today grew because they looked inwards.

Looking back at the journey thus far, do you abhor any regret?

Sometimes, we make mistakes but as a Christian, I’m encouraged with the verse that says “All things work together for good to them that love God.” I may have made mistakes in some areas of life maybe taking decisions or making some bad choices, but when I commit my mistakes to God, he turns them to be a blessing in disguise. I strongly believe in Romans 8: 28. Most time when you make mistakes, He turns them to favour you.

How is life in retirement? What are you working on that you will like to share with us?

As you mentioned, I am retired now, but I am still vibrant and ready to make modest contributions to the growth and further development of our people in the FCT and Nigeria as a whole, just as I mentioned earlier in this conversation.

I commit today and tomorrow into the hands of God the creator of all things and I thank Him for the grace and strength he has blessed me with. One thing is for sure – that I’m very ready to take on new challenges as opportunities to do more for my people. 

That’s the much I can say for now. But I know there is much more work to do for our people and country, so I won’t consign myself to the ashes of retirement.

As an indigene of FCT, do you have anything you want to share with us that remain a matter of concern to you?

The circumstance that surrounds the creation of FCT is a paradox. It came as a blessing but of course in the course of time, challenges of development came up and one of the challenges we are facing now is to be included in the governance of the FCT. As I’m speaking, we do not have a second-tier government where we can participate in the governance of the FCT. It’s one of our agitations as a people. We want the federal government to make us feel that we are Nigerians like every other person. We are asking that we have a state status no matter what nomenclature it’s given. We need an elected leader in the FCT by the people of FCT whether it is a mayor or administrator. The issue of resettlement from the onset has not helped us; once you are dislocated from your original place, you lose so many things. We are asking that the government should shift from the policies of resettlement to integration because when we are integrated into the system, we grow with other Nigerians and be able to fit in scheme of things. So, integration is the best policies we can be made to enjoy instead of resettlement.   Besides, the cost of resettlement is so huge that the government might not even have the funds to implement such policies, because it involves compensations of things like buildings here and there. There are so many things that go along with it that proves very difficult for the government to properly address.