“If This Ticking Bomb Blasts, Your High Wall Will Not Protect You”

— Wali Adamawa Warns Elite Over Inequality and Insecurity

The Wali Adamawa, Engr. Dr. Abdulkadiri Mbamba, has warned Nigeria’s elite that inequality and land grabbing are creating a “ticking bomb” that threatens national stability.

In an exclusive interview with Edward Wabundani’s Huba Newsmagazine, the respected traditional ruler and entrepreneur said no amount of security can protect the privileged if the masses are abandoned.

“If this ticking bomb blasts, your high wall will not protect you. Your few children that are educated will not be able to withstand it,” he said. He blamed the frustration on collapsing opportunities, noting that a graduate’s salary can no longer feed a family the way it did in the past.

Engr. Dr. Abdulkadiri Mbamba is the Wali Adamawa, one of the most senior traditional titles in the Adamawa Emirate. Turbaned on December 17, 2022, he succeeded the late Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo, former NNPC, Group Managing Director.

A trained engineer, Dr. Mbamba has combined technical expertise with traditional leadership to promote unity and development. He is a major investor in Nigeria’s economy with interests in oil and gas, hospitality, and energy. He is a shareholder in Savannah, an upstream company, and among the owners of NIPCO PLC, NIPCO Gas, and Continental Hotel Abuja.

Through his Trust Care Hospital and Trust Care Foundation, he provides healthcare and scholarships to the less privileged across Adamawa and beyond. His core philosophy, he says, is “live and let live.”

Speaking on his journey from engineering to the throne, the Wali said design and maintenance must define leadership. “Infrastructure must serve a united community. That is where traditional institutions come in,” he stated.

He identified distrust as Nigeria’s biggest problem. “Our biggest problem as a country is distrust. Trust is built by action, not talk,” he said, urging leaders to be transparent and tackle illegal mining and insecurity at the root.

The Wali was critical of Nigeria’s maintenance culture, linking the collapse of the nation’s four refineries to poor upkeep. “We export crude with 22 products and import everything back. That is how we impoverish ourselves,” he lamented. He also tied the refineries’ failure to the Naira’s fall, saying a strong local production base would strengthen the currency.

On youth and development, he called for partnership between government, traditional institutions, and the private sector to create jobs in agriculture and cottage industries. He also proposed tree-planting targets and grazing reserves to address climate change and farmer-herder clashes.

On legacy, Dr. Mbamba said he wants to be remembered for philanthropy, youth empowerment, and peace.

He ended with a call for unity: “We have no other country but Nigeria. Let us address issues peacefully and with dignity. Together, we will succeed.”

Watch out for the details of this special interview, and others in the next quarter of Huba Newsmagazine, a publication of Huba Development Association, Abuja..

Edward Wabundani, an Abuja based public affairs commentator can be reached on Email: endwarmaga@gmail.com.