It turned out a coronation, however understood. But that is paradoxical in at least three ways. It is a paradox for someone from a geographical backwater such as Opialu Village that cannot be traced on the map of Nigeria to cultivate such a vast network of admirers, associates, friends, colleagues and hands clappers. Second, it is unusual for a civil servant and an Accountant for that matter to accumulate such a genuine affection from both senior and junior workers in equal strength. The third paradox is the subject to be the first person to be sent off in such grand manner by his establishment, a federal agency with staff from every part of the country.
The totality of the flow of the event was such that the temptation to think that someone was on another false event in showy self-projection or charlatanism evaporated very quickly. If the excited junior staffers or friends were aiding and abetting vanity, that could not be so with the management staff including the Director-General of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency, (NNRA) from where Agaba is retiring. Dr. Yau Idris was present at the occasion throughout.
All for Agaba at the Head Office the day before the send forth!
And if the management conspired with the junior workers for whatever reasons, they could not be expected to have convinced some of the people present at the occasion. There was a big wig from the Federal Road Safety Corps just as there was Comrade John Odah, ex-General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) praising Agaba for bringing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN), into being in the NNRA. According to Odah, unions are not necessarily out looking for trouble wherever there is a reasonable management, saying in a few words that NNRA management has been a reasonable one. There were scores of top civil servants from the federal civil service, accountants and business men and women from the private sector, senior government officials from the Benue State Government, gubernatorial aspirants from Benue State and, above all, the witness of truth from ‘home’ who told the audience what it was for an Agaba to go to school in those days. It entailed wading through road paths closed at the top by the overgrowth of tall grasses from both sides. There were streams that the pupil can cross only by pulling his dresses. So, we might be all Nigerians but we do not all come from same backgrounds. Comrade John Odah was so stirred by the testimony that he got up to reinforce it as delivered by the community leader from Opialu, Elder John Barry Onah.
So, how could a product of that background be so polished in the way all the testimonies from all the speakers pointed at? Mrs Omuojine Magdalene’s testimony must be the most detailed insider account for the day. She said they call Mr Agaba ‘comma, dot’ at his back. She was referring to her retiring boss’s habit of going over and correcting whatever anyone wrote. “He follows through to ensure that what comes out is beyond reproach”. But Agaba, according to her, never scolds anyone and hardly uses the query approach. Whatever anyone has to say, Agaba listens, she says, citing him as a model of the participatory leader.
The convergence of who was who at the occasion for the cutting of the cake, with Agaba and Mrs Abahi Agaba, his wife up there in the middle
It was surprising that Dr. Yau Idris, the Director-General agreed with whatever Mrs Omuojine said, especially the point about Agaba’s meticulousness. It is such that every document, including letters from the highest level of government, were well documented and easily retrieved anytime needed. But the biggest score point for Agaba was yet to come from the DG. He had in mind what he called Agaba’s stellar performance each time the NNRA appeared before the National Assembly. It was such that nobody needed to worry because there would be no contradictory submissions, incomplete documentation or any such crease. “He is the only one who defends the agency’s budget without fainting, asking for water or pleading for time to get one document or the other:, a different testimonial summarised it.
Nobody also contradicted the point that Agaba brought PENGASSAN into being in NNRA. It meant that he was good in thinking out of the box. The NNRA Cooperative Society was equally credited to him.
It is a popular joke around Abuja that when you see ministry and extra-ministerial staffers celebrating a departing boss, it is never beyond the departing boss having been paying attention to promotion and staff welfare. This was confirmed in the testimonies at the send forth for Agaba. The testimony on this helped to explain the extraordinary enthusiasm and adulation of the staff.
When Agaba rose to speak, it was an understandably emotive response package. He expressed gratitude to NNRA for organising a send forth for him, the first time such has ever been done. He expressed gratitude to a long list of ex-Director-General of the agency, especially Prof Alegba whom he called the father of NNRA and the man who recruited him. He thanked Mallam Shehu Zaki, his colleague in the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC) where he started his working life. He expressed gratitude to God for keeping him out of trouble till retirement age in a public service in which some died in the course of duty or were sacked or some other reasons.
He recalled the chance knowledge of the advertisement to which he responded and got the job, an indirect reference to his attitude of not letting an opportunity slip by to take a look at just every newspaper. This time, it was The Guardian of July 3rd, 2007.
Elder John Barry Onah, community leader with the message from ‘home’
What would he be missing in leaving NNRA, he asked. His answer is: nothing. The information and communication, he said, has made it such that he would remain in touch with his workplace for 13 years. “What I would be missing is if you do not do your work well or if you were to go to the National Assembly unprepared. You know what they want to cross check, what they want you to clarify. So, keep all your documents intact”, he intoned.
Addressing the DG, Agaba said his task is cut out for him and it is to take NNRA not just to the Next Level but to the Promised Land. And to do so with the right command! He told two humorous stories of what damage a wrong command could unleash. Next is networking or being good, illustrating his claim with the story of his trip to Jigawa State in 2007 and his visit to the Government House, Dutse to visit a townsman. He said he never stopped wondering how his townsman from Benue State could be somebody in the Government House in the Northwest. His conclusion is that it is good to be good. He was not done yet. He added the story of the university teacher who was abducted by Boko Haram commanders. But when their leader saw the abducted academic, he declared him as such a good man that cannot be harmed, instructing the lesser commanders to return him safely. In other words, the good man has a very good chance of scaling through even Lucifer’s screening.
To assure everyone that though retiring but not tired, he announced a dancing competition that he said would follow the reception, a competition that he was sure to emerge the winner. These are some of the gists why all who attended Agaba’s send forth Saturday, April 10th, 2021 in Abuja would hardly forget it in a hurry.
Most people would agree with Comrade Odah for declaring that they from the same place with Agaba were going home happy. At a time the country is sinking in the hands of violent, corrupt and mediocre leadership at all levels, would the proverbial masses allow Agaba to waste away at just 60? But, if he goes into politics, would the ‘bad guys’ who have already seized the political space allow him to replicate the NNRC accomplishment? Questions to think through!
