Nigerian Leaders since Independence: Alhaji Shehu Shagari (1979-1983)

Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, (born February 25, 1925) was Nigeria’s President from 1979–1983, after General Obasanjo handed power to civilians.
Shehu Shagari was born in Shagari Village to the family of Magaji Aliyu and Mariamu in 1925. He was raised in a polygamous family, and was the sixth child. Prior to becoming Magajin Shagari, his father was a farmer, trader and herder. However, due to traditional rites that prevented rulers from participating in business, he relinquished some of his trading interest when he became the Magaji, or village head, of Shagari village. Shagari’s father died five years after Shehu's birth.
Shagari was taught recitals at home and later went to a Quranic school at the age of four. However, he was obliged to attend elementary school at Yabo, a town close by. He subsequently attended the Sokoto Middle School and later to Kaduna College.



Earlier Career
After finishing secondary school, Shehu Shagari was called on to become the new pupil-science teacher of Sokoto Middle School. Shortly after, he was appointed the science teacher for Zaria Middle school. In 1945, he moved back to become the science and also history and geography teacher of the Sokoto Middle School. There, he was re-united with his extended family that lived nearby. Six years after, he was posted to Argungu as the headmaster of the new primary school there.

Shagari as a Politician
Starting from the late 1930s, a few Northern Nigeria political organizations started mushrooming. Shagari who was educated at Kaduna College, was already well versed in the early independence movement in Southern Nigeria as an avid reader of southern newspapers. He also held strong social views about development of Yabo, his district in Sokoto. In 1946, Shagari and Mallam Gambo Abuja started the Youth Social Circle, a political organization centered around Sokoto. They were supported by noble men such as Ahmadu Bello, Ibrahim Gusau, and Mallam Ahamdu Dabbaba. By 1948, a consolidation idea was initiated in the region to merge all the nascent political organizations under one group. The Youth Social Circle of Sokoto agreed to the merger, and together with other groups formed the Northern People's congress. Later on, the organization became a political party and went on to win the national parliamentary election in 1959. Before 1959, Shagari was elected to represent the constituency of Sokoto Southwest. In 1958, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Shagari later went on to hold the Positions of Minister of Economic Development in 1960, Minister of Internal Affairs in 1962 and Minister of Works and Survey in 1965. However, the first republic was cut short by a military coup. Shagari returned to Sokoto to work on his farm and later to work as a councilor for the Sokoto Native Authority. In 1970, as part of a movement to broaden the government, Yakubu Gowon made Shagari Minister of Economic Affairs and later of Finance.

President Shagari
As part of its preparation for democratic return, the government of General Obasanjo established a Constitutional Conference. Within the conference, a national organization was formed among some members. The organization was called National Movement, and it later metamorphosed to become the National Party of Nigeria and contested the 1979 election with Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari as its presidential candidate.

The party's motto was "One Nation, One Destiny" and it tried to promote this motto even to its detriment. Shagari, made Housing, Industries, Transportation and Agriculture as the major goals of his administration, particularly in his early stages of governance during the oil boom. However, most of his programs had incongruous outcomes. In Housing, he launched a large scale housing program that built estates such as "Shagari Estate" but also launched the careers of Nigeria's legendary money bags who swamped the Nigerian ports with imported cement to complete the housing projects. In Industries, Shagari completed the Delta Steel Complex in 1982. However, allegations of kickbacks to prominent politicians hover like a cloud on those projects. In transportation, he launched road networks across the country, the ministry headed by Umaru Dikko, was vital in the programs of the NPN led government. In terms of agriculture, a Green Revolution program was initiated to foster the use of mechanical machinery in farming. It favored large scale farmers in order to produce mass products. However, it was hampered by the prevalence of retired military officers, who had acquired land as parting gift under the previous administration and had the necessary hectares to influence large favors under the program.

Allegations of corruption and maladministration
The prominence of money bags who financed the elections of 1979 and lapse ethical judgment by ministers under Shagari heightened allegations of corruption. The Nigerian election of 1983 marked by accusations of electoral fraud, coupled with a decline in world oil prices, led to a marked deterioration in the national finances under Shagari's watch, while religious and political violence became so endemic that his overthrow by General Muhammadu Buhari on New Year's eve in 1983 was actually looked upon with relief by most of the Nigerian public at the time.

Compiled with information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehu_Shagari