As the year draws to a close, organizations, groups, and media outlets traditionally reflect on the events and personalities that defined the past 12 months. They evaluate who and what dominated the headlines, considering why these stories matter, even as they look ahead to the coming year.
For Nigerians, one topic certain to attract scrutiny is the performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ministers in 2024. Some have been commended and honoured, others have been censured and received the accompanying opprobrium. They failed callously and deserve it. Some Ministers have notable towered the ranks in their deliveries, others have stayed at the baseline—a good number have not even risen to the baseline, they are below it.
One Minister has stood out above the ranks of his peers, defying naysayers and delivering far above his brief. He is Dr. Bello Matawalle Maradun, the former Governor of Zamfara state, and current serving Minister of State Defense. He has been defiant of his critics, bullish in his approach, touch in his execution and swift in his delivery.
In the past 15 months since his appointment, Dr. Matawalle has proven himself a tough cookie. His journey, however, has not been without challenges: A myriad of accusations were made on his appointment. His detractors stopped at nothing to give him a bad name: Protests were staged, sponsored statements were engineered and TV appearances calling him all sorts were put up.
His chief detractor was none other than his predecessor: Dauda Lawal, the current Governor of Zamfara state has been on every major television station promoting a negative agenda against Dr. Matawalle. At some point he became an irritant: what was a serious governor doing on television in Abuja, accusing his predecessors of failure yet having nothing to show for his over a year in office.
But Matawalle has been good match for his critics.
Despite these distractions, Dr. Matawalle has remained focused and delivered extraordinary results. Within a year, he has set unprecedented benchmarks in defence diplomacy, civil-military relations, and the advancement of Nigeria’s defence industry.
Under his watch, Dr. Matawalle facilitated the signing of an MoU between the Defense industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), which he supervises and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) for the establishment of a Military Industrial Complex (MIC) for indigenous hardware production for the Nigerian armed forces. This complex is expected to produce weapons, ammunition and other equipment for our Armed Forces. This move marked the revival of DICON after several years of being moribund. Asides the empowerment of home grown technology and the creation of millions of local jobs, which ultimately are forging an unprecedented defense self-sufficiency for Nigeria, this agreement would be saving the country millions of dollars in foreign exchange that would ordinarily have been spent on purchasing these ammunitions from abroad.
Dr. Bello Matawalle, has also revolutionized Nigeria’s military pensions system by introducing a digitized verification process for military retirees. Historically, verification exercises required pensioners or their next of kin to travel to designated locations for physical verification, often a long journey with tens of hours of travel time. Under Dr. Matawalle’s the Military Pensions Board has deployed an electronic solution that enables pensioners, both within Nigeria and abroad, to authenticate their status using international passports, National Identity Numbers (NIN), or driver’s licenses. This innovation not only eliminates the need for arduous travel but also ensures the seamless and efficient administration of retirement benefits.
In September 2024, Dr. Matawalle took the battle against terrorists and bandits to their doorstep when he led Service Chiefs to the North Western parts of the country to deliver an onslaught against criminals hiding in forests and terrorising the people of the region. Like a warrior, he returned to Abuja with trophies. Within one month over six major bandit leaders had been eliminated alongside hundreds of their fighters. The relative peace and calm being enjoyed in the region is the result of this feat.
His efforts at defence diplomacy has also not escaped the eyes of historians. Take his most recent visit to Saudi Arabia to attend a strategic meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC). With this visit, Dr. Matawalle secured critical support for the country’s counterterrorism efforts. The engagement yielded commitments for enhanced training, intelligence sharing, and the localization of modern technologies to bolster Nigeria’s military capabilities.
In all these, it is worth mentioning that Dr. Bello Matawalle is in fact the Minister of State for Defence, and not the substantive Minister. He is leading from a less than advantaged position, yet putting up a show of exemplary leadership, statesmanly charisma, excellence and exceptional capacity even against all odds.
It is why Dr. Bello Matawalle is fitting for the 2024 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Minister of the year 2024. For his resilience, his impact and results as Minister, his dedication to country, his sense of innovation and leadership, the cap fits his head.
Akinloye James is the President of the Initiative to Save Democracy, he writes from Abuja.