Stakeholder consultations ahead of the public launch of the Solomon and Mary Lar Leadership Institute have continued with a visit to one of Nigeria’s most respected elder statesmen, Professor Jerry Gana, by the Central Planning Committee.
The visit is part of ongoing engagements with key national figures who worked closely with the late Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, the first National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Professor Jerry Gana is a scholar, politician, and nation-builder of Nupe extraction.
The octogenarian academic, who holds a PhD in Rural Resources Planning and Market Place Systems from Kings College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, obtained in 1974, taught at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1974 to 1986 and became Professor of Geography in 1985 at age 40.
A specialist in rural development and market systems, he was instrumental to the MSc Rural Development programme at ABU.
Prof Gana, who was recently described by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as “a prolific communicator, a mass mobiliser and a passionate patriot,” has a distinguished public service career.
His political career saw him elected Senator in 1983 under the National Party of Nigeria, NPP, until the Buhari coup. He is famously remembered as Chairman of MAMSER – Mass Mobilisation for Social and Economic Recovery under General Ibrahim Babangida – the programme that taught citizens social responsibility.
He served as cabinet Minister at different times for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Information and Culture, Cooperation and Integration in Africa, and Information and National Orientation.
Crucially, he was the founding National Secretary of the PDP in 1998 when His Excellency, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, was the National Chairman.
He was also Political Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo and ran for President in 1992 under the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
His personal philosophy remains that governance must be people-centred: “Anyone who has the people is rich. If you don’t have the people, you are nothing” and “people matter more than things.”