There is a conversation happening inside Nigeria’s National Assembly that most Nigerians never get to hear. It is the quiet negotiation between a politician who wants something done quickly — and the civil servant who knows it should not be done that way.
On Sunday evening in Abuja, that conversation was dragged into the open.
James Faleke, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, used a book launch ceremony to make a blunt and unusually candid statement:
Nigeria’s problems will not be solved by politicians.
They will be solved — or worsened — by the civil servants who decide whether to follow the rules or quietly look away.
“The civil service mainly builds the country,” Faleke said. “They are the technocrats. They are the people that we politicians rely on.”
He did not stop there.
“Even when the politician says, let us do it the other way, and he says no, let us follow the rules — I think Nigeria will be better off.”
Coming from a sitting lawmaker, those words carry weight. And they were not said in the abstract — they were said in tribute to a man who spent 27 years doing exactly that.
A Retiring Clerk, a 335-Page Legacy
The occasion was the launch of a book titled “The Nigerian Legislature: A Practical Guide for Lawmakers” — written by Barr. Oscar Okoro, the outgoing Clerk of the House Committee on Finance, to mark both his 60th birthday and his retirement from public service.
It was the kind of event that rarely makes headlines, but perhaps should.
Okoro spent nearly three decades navigating the corridors of the National Assembly — supporting lawmakers, managing legislative processes, and keeping institutional memory alive through multiple administrations and political cycles.
He leaves with a book, a room full of tributes, and a reputation that his colleagues described in almost identical terms: professional, patient, principled, and — perhaps most tellingly — not motivated by money.
“Unlike others, he is not money-conscious; he just wants to see things done accordingly,” Faleke said of him. “For every time I push him hard, he works harder.”
That last sentence, offered as a compliment, quietly says everything about the pressure civil servants in Nigeria operate under every day.
Others speak
The tributes did not come from Faleke alone.
Abubakar Saidu, Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, said his working relationship with Okoro had long since grown into something closer to family.
He described the retiring clerk as a professional whose example younger civil servants should study carefully — not just for technique, but for character.
“He is very dedicated, very patient. He is a professional, excellent and committed as well as exemplary when it comes to the job,” Saidu said.
House spokesman Akin Rotimi went further, calling Okoro a standard-bearer for what public service should look like.
“My encouragement to people in service is that this is the kind of person to model and pattern their careers after — people who have integrity and diligence as their watchword,” Rotimi said.
He acknowledged that the National Assembly has formal mentorship systems in place, but admitted plainly that Okoro’s particular mix of experience, expertise and institutional knowledge would not be easy to replace.
The Man Himself
When Okoro eventually got the chance to speak, he did not take credit for much.
He attributed his achievements to God first, then to hard work, patience and humility — and he offered a piece of advice that felt earned rather than rehearsed.
“Life itself is a very difficult and cautious journey. You have to know your onions, be hardworking, be patient, humble and respectful. If these are lacking, you are bound to fail either in the National Assembly or anywhere in life,” he said.
He confirmed he would be returning to legal practice and consultancy in retirement, while dedicating more time to mentoring young people — an indication that his years of institutional knowledge will not simply disappear with his exit from the civil service.
What the Book Says
Professor Kabir Danladi of the Department of Public Law at Ahmadu Bello University, who reviewed the book at the event, described it as a serious and practically useful contribution to Nigerian legislative scholarship.
The 335-page volume covers nine chapters and takes readers through the constitutional foundations of Nigeria’s legislature, its internal structures, legislative procedures, oversight responsibilities and its relationship with the executive and judiciary. Danladi said it was built on Okoro’s real lived experience inside the system — and that it shows.
He described it as essential reading for lawmakers, students of governance, political actors and any Nigerian citizen who wants to genuinely understand how their parliament works — or is supposed to work.
Why This Matters Beyond the Event
Nigeria regularly debates the quality of its governance. The conversation almost always centres on politicians — their decisions, their character, their accountability.
What gets discussed far less often is the layer of professional civil servants beneath them: the people who draft the memos, manage the processes, and decide in quiet moments whether to enforce a rule or bend it.
Faleke’s remarks on Sunday were a rare public acknowledgement that this layer matters enormously — and that it is under constant pressure.
The fact that he said it at the retirement of a man who reportedly spent 27 years holding that line is more than ceremonial. It is a reminder that good governance is not just about who wins elections.
It is about whether the people who never appear on the ballot show up every morning and do the job right — regardless of who is watching or what is being asked of them.
Oscar Okoro, by all accounts in that room on Sunday, was one of those people.
Nigeria could use a few more of them.
- X/James folanke