Opinion

By Promise Eze

My heart was broken to smithereens when I read of how a 21-year-old Sule Mathew was horrendously despatched by unknown gunmen last week in Anambra state.

Sule Matthew graduated with a first-class from the Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano, recently. The young man was on his way to participate in the forthcoming orientation programme of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) when he and other passengers were ambushed and butchered by unknown assailants.

It was reported that he lost his father a few months ago, but now his family has lost him. I think of the grief his mother would go through. I think of the agony and despair the bereaved family he left behind will suffer.

The young man had so much potential and could have done more for his country if allowed to live. I followed his Facebook page and it became glaringly clear that Igala land and Kogi state has lost a great individual, one who was ready to contribute positively to the development of his homeland. I saw that he was a fellow of a budding political movement, Gidan Yanci and also he was the cofounder of KogiYupp— a project that offers Kogi youth a chance to be involved in progressive political participation. But the young man was forced to wilt before he even bloomed.

He travelled to eastern Nigeria in a car, and he would return in a coffin. No thanks to the so-called unknown gunmen (UGM) who are responsible for his demise. UGM, a product of IPOB’s agitation for Biafra, came into the limelight in 2020. Their own way of demanding a new country is by attacking police stations, military checkpoints, and paramilitary officers.

UNG suddenly became worse than the ‘evil’ they were fighting. These mkpuru mmiri addicts now armed with guns colonized a once peaceful movement for a referendum and transformed it into an all-out war with the Nigerian government. Now, they’ve murdered a young man who has no business with whatever is going on in Eastern Nigeria. His only crime was going to serve his country.

It pains me that Sule was killed for nothing. It hasn’t been confirmed if ‘IPOB’s Unknown gunmen’ are responsible for the attack that led to his death, but we know that IPOB’s activities created a dark hole that armed robbers, hard drug users, kidnappers and cultists are fitting into. Now, anyone could carry out any attack and use the insignia of IPOB to cover his crime. This brings the question, ‘Is Biafra still worth fighting for?’ 

Ever since the resurgence of the call of Biafra, it’s been bloodshed after bloodshed. Chaos after chaos. Gunshots after gunshots. Igbo land which was known to be relatively peaceful is now a war zone. What kind of Biafra are IPOB and UGM clamouring for that demands so much blood? The blood of the innocent. The blood of Sule Matthew. The blood of the passengers who were killed too. If this is what Biafra entails then I do not want it to exist.

And I believe that the vast majority of Ndi Igbo would swear that they rather remain with Nigeria than involve themselves with this kind of Biafra—a Biafra where we all have to sleep with only one of our eyes closed.

Biafra died inside me the day I learnt about the death of Sule. May his soul rest in perfect peace.

Promise Eze is a journalist and writes via ezep645@gmail.com.

By Tijjani Muhammad Nura

Bleaching has been in practice for a long time worldwide. However, it doesn’t specifically side with one gender, although women are more than men. Nonetheless, in a report referred to by the World Health Organisation in 2016, Nigeria was reported as the country with the highest number of women that bleach their skin in the whole of Africa. 

While there is no reliable data to confirm which state bleaches the most in northern Nigeria, we cannot deny that Kaduna, Abuja, Taraba, and, most importantly, Kano will top the list in Nigeria. In addition, a few Nigerians are naturally light-skinned, while some are naturally raven. To this end, bleaching is more prevalent among women than among men.

In (northern) Nigeria’s meaning of the word “bleaching,” it’s a process where people apply skin-lightened products to their skins, regardless of the route through which they are administered, intending to change their complexion or skin colour to impress or comfort themselves. From most people’s viewpoints, this bleaching as a thing is influenced by the victims’ desire to impress and attract attention to their opposite gender, from women to men and men to women.

Bleaching products are available in different forms, and some come in the form of creams, oils, serums, and lotions. It still comes in tablets, and some bleaching products are also available in injectable form. The lightening creams encompass a broader spectrum of products designed to bleach and lighten the skin. The effect occurs by targeting cells producing melanin, thereby reducing its functions. The majority of the creams are made available to treat abnormal conditions like acne scars on the skin, not for bleaching the skin.

However, many users are ignorant of the damaging effects of the products on their health. They are dangerous to their skin and a threat to their health in general by affecting the functions of the kidney, liver, and immune system because they work by reducing a pigment called melanin in the skin.

Most bleaching products have an active ingredient called mercury, making them more dangerous because mercury is a toxic agent that can cause serious psychiatric, neurological, and kidney problems. In addition, pregnant women who use a skin lightener with mercury can pass it to their unborn children.

Nonetheless, there are several healthy ways to maintain healthy skin. And that includes avoiding using bleaching creams, using baby’s soap that does not damage the skin, using moisturizing creams during the harmattan seasons. Other ways involve applying sun creams that can boost skin protection from the sunny sun, drinking enough water daily, eating well-balanced food in its diet, and stopping applying perfumes to the skin. These, among others, would help maintain good, healthy, and super bright skin.

With all the above being said, this article aims to notify people about the dangers associated with using creams or any other bleaching products to bleach the body, especially the facial skin. It, therefore, aims at calling the attention of parents to caution their children to avoid it or order them to immediately stop using it if they have already started using it.

Tijjani Muhammad Nura holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology. He writes from the Hardawa district of Bauchi State and can be reached via tijjanimnura@gmail.com.

By Tijjani Ahmad

As a state that accommodates one out of every ten people living in the country, Kano has many competitive advantages over other states regarding development at the sub-national level. Looking at how economies worldwide are competing to finance development, mainly using domestic resources mobilisation, the easiest for the state is to leverage on its abundance of human resources.

As a governor of the state for the second time from 2011 to 2015, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso wanted to make Kano a knowledge-based economy by providing necessary education and skills, thereby making a large portion of the state’s economic growth and employment from knowledge-intensive activities. The governor understood how knowledge spurs more rapid growth than any other resources; therefore, he projected the potential of the state to use its population of teeming youth as a comparative advantage.

His revolution started with efforts to bridge the workforce gap in tertiary institutions by sponsoring more than 2,500 postgraduates and undergraduates to study abroad. In addition, he sponsored hundreds of undergraduates in private universities across the country. These beneficiaries were expected to come back and support the education sector of the state and beyond. 

These people were selected based on merit, and most of them occupied positions at various tertiary institutions in Kano state and Northern Nigeria in general. Recently, two of the beneficiaries were listed among the most cited scientists in the world.

The governor further created 47 technical colleges to revive technical and vocational education. These colleges were strategically located across 44 local governments to provide secondary school students in rural and urban areas with skills in various trades. 

Looking at how Kano businesspeople import textile and garments materials, the governor also established skills acquisition centres in more than 20 local governments in the state to serve as incubation centres for modern garment production. However, these centres were about to be launched when the present government truncated the effort. Only God knows the reason. 

I heard the governor on air saying that when these centres are launched, they would compete favourably and capture a significant share of the undergarments market in Nigeria and across the sub-region. This is because the centres have been equipped with the most modern techniques and technology in garment making industry.

Kwankwaso didn’t stop there. He introduced over 20 specialised training institutions to provide in-demand skills in agriculture, ICT, sports, tourism and hospitality, among others. One of them is the poultry training institute located at Tukui village of Makoda local government in the northern part of the state.

The institute is designed to offer formal and informal training in poultry production and management. Immediately after its establishment in 2012, the institute trained 4,400 women in basic requirements for poultry production and management practice.

These centres were meant to bridge the skills gap, provide employment to our teeming youth and reduce insecurity and over-dependency on grants by improving internally generated revenue of the state. Had there been continuity in the models employed by the former governor, Kano would have been on its way to reclaiming the past glory it is known for in terms of knowledge and commerce.

The hope of everyone who wishes good for the state is to consolidate this model by whoever would emerge as the state’s number one citizen in 2023. But, of course, this can only be possible if his priority is development.

Tijjani Ahmad wrote from Kano via ahmatee123@gmail.com.

By Ahmadu Shehu, PhD

Once again, there is a total blackout in Nigerian public universities. Last week, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella Union of academics working in Nigerian public universities, declared a one-month warning strike to remind the government of their promises signed just a year or two ago. 

It has been decades since the rift between ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria took the lives and progress of Nigerian students to ransom without a foreseeable end to the debacle.

ASUU was a child of necessity born out of the precarious situation Nigerian lecturers found themselves in the 70s under the various military juntas bent on killing the tertiary education in Nigeria as they did basic education. 

Thanks to radical scholars and the rise of socialism as an alternative economic and political ideology to capitalism the government prefers, ASUU got a deep ideological rooting. It also gets a wide acceptance among diverse social domains of the Nigerian society, who, like ASUU, were disenfranchised by and dissatisfied with the tyranny of successive regimes. 

The confrontations between ASUU and the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha made the association a front-wheel of social activism in Africa and gave it a legitimate voice that is believed to stand for the masses not just on education but also human rights and socioeconomic advancement. 

Over the decades, ASUU became very wealthy and stubbornly anti-establishment, which had assisted in its success against the government and lost popularity among Nigerians. But, these are topics for another day. 

While there are physical successes credited to ASUU struggles, the incessant strikes have killed many, delayed millions and subverted trillions of aspirations, destinies and successes of millions of Nigerians. Thus, one of the emergencies facing Nigerian university education today is this endless and worthless rift between ASUU and the Federal Government. 

A serious-minded government in Nigeria should have education as a priority. Any education policy that does not consider the solution to this rift is not comprehensive enough and may not solve the quagmire of education in Nigeria. 

How do we end this decades-old problem that has defied most solutions? Some people have advocated for the privatisation of Nigerian universities to have a purely money-driven university system reminiscent of the US-style, where citizens have to pay through their noses to acquire tertiary education. 

An opposite idea is one the one ASUU pursues. It is a totally free, accessible, and one hundred per cent public university education where all willing and qualified citizens can enrol and acquire tertiary education in fields of their choices and mental capabilities. 

ASUU’s idea is noble and ideal of a functional socialist society where education is an inalienable right of citizens. However, the situation in Nigeria and our economic ideology doesn’t allow for either of these ideas to work. It is why ASUU and the government have been going around the same hole of self-deceit and conscious pretence. 

To provide a lasting solution to this endless crisis that have killed our education and our economy,  I believe that privatisation is not the right solution, just as a costless education is not. We’re not America that the insensitive capitalists admire without reason nor the defunct Soviet Union that ASUU loves to imitate. These approaches do not fit our realities.

The alternative is for the government to collect and allocate special taxes to fund education. Again, we can see the models in Western and Central Europe, even in Asia, where citizens pay special taxes to fund education. In this regime, a specific percentage of all taxations will be allocated to education, and citizens will access this service which has been paid for in a different way, supposedly free of charge. 

Then, all federal universities shall submit and defend their budgets at the national assembly, effectively giving universities financial autonomy and removing them from the shackles of the ministry of education and, by extension, the cumbersome nature of mainstream Nigerian civil service. 

That means that each university will be an independent government entity responsible for 100% of its affairs without recourse to other government agencies. This equally requires that we abolish bottlenecks such as Tetfund or limit their capacity to specific funds. The ministry of education will only be a regulatory body in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC). 

That way, the university management can be charged with the responsibilities of funds generation and management to the extent that lecturers no longer need ASUU as an association as all employees of a given university are totally within the purview of the university that employs them. The Federal Government doesn’t need to deal with the basic needs of university academics, such as salary and allowances.

In this model, academics take up their jobs knowing that their remuneration and social welfare are subject to their immediate employers, which is the university management. In turn, they submit their budgets yearly to the national budget and planning office, which will be debated and approved by the national assembly. Whatever they get is their own cup of tea. 

That effectively means that ASUU as an association will cease to exist because each of its members will be totally and absolutely under the purview of their immediate employers  – their home universities. There won’t be the federal government to fight. The common enemy will be gone, and there won’t be the basis for a national strike because each is on their own. 

This, as simple as it is in words, is a herculean task that cannot be easy to achieve. It requires a huge political will, legislative and administrative changes. 

No matter how long it takes, making universities entirely independent and autonomous while subjecting them to the same accountability measures prevalent on other government agencies is the surest, if not the only way to achieve a stable, qualitative and functional university system.

That way, there won’t be ASUU talk more of strikes, and the quality and quantity of education will be solely a responsibility of the universities and, therefore, the academics. 

Dr Ahmadu Shehu writes from Kaduna and can be reached via ahmadsheehu@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Ganga

The constituted consensus committee was headed by the former head of service, Muhammad Aliyu, Commissioner for women affairs, Hajiya Rabiya Muhammad, three former Members house of state assembly namely; Lawal Alfaki, Kabir Ado and Yusuf Shehu, two former LG Chairmen; Abba Mato and Kabir Akka. 

Hon Fatuhu, Member House of Representatives, and Ahmad El-Marzuq, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, opted out of the consensus Committee because both have candidates in the race. HoR’s candidate is Hon Shehu Abdu, whereas Hon Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General’s candidates are Bala Musa and Laminu Gidado.

Laminu Gidado, one of the candidates the Attorney General has an interest in, was asked to step down for Bala Musa so as they form a formidable alliance. Bala Musa is a younger brother to former DG DSS, Lawal Musa.

Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General wanted to impose his candidate by fire or by force, but other parties opted for elections. Finally, an election was conducted on the 10th of February, and Hon Shehu Abdu emerged victorious with 177, Bala Musa 113 and Yawale Adamu 11.

Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Former DG DSS, were not happy with the outcome. The Attorney General then pledged to indict the victorious candidate, Shehu Abdu, charge him to court and send him to prison. The aim is to disqualify him, leaving their favourite candidate as a potential candidate.

He (AG) then cooked up a conspiracy with the bit of fact of a scenario that happened four years ago when Shehu Abdu was an aide to Late Senator Mustafa Bukar, which even the people can’t vividly remember. He facilitated many jobs to constituents. Some of them gave him tokens in appreciation of what he did. Few didn’t get the job, and they had already moved on since Senator Bukar’s death. 

Before the election, AG pledged if not his candidate, whoever emerges victorious would face a serious legal battle. And it happened. 

On the 15th of this month, security personnel from State CID came to Daura to arrest that victorious candidate, Shehu Abdu, because he collected money from four people from Madobi (A)Ward four years ago. Unfortunately, two out of the four petitions presented for his arrest were unaware of their name and signature used in the papers. That means someone acted on his own.

As I write this, the victorious candidate who’s loved by the majority in Daura is still in detention. Hon Fatuhu, Member House of Representatives, chipped in and secured his release. However, in connivance with some people from the DG DSS side, the Attorney General called State CID and ordered them not to dare release the detainee. On the 16th of this month, he was arraigned to court, and his crime was winning an election in an open contest.

Ahmad Ganga can be contacted via ahmadganga66@gmail.com.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

The increasing traffic gridlock in Abuja is simply nerve-wracking. A journey that, in normal circumstances, would have taken 30 minutes takes more than an hour now. This has not only caused daily waste of precious man-hours but has also inflicted enormous pain on commuters who have to contend with extra costs at this challenging time of a shrinking economy. It’s not a changing time for Nigeria to borrow a leaf from the developed world. We should not continue suffering since there are long-term and short-term solutions.

To be specific, here are some notable spots where heavy traffic snarls are a constant feature, which unfortunately affects the well-being of the people. They include Mararaba-Nyanya Bus Stop; AYA Roundabout along the Abuja-Keffi corridor; Madala-Zuba-Kubwa-Gwarinpa-Aso Radio Junction, along the Abuja-Kaduna corridor; and Girri Junction-Alaita-City Gate, along the Abuja-Gwagwalada corridor. Indeed, a lot of concern was raised about these notorious traffic hubs. And I can’t believe it if someone tells me the FCT administration is not aware of this development.

To be fair to the FCT minister, he’s trying, though his best is not enough. It’s gruesomely inadequate. We must come to terms with the fact that we’re in the 21st century and that new technology should be put in place to reduce the long-suffering of commuters. The axes mentioned above need to be expanded to accommodate the daily traffic volume.

I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar that if the FCT administration built “railroad tracks” from end to end of the city, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this unbearable traffic jam would disappear in no time. Both the income and the revenue generation will increase. An uncountable number of commuters will drop their vehicles.

The transportation system will give cheerful colour, beautify the city, and compete with global best practices. Can’t we do these for the benefit of all? But, someone might decide to ask, where should we get the funds? Yes, there it is. Invite investors and strike a Public-Private Partnership. I believe we can do it. Building, operating, and transferring is one of the surest ways of getting it done. 

I urge the FCT administration to look inward and try railway tracks in the city. For instance, the same should be in place in other axes from Zuba to Dey Dey, Kubwa, Dutsen Alhaji Junction, Gwarimpa, Maitama to Mararraba, etc. It would be a life-changing event for both the government and the people. Indeed, this will enhance internally generated revenue and increase work productivity. It will be a win-win for the country.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Abuja. And can also be reached via sen.taju@gmail.com.

By Sadiq Aliyu Waziri

“Education is the key to success” is the cliché that filled our ears to the extent that we got hypnotised and went to school. We have listened and done what was demanded, but success remains a de luxe ethereal dream. Thanks to the system for bringing such a motivational saying down to nothing. Who said it first deserves pity while those that believed should wait for succour. The system’s failure to prove that education is indeed the key has doomed our society with the presence of unemployment, the begetter of revolt. 

The way I see it, the unemployment problem should not be last or penultimate, but the first in the other direction. Every government should tackle its course to building a sound society or salvaging a community endangered by their predecessors, as they will prefer to say it. This and how bad the system is are no longer alluring headlines. Calls and cries have been on the air for a long time. However, the system has turned a deaf ear and refused to act for the absence of patriotism or of acumen or perhaps the two put together.

The number of unemployed youth is alarming, ranging from secondary school certificate holders to second-degree graduates. Everyone’s desperate to secure a good job for survival. But, like it or not, this desperation is putting both the youth and the country at stake, endangering the youth morality and the country’s peace.

My advice to the unemployed youth is, don’t allow your love for a lucrative job to destroy you by leading you to do heinous things or following every fool that promises you a job. What you need is patience. Then, ready yourself for every challenge that is to come. Money and power are not everything. Don’t steal or terrorise anybody or become a ‘pimp’ for not having a job. Unless it is a dream to build a political career, don’t go into it because you think it is the only place to get a job.

I don’t know how or when, but you will secure a job that you crave with or without the help of anyone. As a matter of fact, you do not need to kowtow to anyone to help you get a job so that you won’t be forever in anyone’s debt. So be patient now until the time comes.

Sadiq Aliyu Waziri sent this article via sawaziry@yahoo.com.

By Salihu Sulaiman

Hard work and appreciation are part of human existence at the individual or government level. Appreciations for deeds that are more than worthy of commendation is a form of motivation to spur the individual that is so much appreciated to do even more. And as I will demonstrate it today in this little tribute, I will celebrate this epitome of hope with this accolade. He’s someone whose humanity transcends his friends, families, community members, and even adversaries. 

Alhaji Musa Majia is the subject of my glowing tribute. A seasoned-cum philanthropist born in poverty in the slums of Majia town of Taura local government in Jigawa state but strived and succeeded in business by venturing into his productive money-making schemes. Alhaji Musa, while transiting into that rigorous walks of life and reaching his Eldorado, he has since become a renowned public philanthropist in his unmatched quest to help children born with wooden spoons with whom he shares the same circumstances. 

He’s the modest wealthiest man I know.  He lives a simple life and completely loathes ostentation. Yet, he’s warm around people and always wears his heart on his sleeve. The most self-effacing, in words and action. Someone who always stands through thick and thin, always well-meaning that it always takes him long to lose in anybody. 

Alhaji Musa’s footprints will forever remain in the sand of time and indelible in his hometown of Majia and Jigawa state at large. A man not known to have acquired any conventional tertiary education in any chosen endeavours, by providence, he established the first conventional, integrated, subsidised, well-equipped, highly strategised private University in Jigawa. He named it Khadija University Majia, after his beloved mother. This is a deliberate philanthropic gesture worth commendation. 

However, Alhaji Musa Majia demonstrated the potency of his patriotic favour when he offered automatic scholarships to indigenous Majia candidates who obtained the minimum requirements to gain admission to the university. 50% waiver to Jigawa state indigenous students and 30% waiver to others from Kano state. This commendable initiative will surely encourage and pave the way for willing and determined students who have a passion for furthering their studies but couldn’t afford the tuition due to their various financial constraints. 

Alhaji Musa’s clean-hearted, grass rooted, and inexhaustible philanthropic gestures are too numerous to enumerate extensively. However, he has distinguished life of service to God and humanity in the cause of his life. He continues to reverberate this, especially in his impeccable character, thoroughbred humanity records, and enviable stature.

In all this heroic precedence he has set, he has proved that character, generosity and purpose are the ingredients he needs to deploy in helping back and lending his helping hands to his community. Thus, he provides them with a first-class private institution at their doorsteps to assist the masses in furthering their education and achieving their full potentials in their various life endeavours. Moreover, he displays courage and integrity in contrast to the willingness and opportunism that other equally wealthy people haven’t shown given the similar circumstance. 

An instructive insight on some of his inexhaustible philanthropic gestures would reveal a man who has a consistent and unmatched commitment towards improving the life and well-being of the members of his community. Little wonder how he has distantly distinguished himself from the general culture of the wealthy. On different occasions, he kept his word on the transitions of helping the needy and carried out with utmost transparency with complete blindness to any family lineage or any discrimination. 

Alhaji Musa Majia has overseen the construction and distribution of over 120 houses to people in his community who have no shelter and have sponsored over 40 students to further their studies abroad from 2011 to date. Alhaji Musa has also facilitated the construction of arguably one of Jigawa’s best secondary schools with the tahfiz section known as Adams Science and Tahfizul Quran academy Majia in 2020. It is situated in his hometown of Majia to also aid in realising the full potentials of the willing and talented students of Majia town. 

In job creation, he has facilitated the employment of indigenous youths of Majia town in various professions, especially the bureau de change professions. Many young graduates and non-graduates who have benefitted from his benevolence have excelled in that endeavour and created manpower for other equal contemporaries to curb unemployment in the community. Alhaji Musa has also facilitated the situation of the FRSC division and police division in Majia town to curb the menace of security in the community. 

Additionally, in his generosity, Alhaji Musa has also provided white-collar jobs to numerous Majia youths in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Over a hundred youths were provided with police offers, FRSC civil defence, and other para-military agencies across the country. With also a large farm settlement and a multi-millionaire plaza that employs over 500 workforces.  

This exceptional gesture of establishing a world-class private institution in his hometown of Jigawa earned the commendation of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu. They both describe his efforts as motive born out of patriotism and commend his potency of inherent  Ingenuity, which will be invaluable to the people of Majia, Jigawa and Nigeria. 

From the ongoing and his burgeoning philanthropic trajectories, it is evidently clear that Alhaji Musa Adamu Majia is a man of history. He has left a permanent mark in the annals of his community. He is also a worthy role model and inspiration for many aspiring philanthropists.

Salihu Sulaiman wrote from Dutse. He can be reached via salihusulaiman6540@gmail.com.

By A. A. Bukar

Dear Iroro,
It still touches my heart that you feel entrapped by frustration and desperation as a banker. And hope you will find solace in the fact that this is not your making. Life has an inexplicable way of fixing us where it pleases. That’s what we call destiny, isn’t it? A mysterious power beyond the freedom of our choices.

In the vicissitudes affecting your life and career, I am sure you’ve wondered: what on earth has Chemistry got to do with Banking? I have also thought about it when another mentee recently joined the apex bank of the country with a degree in Linguistics. But remember it wasn’t either your dream to be a chemist, nor of your teachers and mentors. Here’s an exposè on the initial agenda:

Fresh from College, we were entrusted with your intellectual upbringing as freshers in that private secondary school. Unbeknownst to you and our teachers that brought us there, we were equally at a point of self-discovery; with youthful exuberance, spurred by desire and desperation to make impact on our immediate society. Our immediate concern was the state of the general hospital, dearth of health personnel and what to do about it – big as it was and the multitude it supposed to serve, the hospital could not boast of having 3 medical officers whether resident or itinerant then. We were worried by how, for example, when a family member fell sick, we had to rely on a chemist or a ‘family doctor’ who probably had only a certificate in Community Health. For all type of ailments – from malaria, typhoid to child delivery.

So what to do? We started brainstorming with your other teacher – Audu Bulama. Initially we agreed to abandon our NCE certificates and return to a science secondary school, obtain another SSCE and gun for Medicine. This was in spite of my numero-phobia. Upon further discussions, we decided to maintain our charted course but encourage you to pick up the battle on our behalf; on behalf of all. This largely motivated the extraordinary devotion given to your generation. You’d no Saturdays of your weekends. Extracurricular activities, lab practicals and whatnot. The teachers, on the other hand, made the school their second home, passing the night when duty forced. We were gladdened when, after the career talks in which late Dr Gishiwa was involved, many of the finest brains opted for science class. But in no time destiny began to take toll.

First, your headgirl and her friend got married. That was the end. Travails of UME transposed you and the other boys to B.Eds. Now, one of the two Bashirs that graduated with first class in Mathematics is in airforce. You’re in a bank instead of laboratory. Your close friend, Tijjani, a thoroughbred from art class wanted to study Law but ended up with B. A. in Hausa Language. You can always feel how he struggles to suppress his dissatisfaction ever after. Zarah, your overall best in the first session, found her “destiny” in the kitchen! Only your headboy went nearer to fulfilling the dream with a degree in Pharmacy. My sisters, who I similarly encouraged thus, followed the same pattern of career trajectory – Mathematics, Pharmacy, Medical Imaging Technology and so on.

Dear Iroro, you’re not alone. We were all at this crossroads of dilemma and indecision in the process of evolution. Sometimes due to lack of choice or due to multiplicity of choices. In 2007 I got two admission offers to study B. Sc Mass Communication (100 level) or B. Ed English (200 level) at Bayero University. For obvious reasons I registered for Mass Communication. But before lectures could start, my friend Musa Lawan Kaku , who was doing his double honors in English and Islamic Studies, began to take me to the exciting classes of Prof. Saleh Abdu, IBK and Mustapha Muhammad. I instantly found home and wanted to switch over. We even went to the admin. block with Usman Abdullahi making inquiries on how my registration in Mass Communication could be converted to English. When they said the ink had dried, we, in desperation, asked further whether new registration was possible – that meant a forfeiture of the former. When, along the way, I placed a call on your proprietor (who was my teacher and mentor), Dr AbdulRahman, with regards to this I found consolation and wisdom in his advice. His argument was our community had teachers in excess, dividend of the CoE in the locality but not so journalists. Thus I remained. Happy thereafter, grateful for ever.

Enthused by my editorship of our departmental newspapers and magazines, I kept an eye on practice after graduation. But destiny took me elsewhere. NYSC posting took me closer home – where I was to teach Hausa (another irony) in a Jigawa state village school. Dissatisfied; without any prodding from anyone; without knowing anyone, I ventured into a nearby College of Legal/Islamic Studies requesting to be given a part time job in Mass Communication to kill the idleness precipitated by my posting. After brief perusal of my CV, the provost, Sheikh (now Dr.) Muhammad Al-khamis looked up and said: “Abubakar, we will give you a full time job. We are looking for people like you…” In the voice of Wajahat Ali, “That’s how they (read: destiny) pulled me back to classroom”. Grateful for ever.

But let me be very blunt here. Nurtured to be one, I know I will remain a teacher. But a decade or more in my life was intended for journalism practice before reverting to the classroom. That reminds one of Peter Nazareth or some other literary critics who said Ngugi wa Thion’go, the Kenyan writer, was a village writer. By that he meant Ngugi’s setting has always been village. Even if he starts his story in the city, rest assured he will end up in a village. That’s me with teaching. My friend, Barr. Maidugu Abubakar, once said teaching is just like cultism – obsessing. Axiomatic.

In May 2018, just few months after my Master’s degree, I met with the bureau chief of a leading national daily at a function. We struck a discussion wherein I revealed to him my itching for practice and even told him that I was currently earning a little above hundred thousand in my lecturing job; if they could give me the equivalent I would join them. He looked up in suprise, telling me how he’s on the other hand eager and lobbying to be a lecturer. Note: months earlier than this ABU Zaria had began beckoning. Details some other day. Such an irony.

More ironic about journalism is that while those who have university degrees in it often find themselves elsewhere, those who studied other things find themselves in it. When we reflected over this with my final year students recently, one of them retorted that “It’s because there is no money in practice. That’s why we prefer marketing aspect of it – Advertising or Public Relations”. In recent times Political PR, probably, to be singing “Napoleon is always right.” Remembered Squealer? This in itself is the end target of many veterans in the field; which affects the overall quality of journalistic output currently, sadly.

Now back to you once again. Was your inability to study Medicine an intransmutable destiny? I doubt. Increasingly I see things more from the prism of political economy nowadays. Suppose we liased with a sympathetic powerful politician or a certain influential rich man in the community – since it’s said with anything from 500k such admission offers could be obtained. This is Nigeria! Achebe’s aphorism in “A Man of the People is starker than ever!” The issue is that most of us brought up in this tradition (of knowledge generation and dissemination) were conditioned to see politicians as dirty filthy selfish do-no-gooders. Again, don’t ask me whether it’s right or wrong to bribe for admission offers in this regard. It is a matter of intense debate and disagreement between teleologists and deontologists in Ethics philosophy.

It might have stunned you either that my generation in the community can boast of only a medical laboratory scientist – the cerebral Alwali. Well, ours was largely a victim of educational policy somersaults that excised Sciences during our days and left the Arts students with no option but be boarders once interested in it. And with apathetic parents that were like “just go to this your Boko school and come back to write receipts in the shop”, the outcome is apparent. They were partly so for you will be shocked if you’re told what the take home of a graduate civil servant (read: teacher) was in the ’90s. It was a point in time also when the whole locality had no a single private school that could provide the alternative. You think Boko Haram found ground for nothing? Much a commingle of cultural, economic and doctrinal factors. In the Jigawa village school where I did my “service”, pupils disappeared to farm and never returned for after-break-fast classes. Reason? Parental inducement and priority. So much to talk about which makes this a roller coaster of some sort.

I have intended intimating you on the WHEN question on marriage at this stage. A character in Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace would tell you after accomplishing all goals – an AOB in the agenda of your life. How reasonable and practicable this is, we discuss later inter alia.

With the proliferation of degree awarding institutions in the locality, we will soon start grappling with how to contend with graduates bulge. I hope one day someone will fish out your likes with strong science background and place them on scholarship for a second first degree in where the community has the most pressing need. Meanwhile keep your eye on a foreign one – especially for a post graduate degrees. That opens windows for unimaginable opportunities. Sorry for writing you this: So Long a Letter. It is coming while completing Anne Frank’s Diary on transit, and made open perchance your type herein will stumble, benefit, or relate. At least.

A. A. Bukar writes from ABU Zaria, Department of Mass Communication.

By Umar Haruna Tami

I am still jealous of his passion for knowledge in his life. From Literature-in-English to entrepreneurship, you can spend several hours discussing the trends in these fields with him without losing interest in the discussion. And what strengthens my jealousy is his ability to put the knowledge into practice for the benefit of himself and the development of society as a whole. This, I understand, is the reason why he has been teaching for over two decades.

Rising from primary and secondary school teacher to the assistant director of education in the Local Education Authority and as communication officer at NBAIS, these years of experience have prepared him to teach at various higher learning institutions. He has taught in various colleges of education and the Al-Qalam University, Katsina.

Dr Ibrahim Hassan teaches in the department of Islamic Studies, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina. There, he devotes his intellect to imparting knowledge to the younger ones who, I believe, are lucky to have a dedicated lecturer who is versed in Qur’an education, Hadiths and Islamic Shari’ah. Given that he is blessed with the ability to dissect complex issues found in Islamic Shari’ah, where he specialised at the PhD level, it is understandable that his journey into academia is the best way to impact society.

In this struggle, he becomes the first coordinator of the institute of Qur’anic Studies in Funtua. The institution is affiliated with the Institute of Education, A.B.U Zaria. This makes him the first person to establish an institution of learning in the whole Katsina State that is affiliated to A.B.U Zaria.

Again, he pioneered Abdullahi Aminchi College of Advanced Studies in 2012 with a budget of less than three hundred thousand naira. The school has now graduated over three thousand students, with many furthering their education to degrees and master degrees. In addition, he has co-founded other diploma programs such as Justice Mamman Nasir College of Legal Studies and a diploma program in Cherish Dual Mode University.

I marvel a lot at his commitments and achievements in education. It’s believed that giving education to people is equal to giving them hope for living a better life. However, in a selfish society, such as the one we live in today, people like this are blessed with the courage to work hard to see that education becomes the reason people succeed. Understanding this, Dr Ibrahim has been going to the length of sponsoring the people that lack the resources to get an education. In fact, he has sponsored a large part of my undergraduate education, to which I am forever grateful.

In my interactions with him, I have realised that living one’s life with purpose is the surest way to greatness. And it is for this purpose one can make extraordinary impacts in the society in which he lives. Observing him, I have also come to understand that altruism keeps a society’s wheels of development in motion and that once we learn that our salvation from the threats of failure depends solely on the salvation of the other members of the society. Therefore, we have to build a solid foundation that would allow us to live in peace and harmony.

He has good ways of motivating people to take responsibility for their lives and look at the world from different angles. While he believes that every graduate can succeed through decent education, he motivates people to pursue entrepreneurship. My last encounter with him has changed the way I see the world in many ways by simply asking me what struggle to make my ends meet I am into. The question had instantly sent ripples in my mind, and I began to reflect deeply on what purpose my existence in the family of eleven children suppose to serve.

Our society struggles to find its bearing in this disrupted economy and social order. And what’s left for us if we are genuinely aiming to restore the sense that our society used to have? It is to work hard and effectively to ensure that we open doors of opportunity to the younger ones to get a good education which will give the other parts of the society the chance to work accordingly for brighter social health. Dr Ibrahim Hassan is a model for teachers to work with this purpose.

Umar Haruna Tami writes from Funtua, Katsina State, and can be reached through umartami1996@gmail.com.