By Adamu Tilde, PhD.

For a while now, Nigeria has been witnessing exponential growth in the rise of certificate-awarding institutions and massive production of holders of certificates of all kinds: diplomas, NCEs, degrees, masters, PGDs, etc. Ordinarily, this should be a welcome development. But, unfortunately, this phenomenon comes at the expense of acquiring quality skills, thus resulting in the production of certificate holders with no skills at all or with some skills that are not in demand and/or have no economic value whatsoever.

One comes to realise the effects of this phenomenon when one does a simple close-proximity analysis—for example, over sixty registered and unregistered colleges of education award NCE certificates in Bauchi state alone. Most of the courses offered in these colleges are combinations of English/Hausa, Social Studies/English, Arabic/Fulfulde, etc. The questions to ask are: what are the specific skills that an average NCE holder acquires in the three years they spend in college? Do these skills, if any, have any economic value? If yes, how many NCE holders, for example, does Bauchi state need at any given time?

Again, in Toro, one out of the twenty local government areas of Bauchi state, there are six colleges of health technology and counting. Most of the courses offered in these colleges are diplomas in Medical Records, Environmental Health, Community Health, Laboratory Technology, etc. I may sound so dismissive of these courses, but don’t get me wrong. These are significant courses and, perhaps, with valuable skills to offer, but we already have enough to go around. And, trust economics, its laws are no respecters of irrational decisions: the higher the supply, the lower the demand and invariably the price. So the need to rethink why we do certain things instead of other things could not be more urgent.

Way Forward

To be very clear, I am not presenting anything novel. Our pioneer leaders had envisaged the inevitable need for technical skills for economic growth and development, and that’s why they established monotechnics, polytechnics, and technical colleges across the country. No thanks to unimaginative leadership and penchant for mass production of certificates-wielding graduates that had led to having polytechnics with more students studying mass communication, theatre arts than engineering, computer science, statistics, etc. Nothing can be more ironic.

In the following subheadings, I will argue on why we should pay more attention to technical skills and invest more in establishing technical colleges:

Guaranteed employment

Rest assured that employers lined up waiting for you once you possess skills like plumbing, welding, woodwork, carpentry, masonry, tiling, electric wiring, programming, website and apps development, etc. With an increase in population comes corresponding demands for housing, food, and services. So these skills will forever be in need, so long as we breathe. And in the event you don’t want to be on the payroll of anybody, you can monetise the skills by employing yourself. For example, a diploma holder in animal health and production can engage in the private practice of visiting farms and local markets to provide first aid treatment. There are too many farms to go around. We can say the same about a plumber, tiler, painter, etc.

Less time than conventional schooling

Most technical skills can be acquired in a record time, probably in a year or two, and then you are good to go. The most interesting thing about a given skill is that the more you practice it, the more you master it. Moreover, it is more difficult for a person to forget a set of skills than the paper-based theories learned in school. Very unlike typical schooling (a diploma or a degree), where you would spend 2 or 4 years with no specific skills to show and then sooner you would forget the little theoretical knowledge you have acquired since you are not practising.

High return on investment

Compared to the money spent to acquire NCE certificates, diplomas in health-related courses, and some instances, degree courses, you are better off having any of the aforementioned technical skills. NCE holders and, in some cases, degree holders hardly make up to ₦30,000 per month in many private schools. In fact, even in public service, NCE holders fetch ₦36,000 per month in Bauchi state. When you analyse the time, money and energy expended to acquire the certificate and the monetary reward after that, you will struggle to make economic sense of the decision. So many Keke Napep guys make more than that amount in a month. So much for a heap of certificates!

Again, as a private investor, you are better off establishing a technical college, especially if you would engage in vertical integration by employing your products (graduates). For example, you can set a company that specialises in finishing and look for contracts. Trust me; we have a paucity of skilled workforce in the building industry. We do import tilers, plumbers, welders from outside. That’s how bad things are, and that’s how vast the opportunities are.

And for those who want to ‘japa‘ (to go abroad), your chance of securing a visa and employment abroad is greatly enhanced if you have any technical skills. This is for non-medical professionals and exceptionally brilliant computer wizards.

Note

The argument here is not whether an NCE certificate or health technology diploma or even degree certificate, for that matter, is good or not. No! The idea here is that we should go to colleges and universities to acquire skills that we can use to improve our financial situation. If the so-called certificate(s) you have obtained cannot fetch you a job or equip you with skills that people can pay for, you need to rethink why you were in school in the first place. We have tonnes of graduates and varying certificate-holders roaming the street for jobs that are not there and crying for lack of employment; meanwhile, they have no skills worth employing. We are massively producing what we do not need and under-producing what we urgently need. Something is wrong.

We have to appreciate the dynamics of time. Long ago, all it takes to climb the mythical social ladder and join the much-vaunted middle-class is a certificate of any kind. Whatever or not you studied in the university is immaterial; public jobs were waiting for you. But that was then. Those years of yore have passed for good. There are no more public jobs for everyone. Internalise this and know peace. As for private companies, well, first of all, they are not charity organisations. Secondly, they are profit-driven, so they don’t employ people to fill any underrepresented state’s quota. Thirdly, they reward value— what you have to offer is what counts. You need much more than a certificate to survive. You need skills, not just any skills, but skills that have economic value.

You need to wake up and smell the coffee. Hello!

Dr Tilde can be reached via adamtilde@gmail.com.

Nazifi Umar Alaramma,

This year, 2021, had experienced a late onset of rainfall in Kano and surrounding. Therefore, the onset of rain in Kano and surrounding was computed to be five days with 83 millimetres of rain fall.

83mm is equivalent to 9.2% of the mean annual rainfall of Kano state. However, the duration of the rainy season in Kano is between mid-May to early October. Nevertheless, the rain may delay until June. This means the rainy season could not begin before mid-May in Kano and surrounding. Likewise, it will not extend to November.

As per the climate of Kano, the region falls within 100 rainy days in West Africa. Therefore, rain may fall earliest in mid-May, never before. However, it could delay up to July.

In 2021 the rain had delayed to very late June due to natural and anthropogenic factors. The natural characteristics are the routine of delay rainy seasons that happen to entire Sudano-Sahelian environments, some every five years, like parts of Mali and Ethiopia and some for many years like Kano in Nigeria.

This year could have followed the suit of those who predate it to bring rainy season late. However, it is significant to note that delaying the rainy season and frequency of drought in Kano and surrounding had reduced following the construction of Tiga, Challawa and other more than 30 dams in the state. These dams increased the recharging of clouds. Hence, no frequent drought in Kano and surrounding since the 1970s. However, a delay of the rainy season has not been totally hampered yet. 

The human factor in delaying the rainy season this year may be human-induced climate change. We believe it originates from outside Nigeria. It is linked to the general circulation of the atmosphere, which alters Africa’s condition even if the major polluters are from Europe, America, and Asia.

Nazifi Alaramma is a lecturer at the Department of Geography Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano. He can be reached via alaramma12@gmail.com or nazifiumar@nwu.edu.ng.

By Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan

With the trendy disrespectful behaviour of the youth; with public pre-wedding pictures of grooms almost kissing their brides passionately and their hands resting on each other’s bosom and hip; with the loud silence of some religious leaders about the trend; with some liberals jeering the righteous people publicly when they criticise such issues, morality is mortally blown to pieces. Similarly, the surprising official claim that the children voters seen on the viral videos of the Kano local government election were Kenyans; that the good performance of APC is the reason why Zamfara State governor and others are defecting to APC, these and hundreds more nationally official lies authorise public lying and teach the behaviour to the already morally dented youths.

Today we have few elders among the aged, political elites. They are only seen as the aged with grey hair, hoarse voices and gowns but commanding no respect. They traded their respect. They hide their kleptomania in robes only to be revealed when elected. The same aged elites bring public shames mounting to international ones on us. These include the rats’ daring of the president’s office, snake’s incredible swallow of 36 million nairas in the JAMB office, the president’s U-turn on fuel subsidy, his medical trips overseas, his sagas with the lawmakers, his silence on rampant killings and kidnappings in the country. These, among others, vie with one another to damage our image more and hatch more shameless leaders. And with this trend, the future could not be bleaker.

We are politically lost, socially derailed, and hence lost bearing as a nation and as northerners significantly for reasons like that. But those who ruled before were highly principled, morally sound and well-meaning. They were worthy of emulation. They did their best to build the nation and the image that our present leaders ruin recklessly. If this trend of lying and misgovernance goes on, how would our future look like? My fear intensifies more whenever I interact with the youths. Whatever idiot-proof explanation of the country you give to them they barely understand as they are only concerned with football, music, fashion, sex and other stuff of the 21st century. Although my hopes are dashed day in day out, I think we should prepare our youths for they are indeed the leaders of tomorrow.

On the insolent behaviour of the youth, a colleague sees no wrong about that. He says that we could not crawl out of this abyss of retrogression unless we let go of our anti-social culture. But I think we do not even have such a uniform culture to go out of today. Instead, we have a confused phantasm of a life born out of our frantic effort to “glocalise” the global so that we fit in the modern world. Yet, we end up in social chaos, identity crisis and moral bankruptcy because of a change in our worldview or ideological foundation orchestrated by flamboyantly thieving politicians and morally bankrupt artists.

Our worldview is warped. Hence this man sees no wrong in being at daggers drawn with his next-door neighbour, who reprimands his child for wrongdoing. He sees no wrong in allowing his daughter to dress scantily for a friend’s wedding ceremony or being taken for a “visitation” by a boyfriend. If a family friend or brother frowns on that, the mother would be the first to attack him for attempting to sabotage her daughter’s chance of getting a husband.

Our worldview is also being warped by the abject poverty we are living in. This man confessed to having allowed his daughters to prostitute themselves to bring bread for the family. He admitted that at a community gathering organised to warn him of his daughters’ illicit business in the neighbourhood. People cried as he narrated his tragedy. The man’s ideological foundation or worldview fails to make him see the rights from wrongs. The knowledge available to him, the political, social and economic awareness are only what the masters want him to have so that the masters exploit our resources to the fullest.

We often find it difficult, for poverty reasons, to control our boys who, subsequently, lead a carefree life. They become truant; they watch uncensored movies, access the Internet, wander off our radar, take drugs; and in ghettos, smoke all smokeable things, thieve and snatch people’s valuables, especially their phones. In comparison, my father once told me that they birthed more children than us. Yet, they were able to control their movement, educate them and feed them. I told him that that was when “to eat was not a problem”.

Similarly, our worldview is warped by the government’s nonchalant attitude towards our lives. We no more look up to the government schools, hospitals, electricity and all other basic life necessities. So we live a beggarly life. Frustration kills one when they or a member of their family is sick—no hospital in Nigeria. Even the president goes abroad for medical treatment. We buy everything here. He who has nothing dies untimely.

Still, “the government can not take all the blame”, they say! Instead, their body language blames the poor for producing “too many children that the government cannot cater for”. So they leave us to fend for ourselves while they serve themselves from the nation’s treasury. Unless we speak against injustice, fight for good governance and virtues, our future and that of our children is lost.

Mubarak is a lecturer at the Department of English, Al-Qalam University Katsina. He can be reached via abusfyy@gmail.com.

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Adamu speaking at the Coronation Lecture of his highness, the emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, which Kano Emirate Council organized in conjunction with the Bayero University, Kano held at the Convocation Arena of BUK on Thursday, July 1, 2021.

While delivering his paper titled “Kano Emirate: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu argued that “Of all the grand emirates of northern Nigeria, none has the spectacular and expansive history and cultural anthropology recorded like the emirate, now the emirates of old Kano.”

In the historiography of Kano, Adamu traced that “Kano was founded in the 7th century by a group of wandering blacksmith seeking for iron ore from Gaya Town.” The versatile scholar used the typology of urban cultures developed by Fox (1977).

Adamu classified Kano as a ritual city, administrative city, mercantile city, scholastic city, colonial city, industrial city, and a bustling hub. He reiterated that it maintains the famous cultural jingle “Kano ko da me ka zo an fi ka”, loosely meaning: Kano is simply the best. 

Despite its greatness, Adamu lamented the increase in crimes and other social vices in Kano, adding that “these are the characteristics of any prosperous urban state.”

In his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, said that it was a privilege to choose the University to host this maiden lecture. “It was a wise decision to introduce a public lecture into the activities of the coronation as it signals [a] new archetype in the affairs of Kano Emirate Council.”

Abbas commended the decision of the Kano State Government to formalize the Coronation of Sarkin Kano as that “demonstrates love and commitment towards ensuring a stable society and hopes Sarki Aminu Ado will use this opportunity to move Kano and the traditional institution to greater heights.”

Also speaking, the chairman of the occasion, His Eminence, The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, reminded the audience of the significance of traditional leaders as the custodian of cultural heritage. 

In his remark, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Dr Aminu Ado Bayero, the emir of Kano and the 15th Fulani ruling amir, described the relationship between Kano Emirate and Bayero University as that of “hanta da jini” [blood and liver]. Being a former student of Bayero University, mass communication programme, Sarki Aminu was delighted to see his former teacher, Prof. Cecil Blake, in the audience. 

In his speech, the Executive Governor of Kano State, His Excellency, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said the title of the paper presented by Prof. Adamu “is apt.” Ganduje expressed happiness with the current peace in Kano State when many northern states are fighting insecurity. 

The event was attended by many politicians, academics, business people, traditional and religious leaders from and outside Kano State.

Department of State Services has declared Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo alias Sunday Igboho wanted. The declaration followed rumours that men in uniform carried out a midnight raid on his residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, which led to the death of two people.

The DSS Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunnaya, disclosed this Thursday night during a press briefing and parading of suspect arrested during the raid at the national headquarters of the secret police. He further advised Igboho to turn himself in to the nearest security.

“Those cheering and eulogizing him may appeal to or advise him to do the needful,” Afunnaya said. “He should surrender himself to the appropriate authorities. He or anyone can never be above the law.”

Afunnaya added that the raid on Igboho’s residence was a response to an intelligence report that he had stockpiled arms in the place, some of which were now recovered.

“On approach to the residence, the team came under heavy gun attack by nine men, suspected to be Igboho’s guards. Six of them were armed with AK-47 guns and three others, with pump-action rifles,” the DSS spokesman added.

After a gun duel that lasted for an hour, during which Igboho escaped, “The [DSS] team procedurally searched the house and subsequently recovered the following seven 7 AK-47 assault rifles, three pump action guns, 30 fully charged AK-47 magazines, 5,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, five cutlasses, one jack knife and one penknife”, among other items.

In June, Igboho declared that Yoruba would break away from Nigeria latest by December 2021 to form the Oduduwa Republic. He was also alleged to have led attacks on Fulani herders and Hausa traders in the southwestern states of the country.

The Nigerian government have stepped up action against separatist recently. Igboho’s attempted arrest came a few days after the leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested and extradited to Nigeria. He has been charged for treasonable felony, evading arrest and inciting violence at the Abuja Federal High Court.

The All Poets Network (APN), in collaboration with the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and Akweya Radio, organise one-day poetry writing workshop at the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano. Dr Ola Ifatimehin, the head of the Department, will facilitate the workshop.

Engausa, a hybridised English-Hausa language, is used by many Hausa speakers in northern Nigeria. The language is gaining momentum, especially on social media. However, writing poetry in the same language is usually unconventional or even unwelcomed.

Announcing the workshop, Khalid Imam, the curator of APN, describes Engausa poetry as “a type of poetry which combines English and Hausa words in its expressions. It borrows from the vocabulary and cultural expressions of both languages to create imagery and tonality that colours and beautifies poetry in fresh modes.”

Dr Ifatimehin said that when he began writing such poetry, he was surprised to see that “so many people found it quite fascinating and some started writing as well.” He added that although there had been debates around it, it is catching on. Dr Ifatimehin disclosed to this reporter that “we have recently gotten funding to do an anthology”.

The Daily Reality is the first online news medium in Nigeria with a dedicated section on Engausa. Therefore, the company has promised to support this avant-garde movement and other creative writings in Engausa. The event will take place on 10th July 2021 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Record temperatures in British Columbia, Canada, and US cities, including Oregon, have resulted in the death of hundreds of people. The temperature reached up to 49.6°C (121.3F) on Sunday in parts of Canada, breaking a decades-old record.

The Oregon State Police said the state medical examiner’s office had received reports of 63 deaths. However, the heat is expected to subside by the weekend in most US cities.

The death toll is more devastating in Canada. According to a CNN report, at least 486 sudden deaths have been reported across the western coast of Canada near the US border.

“The 486 deaths currently entered represent a 195% increase over the approximately 165 deaths that would normally occur in the province over a five-day period,” British Columbia Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a statement.

Experts warn against associating this directly to the climate change the world witnesses. Others say the two are connected like lung cancer is to smoking. They added that other parts of the world, too, see unpredictable weather conditions.

So far this year, northern Nigeria has recorded a low rainfall. As most farmers depend on the rain in the region, they expressed concern over the situation. Nigeria may face a food shortage as a result.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has stated that the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, will mark the end of violent agitations in the South-East.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the group’s General Secretary.

Ohanaeze said Kanu’s arrest will serve as a deterrent to others, warning that self-determination should not be used to garner wealth.

The group also noted that Kanu’s refusal to adhere to the advice of leaders and elders in the South-East is responsible for his misfortune.

The statement read, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo calls for calm and cautions Igbos to desist from any form of protests and processions that will bring more catastrophe for Southeastern Nigeria.

“The re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu the leader of IPOB is the beginning of the end of violent agitations in southeastern Nigeria and a lesson to others that deviation from the nonviolent agitations contradicts what Igbos are known for, and self-determination should not be used for purposes of fortune and fame-seeking.

“Nnamdi Kanu’s refusal to adhere to the advice of Igbo leaders, elders, and political leaders is the outcome of what had befallen him. He made a lot of enemies, especially those that would have saved him and Federal Government will never loosen its grip on him again. We don’t think that any Igbo leader will stick out his/her neck for him, his re-arrest will eventually bring peace and stability to the region and avert another civil war that was raging on.”

The group urged the Nigerian government to handle the situation carefully to prevent violent revolts because of Kanu’s many followers. 

It added that “his trial should be strictly based on the laws of the land. They shouldn’t kill him because it will destabilise the entire country.”

Reuters reports that police in India have registered three new cases against Twitter Inc. for allegedly hurting sentiments and promoting child pornography, marking an escalation in the row between the U.S. firm and Indian authorities.

The chages include ‘treason’ after showing what the Indian government calls an ‘incorrect’ map that excludes the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir and the Buddhist enclave of Ladakh from the country. Twitter did not comment on cases related to India’s map, while the microblogging site generally allows pornographic content on its platform.

The current cases come up in addition to a public relations nightmare and a backlash from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government that has in recent weeks repeatedly criticized it for not complying with a new set of I.T. rules. Twitter allegedly refuses to abide by the rules.

Unlike Nigeria, India has yet to ban Twitter. However, observers fear that that will happen and would be a massive blow to the U.S. company. The two countries have some of the largest and most vibrant Twitter users in the world. Thus, banning it would have a far-reaching impact on its market value.