Northern Nigeria

By Ibrahim Abubakar

In the late 1890s, my great-grandfather narrowly escaped the evil claws of the Mahdi’s hostile and belligerent lieutenant, Rabeh Bn Fadlallah, who had invaded Borno to spread the Mahdist ideology. They sacked the empire’s capital of Kukawa, captured and executed Sheikh of Borno, and enslaved many people. This martial excess sent trembles across the land, and many thought it wise to migrate westward into the Sokoto Caliphate for safety. Among those who migrated to the Caliphate was my great-grandfather, Mamadou. Of its two dozen emirates, Mamadou chose Kano as his refuge.

Kano was the jewel of the Sahel, a centre of trade and commerce with walls 50 feet high and immensely thick, surrounded by a deep artificial gully making it an impenetrable fortress; a marvel to behold! It is this sense of security and opportunity, I believe, that made Kano a desirable place for my ancestors.

During colonial times, Kano increased in its majesty. The British administration modernised trade and industry, built hospitals, schools, and railways and improved the justice system by integrating and superbly implementing strategies that supported the rule of law and ameliorated the superficial old system. Kano’s commercial strategies were carefully designed to produce a positive net economic effect. For example, hide, skin, groundnut, animal feeds, meat and textile were exported to Britain. These export plans were supported by long-term government programmes that continued into post-independence Kano.

According to a World Bank report, Kano State’s mainstay is agriculture. It employs about 60% to 70% of the population producing rice, maize, millet, groundnut, beans, etc. Livestock production is another source of income for the farmers. The industrial output is from oil mills, textiles, tanneries, flour mills, and several others.

As the centre of commerce, Kano handles about 75% of finished goods from Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo industries. These are distributed to all the northern states and the neighbouring states of Niger, Cameroon, Chad, etc. From Kano, the following are exported: semi-finished leather, cotton lint, gum, hibiscus, sesame seeds and other minor items. All of the above have immensely contributed to enhancing Kano’s GDP as one of the highest in the country.

Unfortunately, the contemporary situation is rather bleak. Most of the factories have closed or have reduced their production capacity. Kano had about 30 tanneries producing over 45 million goats and sheep skins for export. In addition, over 7 million cattle hides were processed as finished leather for making shoes and other leather goods. However, there are only a dozen tanneries in production today. As for cattle hides, 90% of it is consumed in southwestern Nigeria as Ponmo or Ganda. In addition, cattle hides are imported from neighbouring countries and Mali, CAR, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia. The last textile to close was Angel Spinning and Dyeing Limited.

It is not a hidden fact that education has crumbled in recent years. Many children in Kano are poorly educated (the lucky ones?) and without a solution in sight. Although I am aware that education has exacerbated globally, for example, my father, 48 years older than me, is better educated in most branches of general learning. Kano is in the top five states in the country with substantial numbers of out-of-school children.

Healthcare facilities across the state are in a deplorable state. For example, the last time I visited the A&E department of a general hospital in Kano, I was sickened by the gruesome sight of accident victims on the floor, literally bleeding to death. In addition, there is an enormous disparity in the doctor-to-patient ratio, albeit not the worse in the country. It is, however, in the top ten states lacking doctors, with a ratio of 1 doctor for every 14,123 persons. To put it into perspective, the UN standard doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:600.

Kano used to be safe. Growing up, very few isolated incidences of theft were heard of in the city. Today, people get robbed in broad daylight. Thieves with sharp knives of all shapes and sizes attack people on the streets to rob them of their phones and other belongings; those who refuse to comply are fatally stabbed without remorse. Rape cases are rising exponentially. This year alone, over 1,300 cases of rape were reported. It is sad to see Kano vitiated.

The Kano of my dreams is the Kano my great-grandfather fell in love with. A Kano where there is opportunity and hope for everyone regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion. A Kano where I feel safe walking any street at any hour of the day or night. A Kano where women can feel comfortable around men without fearing harassment or misogyny. A Kano with subsidised agricultural products such as fertilisers and an established avenue for creating liaisons with agencies that will be responsible for borrowing funds from the banks of industry and agriculture for the benefit of farmers, and this will increase productivity as well as employment.

Similarly, the Kano of my dreams will create an investment agency to secure funds from the Bank of Industry for the closed tanneries/factories and companies at low capacity. This will enhance business activity and employment. Furthermore, the Kano of my dreams will utilise Tiga Dam power generation to supply electricity to the industrial areas of the state and set a good precedence for the future supply of power to the entire state, either through hydroelectricity, solar energy, or thermal power.

The Kano of my dreams is a Kano where children are given quality education regardless of the social and economic status of the family they come from. A Kano where children do not go around begging for food on the streets. The Kano of my dreams is a Kano where hospitals are abundant, and doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have all the needed equipment to make their jobs easier. A Kano where the large, proposed sports complex at Kofar Na’isa is turned into a colossal state-of-the-art medical centre to cater for the entire country. A Kano where neighbours assist one another.

I dream of a Kano where the rich invest more in local small-scale industries to boost production and employment rather than holidaying abroad and boosting the economy of the colonial order neglecting their brothers and sisters at home languishing in abject poverty. Lastly, the Kano of my dreams will have excellent and selfless leaders that genuinely care about the advancement of the state and will put in their utmost to see to it becoming the gem that it was, if not better than it was in days of yore. In sha Allah!

Ibrahim Abubakar won the 2^nd position in the 2022 “The Kano of my dream” writing competition jointly organised by Muhsin Ibrahim, PhD, and The Daily Reality online newspaper. He can be reached via ibrahimabubakhr@gmail.com.

By MA Iliasu

The dilemma with Kano has always been about standards. So, naturally, Kano’s advantages and disadvantages in socioeconomic assets have outgrown everyone’s. The history of Hausa land and much of the Sahel will confirm that assertion.

Kano’s population was approximated in 2022 as the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos and sixth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ranking behind Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Oyo, and Imo. Kano is blessed with more than ten major markets across its rural and urban settlements, with Kantin Kwari and Dawanau serving as the largest textiles and food markets in West Africa, respectively. The state is enriched with the twentieth highest landmass in Nigeria, the biggest part of which is a prosperous arable land, with a favourable temperament that enables consistent rainfall and harmattan during rainy and harmattan seasons, on top of the twenty dams distributed across the rural economies of the state. Kano is one of the largest industrial hubs in West Africa, and the aggregation of these natural and human resources earns the state the title of “Centre of Commerce” in Nigeria.

By the same standard, however, the same factors make Kano an unfavourable environment. The massive population is more neglected than cared for, thus becoming a liability rather than an asset. There is a large number of out-of-school children roaming streets as beggars and hawkers, with many engaging in child labour. Many youths have been reduced to thuggery, thievery, and drug abuse. The economy is overwatched, yet doesn’t reflect in the state’s treasury by how the state rank lower in revenue generation, signifying, among others, the corruption and mismanagement holding its potential backward. The landmass is underutilised, with poor urban planning in the metropolitan areas and primitive agriculture in rural areas.

Consequently, signals of environmental hazards like crime, congestion, and flooding have become significant threats to the Kano metropolis. The dams have been neglected in the rural settlements. The widening gap between the rich and the poor makes the Human Development of the state ranks 28^th, according to Human Development Index (HDI) 2019, among the very worst in Nigeria. The income per capita of Kano is among the lowest, with its healthcare being one of the worst in Africa. As of 2021, the state could only hire one medical doctor to tend to the emergency unit of Murtala Muhammad General Hospital during the weekends.

The common factor in both the contrasting pictures is that Kano never does anything in small doses – it’s so-called standard. The Kano of my dream, therefore, is the one in which this standard is retained but only positively to enable the growth and development of the state to measure up to it.

In the Kano of my dream, agriculture and industry are the central focus. A coherent plan which utilises the twenty dams for irrigation farming in forty local governments has been implemented. And courtesy of that, the agricultural output from Kano has outranked every state in Nigeria and equals the capacity of many African countries combined. The landmark is achieved thanks to overwhelming human labour and fertile land, and after the state government widens its thinking beyond small partnerships with regional development banks by reaching out to international agricultural cartels.

A deal has been stroke with India, China, Nepal, and Thailand that sees to it all Kano dams have been utilised in exchange for an uninterrupted supply of agricultural output to the Asian markets. And the reliance on agriculture has paved the way for the flourishing of other farming and manufacturing industries, the rural economy, and infrastructure, which consequently ends rural-urban migration and reduces the pressure on metropolitan areas. Resurgence occurs in food and technology markets, with advanced research in agricultural institutes and massive employment generation for the teeming population. Agriculture is Kano’s largest labour employer for the first time this century. And the problems of unemployment, revenue generation, urban migration and planning, rural negligence, and food security have become negligible.

The multiplier effect of achieving such economic landmarks will, among others, boost the GDP, HDI, Per Capita Income (PI), and general economic buoyancy across all social classes, which in the Kano of my dream, enable investment in education and healthcare. The fantasies of free education and healthcare are now history. The government has seen the truth and intensified its efforts towards achieving a hundred per cent literacy rate and eighty years average life expectancy through massive investment in education and health infrastructure, with more than sixty per cent of its talent pool channelled to study science and technology.

The revolution in the education sector takes place in two dimensions. The first is by reconstructing the state institutions and equipping them with modern learning tools, recruiting more teachers and retraining them, and taking their remunerations to a world-class standard. The second dimension is by reshuffling the curriculum by removing the outdated, less relevant subjects and introducing modern, relevant ones, and rearranging the method of achieving Senior Secondary School Certificates (SSCE) by turning terminal examinations into grade point averages, the cumulative of which will determine whether a student qualifies to take the SSCE or not. Students who excel by having high cumulative grade points from their terminal examinations across six years of Secondary School education will be able to sit for SSCE and secure government scholarships. While those who have yet to excel will have to engage in compulsory remedial studies before they become eligible to write SSCE. That way, the higher institutions will admit students not by chance but by competence, making them more productive intellectual environments. Breakthroughs have since been recorded in research and innovation.

Investment in healthcare starts by providing each local government with a general hospital and enough health workers. Infant and women mortality shall be met with formidable maternal health departments. And health education shall be prevalent, especially among women.

The political culture in Kano of my dream is perceptive and intentional. The fusion of power between state and local governments is abolished, enabling a reformed, energetic, merit-based, transparent, and accountable leadership style of leadership that is appropriately informed by and with the major activities of the clerical, academic and social establishment in the state.

Sports and recreation are engaged with remarkable intensity by establishing sports academies to meet the demands of modern football, basketball, tennis, and boxing. Kids are trained at a young age, adults are funded to do their coaching badges, and sports entrepreneurs are granted smooth platforms to facilitate the transfer of Kano talents to major European and American leagues, revolutionising domestic football to a world-class standard. For the first time in football history, Kano Pillars, an African team from the Nigerian league, has won the Club World Cup, thanks to the formidability of local talents.

In the end, the Kano of my dream isn’t only distinguished with glowing physical features such as roads, schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities but also with a glowing soul, mind, and heart. The spiritual infrastructure is also revolutionised through changing mindsets, attitudes, and beliefs. As a religious society, we have admitted to the supremacy of destiny, one who greatly appreciates the purity of our hard work and ethics. And through the pursuit of this, we turn into reality the endless upward possibilities of our beloved ancient society.

MA Iliasu won the 1^st position in the 2022 “The Kano of my dream” writing competition jointly organised by Muhsin Ibrahim, PhD, and The Daily Reality online newspaper. He can be reached via muhada102@gmail.com.

By Habibu Ma’aruf

The year 2022 has not been great for the Kannywood film industry. There was a substantial decline in feature film production as the popularity of series films soared, piquing the interest of more producers. Cinematic releases were at a premium throughout the year, with just nine films, making it a ratio of less than one release a month. The situation was so severe that no major production was shown at cinemas, even during the Eid ul-Fitr festivities.

However, while some of the few releases fell flat on their faces, others have managed to make it in the trying year. Find below the top 5 Kannywood films of 2022. Please note that only feature films were considered for this list.

1. Aisha

Directed by Hafizu Bello, the movie, Aisha, is critically and commercially successful. It beats Kayi Nayi (Dir, Gumzak 2021) to become Kannywood’s biggest grosser by earning over ₦5.5 million during its elongated run in two cinemas. This is not surprising as it’s a production of ‘the box-office king’ Abubakar Bashir Mai-Shadda. The story revolves around the eponymous character, Aisha (played by Amal Umar), who dies after being raped, and her parents’ struggle for justice. The plot is uncommonly twisted but perfectly pieced together. The film has a strong message and a realistic narrative. It exposes the grim reality in some higher institutions where students commit serious misconduct. It stars Amal Umar, Nura Hussaini, Adam A. Zango, Sani Danja, and Shamsu Dan Iya, among others.

2. Lamba

Before the premiere of this Ali Gumzak-directed comedy, there had already been an overwhelming craze for its title song. This has helped the film to rake in ₦1.32 million on the first day, beating the previous record first-day collection of ₦1.25 million by Fanan (Dir. Alolo 2021). Produced by Abubakar Bashir Maishadda, Lamba is a social satire set against the backdrop of ‘Audio money’ (a slang term for the fake display of wealth). It tells how some three young men (Adam A. Zango, Umar M. Sharif and Ado Gwanja) flaunt false riches to impress the classy girls they meet on social media. The unveiling of their true identity is later shown in brilliantly executed, hilarious scenes that get the audience laughing throughout.  The film lacks an innovative script, but it’s an excellent comedy that succeeded in tickling the funny bone. Other casts include Aminu Sharif (Momo), Maryam Booth, Maryam Yahaya, Bilkisu Abdullahi, Aisha Najamu, etc.

3. Nadeeya

Although the eponymous movie Nadeeya wasn’t initially meant for cinematic release, it still managed to get a large audience while showing on the big screen. The film is an issue-based drama about ‘upbringing’. It depicts how some parents spoil their kids, specifically daughters, and the practical difficulties such children face in life. The story focuses on a pampered daughter, Nadeeya (acted by Rahama Sadau), who faces similar challenges after marriage. The film is hard-hitting and very meaningful. It shows that children’s first learning begins at home, and their personalities and morals depend largely on their upbringing. The actor’s performance is also impressive.  It was produced by the leading actress Rahama Sadau and directed by Yaseen Auwal. Other casts include Umar M. Shareef, Rabi’u Rikadawa, Asma’u Sani, etc.

4. Hikima

This movie is a murder mystery specially made with a considerable budget to meet the requirements for showing on Netflix. It’s, however, yet to show on the online viewing platform. The film, which premiered in cinemas in late 2021, was released to the wider public in 2022. It tells the story of a philogynist lecturer, Sadiq (Nasir Naba). It begins from a court session with Sadiq being accused of murdering his female student. The film is richly suspenseful, but many audiences criticise it for having a convoluted plot. Moreover, the cinematography and actor’s performance, among others, place it ahead of its peers this year. Hafizu Bello directed it, while Mustapha Ahmad (Alhaji Sheshe) was the producer. It stars Nasir Naba, Ishaq Sidi Ishaq, Sarah Aloysius, Sani Mu’azu, Maryam Yahaya, etc.

5. A Bikin Suna

A Bikin Suna tells the story of Mustapha (Ali Nuhu) and his wife Ummulkhairi (Mommy Gombe). They have been married for five years without giving birth to a single child. This fact makes Mustapha’s relatives accuse Ummulkhairi of infertility. She becomes pregnant afterwards, and everyone begins to like her. However, a new conflict erupts when the young baby gets missing during the naming ceremony. The film is generally enjoyable. It’s directed by Yasin Auwal and produced by Danjuma Salisu. Other casts include Saratu Daso, Musa Mai-Sana’a, Maryam Yahaya, Shamsu Dan Iya, Rahama MK, etc.

Habibu Ma’aruf Abdu wrote from Kano. He can be reached via habibumaaruf11@gmail.com.

By Ibrahim Mukhtar

The main aim behind the establishment of the famous School for Arabic Studies (SAS) Kano was solely to promote Shari’ah after the conquest of Northern Nigeria by the colonialists.

This was disclosed by Professor TIjjani Naniya of the History Department, Bayero University, Kano, during the SAS day celebrations, which marks the 82nd anniversary of the school.

The History professor went down the history lane and narrated how the school was established and how the then-colonial government wanted to undermine Shariah by promoting their own legal system.

According to the professor, “Sarki Alhaji, who was the first emir of Kano to have performed Hajj, was the one who applied and sought the approval of the colonial masters to establish a school which would cater for the peculiar legal needs of the Northern Muslims.

The colonial masters thought it would be another way to distort and dominate the Islamic legal system, but unknown to them, the School for Arabic Studies would outshine them and their mischief.”

Prof. Naniya narrated how the school admitted only brilliant students based on merit and how a son of a late business tycoon in Kano was expelled as a result of his bad attitude then.

He further talked at length about how the story of the school went high and how the model was copied and established in other states in Nigeria and beyond. Finally, he urged all the attendees to pray for those emirs and leaders who worked very hard to promote Islam and Shariah for all the country to benefit.

The 82nd anniversary took place Monday, December 26, 2022, on the school premises. The event was well-attended by the alumni of the school and other dignitaries.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Unknown gunmen Friday launched a fresh attack on Kagoro, a community in Kaduna state, amidst mourning of mass killing in Mallagum-Kagoro, Kaura Local Government Area of the state.

The Daily Reality learned that the incident occurred at night when most people were sleeping.

However, a resident who spoke to the journalists disclosed that the gunmen stormed the community around 9:00 pm.

He added that the gunmen started shooting sporadically immediately as they roamed the community.

A resident who pleaded anonymity said the attackers arrived fully armed and started shooting, forcing people to run for their lives.

He stated, “but thank God there was no loss of life because the military repelled the attackers,” he said.

But no official statement from security agencies or the government has been made when filling this report. 

By Prof. Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik

A recently published book by Dr Ali Isa Pantami has rekindled the debate between degrees and skills. Even though the book focused on digital skills, “educated” Nigerians are trying hard to separate skills from university degrees (education). That someone graduated in computer science without being able to write a computer code does not mean that all graduates in computer science cannot write computer code.

Public primary and secondary schools have collapsed, and there is no debate on a possible mission to rescue them. The public universities are on the path to the state of the public primary and secondary schools, and all we want is to keep the kids in the class to MILT (manage it like that).

Some of the questions that came to my mind as I watched the debate were: What is skill? Can you truly separate skills from university degrees? What qualified you to receive a degree from a university? What skills do you need to survive in Nigeria? What skills do we need to propel Nigeria to a particular height? Just digital skills? What are the available jobs in high demand in Nigeria? Over the last 20 years, tell me about a job that was advertised, and after all the screening, they could not get a qualified graduate in Nigeria with the appropriate skills for the job.

The debate on degrees and certificates is getting more interesting. It is more interesting to me this time around as the Northern elites champion it. We are growing up.

I did my National Youth Service in a secondary school in Bagwai, Kano state, between 2000 and 2001. One weekend, I went to the market to get some stuff and met the Senior Teacher. I jokingly asked why he was in the market and didn’t let the wife do the shopping. That led to a lengthy discussion where I mentioned the General Hospital, Bichi. As of then, there were 3 Doctors, all male, at the hospital. Two were Yoruba and one Igbo. They were all Christians. There was no female doctor. I told him that they need to encourage their daughters to go to school so that we can have their daughters as Doctors in those hospitals. I guess I was wrong. Degrees are useless.

We are fond of mentioning our iconic automotive designer, Jelani Aliyu, as an example of skills rather than degrees. This is a very interesting example with a missing background. Jelani was a very good student and truly left the university for the polytechnic because he wanted a more practically oriented program. That is what polytechnics are originally meant for. So, after finishing his HND from the polytechnic as the Best All-Round Student, he got a scholarship from the Sokoto state scholarship board to study automotive design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, US. They got certificates every step to show that he has acquired the requisite skills. The rest is history.

You see, anyone can write a book on degrees vs skills, especially people at high places whose entire success is based on their degree certificates. But can the book change our reality? Not likely. Only a few Nigerians actually read books. A long post on Facebook is even difficult to read. We prefer to use the time to argue over who is the football G.O.A.T. How do we change that? There are several challenges to deal with to save our system.

But then, by the virtue of your degree certificate, you got a job as a Graduate Assistant at a public university. You built on that to have your Master’s degree in the university. And being a lecturer in a public university, you got a scholarship for PhD in the UK. With a PhD degree from the UK, you got a job offer as an Assistant Professor at a university abroad. Then, a few years later, you got an appointment outside academia. I guess a skill was identified that took you to all these places. There was no record of industry experience. So, all the skills were acquired at the university. So, what is your problem with the university? If you have got all these skills in the university and the necessary skills that your students in your department need to have are missing, then we should blame you for it.

All that you are was built on your degrees, and the same degrees are suddenly no more important but skills? We are supposed to be the light of our society. So, what is skill? What do we do in the universities? Are university environments unskilled environment? Where do you get the skills? Meanwhile, their kids are in university acquiring degrees. My guess is that you need skills, while their kids need degrees to manage your skill.

One of my senior colleagues once told us during an undergraduate lecture in the ’90s that physics makes you think. That’s a skill. He said, whatever you decide to do after graduation, physics will help your thinking. Sometimes back, I had a discussion with one of our graduates who switched from physics to IT after graduation, and he said IT is a piece of cake compared to Physics. He said he finds it easy having studied physics. Of course, let’s preach skills and not degrees while our best graduates are been harvested by the US, Canada, France, Norway, England, Germany, etc.

Recently, there were some trending Master’s graduation lists from UK universities where the graduates were 99% Nigerians. The tuition fee for the master’s program can start a business in Nigeria, but they decided to give the money to the UK university to acquire a certificate that will qualify them to work in the UK. Their first degree from Nigeria got them admission to a Master’s program in the UK. That qualifies them for the two years post-study visa to get a job. They don’t intend to come back, and they will get a job there with a university degree.

Shaquille O’Neal found it offensive when he walked into business meetings, and people would only talk to his representatives. He felt he was lacking something and found it necessary to enrol in a Master’s degree program at the University of Phoenix. He told them that he wanted somebody to teach him in class but was informed that the course he enrolled for was only taught online and that he can’t be taught alone. He asked for the requirements to have a physical class, and he was told that they needed a minimum of 15 students. Shaq paid for 15 of his friends to join him in the Master’s program. There was a gap, and he got a degree to fill it. It is up to you if degrees are skillless.

Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim recently got a Doctor of Business degree from Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is a billionaire with an MSc in Major Programme Management from Oxford, an MBA from Cambridge, a Certificate in International Tax Law from Harvard, an MPA from Ife, and a Bachelor of Law from Ife. He has been a billionaire. What does he need another degree for?

Our universities are not in the best form, nor are our polytechnics the way they were during Jelani’s days. We watched public educational institutions degrade over the years without any resistance except ASUU. That we have lost some vital components of what made a university a university is not a global case. It’s a peculiarity that we have to deal with to save our system. Our efforts should be towards reviving the lost skills that ought to be acquired at each level of our education, from primary schools to polytechnics and universities. 

Sadly, instead of making efforts to save the education system of the country and direct it toward the developmental needs of the nation, we are arguing over degrees and skills while they are taking the extra steps for the further destruction of public universities. The people telling you to go for skills instead of degrees have got their kids in schools abroad or private universities. What are they acquiring there? Unskilled knowledge? They have systematically destroyed what made the university a university but complained of a lack of skills. Double standard.

Since our brothers are championing the commercialization of public universities and skills rather than degrees, I hope our general hospitals in the North have got enough doctors so that we can close down our degree programs for medical sciences. What about law, finance, etc.? Optic fibre, which has revolutionized medicine and telecommunication, was a product of research from the university. A simple physics concept (total internal reflection in a material) that was engineered. Endoscopy and broadband transmission are not products of questionnaires but skilled thinking.

The World Bank recently said it will take northern states 40 years to catch up with their southern counterparts considering the current growth rates. Meanwhile, northern leaders don’t seem to bother about that but doing politics with the education of the people. I was informed today that grasses have taken over some of the primary schools in a state in the North-central. If we are to stop going to school, we need to start telling them to lead the way on the skills we need to survive in the North and make Nigeria work. Is it farming, as the president advised?

In a recent World Bank report, the Bank stated that “despite its vast natural resources and a young, entrepreneurial population, development in Nigeria has stagnated over the last decade, and the country is failing to keep up with the GDP growth of its peers. Declining private investment and demographic pressure push young Nigerians to pursue opportunities overseas”. Lack of skilled leadership and not a skilled workforce is possibly responsible for this.

It wasn’t a lack of skilled workforce that caused the massive unemployment in the country. There won’t be unemployment if there are jobs. There can’t be jobs if there is no job creation or an enabling environment for job creation. We are quick to forget that every certificate, degree or not, comes with the requisite knowledge and skills. The certificate is to show that you have acquired the prescribed skills. Of course, some find a way to get it without getting the requisite skill. This is Nigeria, where everything is possible. That is a systematic problem. That is why there is an interview.

Are you dealing with incompetent graduates? Blame your hiring process or yourself for not conducting the required interview. That you can’t find a job in Nigeria does not mean you don’t have the skill to get a job. The jobs ain’t just there. Go and study in the UK. If you stay back, you will get a job without any need to know someone that knows somebody. But if you dare return to Nigeria out of that thing called “patriotism” to contribute, you may need to buy a job or know somebody at a high place to get that dream job.

The problem is that we don’t even know what we want. No strategic plans. Everyone is just looking out for his pocket. After seven years, there is no clear education policy for the country. They said there are not enough resources to properly fund education, but they can’t produce a sustainable funding model for education. We are still living and surviving in lamentation mode.

They said a country cannot grow beyond the level of education of the people. Meanwhile, the education system of the country is in a deep mess, and no one is calling for a discussion on the sort of education that we need to aid our development as a developing nation. Every opportunist sits in the comfort of his office to push a policy through our throat, policies that will naturally die after they are out of the office. 

It was entrepreneurship yesterday and that made them introduce entrepreneurship as a compulsory subject in secondary schools and as a general studies course in the universities. But which entrepreneur will go and sit as a secondary teacher in a class to receive slave wages of N40,000 per month? The course is taught at the university by colleagues struggling to get home with their take-home pay.

The subject is taught by people struggling with monthly salaries and doesn’t know what entrepreneurship looks like aside from what they read in the book. The government that introduced the policy, as usual, did not make adequate provisions for it to be taught. But they are happy to have introduced the subject. Not sure of how many entrepreneurs we have produced from the teaching of the courses. Today, it is skill acquisition. Are we confused?

Just like the “entrepreneurship” package of yesterday, “Skills rather than Degrees” seems to be the new gold mine among those in government with different packages for funding from the government. At least we have started spending billions on skill acquisition across states. A report from Vanguard on April 6, 2022, says over N6.2 billion was spent to train and equip 16,820 Bauchi youths in the art of smartphone repairs. That’s about N368,609 per person.

You can write books on skills and get Bill Gates to write the foreword, but that won’t change our situation until we are willing to change it. We are not getting it right with our education system, and we have refused to ask honest questions and find answers to them. Some of the skills needed to be acquired at the university are missing due to system failure, and we pretend that all is well. All that our leaders want is to hear that students are in class and manage it like that. The quality of the teaching is not important to them. After all, their kids ain’t there. Unfortunately, we don’t see anything wrong with the MILT syndrome, and some of the victims even consider questioning/challenging the leaders as insubordination.

A member of this government is championing the “Skills and NOT Degrees” campaign, and he has written a book on it. I did not know that ministers have the luxury of time to write books while in office, despite their tight schedules. Well done, sir. I hope the idea will not die in May 2023 after leaving office.

There is no doubt that all is not well in our universities, from the hiring process to the interference of professional bodies to funding to the strangulation of the system by government agents to the killing of motivation to the localization of the universities to the internal politics to the quest for positions to the loss of a scholarship, etc. But condemning the university system that made us because of our mindset against ASUU won’t solve our problem unless we ask the right questions and find answers to them.

Why did the public primary schools collapse? What is the basic skill requirement at the primary school level? Why are those skills missing? What are the deliverables at the secondary schools? How did we lose it? We had the Government Technical Colleges. What happened to them? Can we restore them? What are the expectations from the polytechnics and the university for national development? What are the obstacles to making the expectations a reality? How do we get rid of the obstacles? The University education system is a universal purposeful system that has not changed. Ours is what we made it to be. We must revive the purposeful educational system towards our developmental needs as a developing nation.

Restoring our universities and other educational institutions to the state they are meant to be needs an honest approach. But window dressing our challenges won’t solve the problems if we don’t tackle them from the root. If we don’t sit to deliberate on the sort of education system we need to aid our development as a developing nation, we’ll keep moving around the clock while our situation keeps deteriorating.

Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik, PhD, wrote from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He can be reached via aaabdelmalik@gmail.com.

By Mubarak Shuaybu Shelleng

The unprecedented mammoth crowd that welcomed Atiku’s campaign entourage in almost every state they visited is shockingly mind-boggling. The recent one in Katsina, President Muhammad Buhari’s home state, speaks volumes and needs no further political argument that the opposition party has amicably conquered the heart and minds of the northern populace.

Most of the north-eastern electorates feel they now have ample opportunity to produce a president from the region after considering the clear development this has brought to the north-western parts of the country. It’s general knowledge that most of the Federal Government initiatives, such as National Social Investment Schemes, N-power, and other beneficial capital projects, under this current government were enjoyed mainly by in the north-western states. They are making it more developed in politics, infrastructure, and the economy.

The above issue is a welcome development because the region is considered core-north large and more densely populated than the northeastern parts.

But, the northeastern parts, for example, are yearning to produce the first-ever president from the region, which will undoubtedly pave the way for social, political, and infrastructural development. Thus, the hit helps curb the devastating effects of extreme poverty, and hardship occasioned by the Boko Haram Insurgency in some parts of the Borno and Yobe States. And communal, Farmers Herder’s clashes in Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, and Bauchi States.

Unquestionably, whoever understands the psyche of a typical northerner must agree that it is difficult for one to reject Atiku despite the current circumstances in the country mindfully. Therefore, the northern populace that massively voted for Buhari in the previous elections unopposed should have no regrets about doing the same for the leading People democratic party’s candidate.

Besides, even the elites and the ruling party stalwart knows that are a shot of words on how to stop people, especially from the north, from voting for the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the upcoming general election. Thus, remain with no option but to beat around the bush, able to maintain their political positions and offices.

Atiku may win or lose the election, but undoubtedly, the staunch and unalloyed support Buhari previously enjoyed in the north will certainly be transferred to him and no other.

The northeastern people have never rejected Atiku Abubakar in Nigerian political history but chose Buhari ahead of him due to the political exigencies of the time.

Interestingly, the era of political manipulation has gone. As a result, an average Nigerian from the remote and urban centrist now has a proper knowledge of the game of politics. Consequently, it allowed individuals to amicably exercise their constitutional franchise by considering the most deserving candidate regardless of religion, region, or political party.

Above all, politics, they say, is a game of numbers and interest, and whoever wants to play it should imbibe the culture of flag-waving, unity in diversity, and national Integration.

Mubarak Shuaybu Shelleng writes from Yola.

By Sheikh Aminu Aliyu Gusau.

The story of AbdulJabbar is that of fanaticism. 

It is about the feud between the Izala and Darika in Kano and across the nation. AbdulJabbar’s over-zealousness, eventually, landed him into trouble. He is from the Qadiriyyah Sufi order, whose headquarters is in Kano, just as Kano is one of the headquarters of Tijjaniyyah. Lately, Kano also became one of the headquarters of factional Izala group, specifically the Salafiyyah.

AbdulJabbar grew up in the midst of an ongoing harsh and hot arguments between the scholars of Izala and that of Darikah. Thinking that he is knowledgeable enough to wade in, he dived into the arguments. 

The fundamental aspect of the Izala argument, which secluded the title of “Ahlussunnah” to itself, is basing everything on the Qur’an and Sunnah based on the understanding of the first three generations of Islam. But they put more emphasis on hadith (sayings, actions and approvals of the Messenger of Allah) with a pedagogical approach. To display that he has an unmatched prowess in that kind of knowledge, AbdulJabbar ventured into the altercation head on. 

That coincided with the emergence of Kano as one of the headquarters of the Shi’a sect, (with whatever you come to Kano, you will find someone/something better). The Darikah Ulama are divided into two, pertaining engagements with Shi’a. While many of their scholars are suspicious about them, some have embraced them for their (Shi’a) near similar stand on the status of the progenies of the Messengerof Allah. AbdulJabbar is one of those who were influenced by the doctrines of Shi’a. He started to turn to their books, which contained condemnation of the companions of the Messenger of Allah and rejection of what they reported directly from the Messenger of Allah. When he went to Iraq for studies, he met many adherents of Shi’a and, consequently, became influenced by their stand on the companions of the Prophet and Hadith.

Thence, AbdulJabbar decided to wage a war on Izala in an unprecedented way – through the condemnation and destruction of the entire Sunni school of thought- to which Izala held on tightly and proudly. Prior to this, no scholar have ever tried that. In addition, all the Darikah scholars believe that they are Ahlussunah, they have no problem with the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). Their problems with Izala is only that of definition, meaning or translation. The Izala, too, according to some scholars among them, agrees that yes the Darikah adherents are Ahlussunnah, in a “broader meaning”, while they (Izala) are the specific/real Ahlussunnah. 

Another influence of Shi’a, specifically the Zakzaky faction, on AbdulJabbar, is the “heedless” confrontational approach. He decided to confront Izala in a “heedless” manner similar to the Zakzaky faction of Shi’a. He failed to decipher that Zakzaky faction only display “heedlessness” while confronting the government, but when it comes to the Shi’a doctrine, specifically on the companions of the Prophet, they apply the  “Taqiyyah”. AbdulJabbar didn’t learn the wisdom behind Taqiyyah, because he thinks that if if he didn’t disrobe himself from the Sunnah he can’t say anything (to suppress Izala) when it comes to “knowledge driven discussions.”

He started by insisting that most of the Ibadat undertaken by Izala were not based on the Sunnah of the Prophet but based on innovations from his companions. He, then started discussing the “innovations of the Sahaba”, giving more emphasis on the second CalIph, Umar. This exposed how deep he was influenced by the Shi’a. He spent time discussing “the fifty innovations” that were smuggled into Islam by Umar.

The fundamental thing that AbdulJabbar failed to realize, when he started his “heedless” sojourn, was that he was invalidating the whole jurisprudence that were in practice by every Muslim who was not a Shiite. He failed to understand that he was, indeed, attacking every Muslim.

When he started this, the scholars at his home quickly realized where he was heading and the danger that lies ahead if their family is to be identified with what he was spewing. Therefore, they tried to stop him, an action that resulted in bitter disagreements between them. Consequently, he parted ways with them and started his own group for his kind of Da’awa.

The advent of Google search engine gave AbdulJabbar quick access to some writings by atheists, Muslim heretics and orientalists from the Christian scholars who satirize the Prophet and his companions. This emboldened him over his attack on Sunnah.

He immediately embarked into the process of invalidating Hadiths. His most important targets were Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, to be followed by the rest of Hadith books. His method was to establish that it was the companions who deliberately concocted  those Hadiths in order to destroy Islam after the Prophet. The Prophet didn’t utter those Hadiths. He insisted that those who reported the Hadiths knew that they were lies, concocted by the companions, but they chose to conceal the truth for over a thousand years! This is exactly the stand of Shi’a on the Hadith believed by Ahlussunnah.

To prove that the companions were against the Prophet and that they were trying to destroy his religion, AbdulJabbar decided to quote the utterances of Shi’a scholars, heretics and that of the atheists, (everything said by AbdulJabbar on this subject was copied from elsewhere, he was not the one who discovered or hypothesized them, as he boastfully claims), that asserts that the companions have disrespected and ridiculed the Prophet, or that they (the companions) have invented some things into Islam that could never have been from the Prophet (PBUH).

This is what the scholars termed as challenging the “Dirayah” (the part of knowledge that ascertain whether or not the import or meaning of a hadith is in concurrence with the shari’ah) instead of challenging the Hadith from the angle of its authenticity or not, through observing the chain of reporters (Riwayah). 

AbdulJabbar used both approaches, but he took an opposing stand to that of the scholars of Hadith’s principles that “a hadith couldn’t be faulted on the basis of the companion who reported it, because all the companions are deemed trustworthy and honest (specifically when reporting what the Prophet said)”. He, instead, selected the stand of Shi’a that asserted that the fault of a companion is also the fault of any hadith from him, notwithstanding who followed in the chain of the narrators.

Muslims in this country have been reading these books and other commentaries on them from the day Islam came into this country, they’ve never heard anyone interpreting them with such bizarre meanings as did AbdulJabbar. But he kept misinterpreting them – as the Judge said in his rulings – “without showing or pointing the exact words in the books, and it was not an interpretation with meaning (which is lawful) but that -as he (AbdulJabbar) claimed- it was an interpretation with a “Shubhul “Ma’na.” 

Therefore, to all Muslims in this country, with the exception of the Shi’a, AbdulJabbar’s failure to point the exact offensive words he alleged were uttered by the companions, meant that those reprehensible words were his, and he is the one who invented those words against the Prophet (PBUH). This ignoble act, prompted all the Muslims in Kano that bear the name of Ahlussunnah, even if it is the “broader meaning” of Ahlussunnah, to merge in order to fight this menace which is simply Shiism in the garb of Sunnah.

The merger scholars were victorious in pressuring the government to prosecute AbdulJabbar. The judge sentenced him according to the Malikiyya school of thought, using the verdict from “As-shifa”, a book made famous by the family of AbdulJabbar for reading it always in public. It was disclosed that the stand of Imam Malik is that “anyone who report offensive comments on the person of the Messenger of Allah, and eventually failed to prove it, will be deemed as the one making the offensive statement, and is liable to be sentenced to death.”

When AbdulJabbar came out “heedlessly” to proselytize Shiism using the garb of Sunnah, in order to suppress Izala, he was oblivious of this statement from “As-shifa”. Eventually, the verdicts of the book have consumed him. He had also forgotten that, by so doing he will be fighting every segment of the Muslims who are not Shi’a. Now the merger has consumed him. He had also forgotten that though it is said that in this country everyone can say whatever he likes, due to Freedom of Speech, the shariah law is exercised in Kano. Now he is consumed by Shariah. 

Overzealousness in sectarianism should be avoided by all, please. 

Translated by Muhammad Mahmud.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

An Upper Shariah Court sitting at Kano has sentenced the controversial Kano Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru-Kabara, to death for blasphemy.

Delivering the much-anticipated judgement on Thursday, the presiding judge, Ibrahim Yola, declared the defendant guilty and hereby sentenced him to death by hanging.

The embattled cleric was charged to court by the Kano State Government after making comments deemed blasphemous to the personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Before delivering the judgement, the presiding judge said he was convinced that the prosecution did their part and had proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

He said: “I am convinced that the prosecution counsel has done their part and proven their points beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Before the conviction of the defendant, the embattled cleric had disowned his lawyer, Aminu Abubakar, in court and interjected his plea for mercy. Mr Abubakar had opined the cleric acted in ignorance.

Abduljabbar Nasiru-Kabara stated that he did not know the lawyer nor needed the court’s mercy. He added that he would die a hero.

The Daily Reality learnt that Abduljabbar was quoted as saying: “I don’t know him. This is the first time I am seeing him. He should not be allowed to speak on my behalf. I can and should be allowed to speak for myself,” he said.

Speaking further, Abduljabbar said: “My lord, after I heard how you twisted all my evidence, you turned around all my submissions upside down, you have assigned words to me that I have never uttered.

“Deliver your judgement, and I am not asking for leniency at all. I want all my followers to know that I will die a hero, and I don’t want you (the Judge) Ibrahim Sarki Yola to do me any favour or grant me leniency. This is my last word. Assalamu Alaikum.”

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Reports reaching The Daily Reality show that gunmen stormed certain towns in Gombe State on Friday night, leaving three people dead.

Unknown armed individuals assaulted the villages of Amtawalam and Pobaure in the state’s Billiri Local Government Area on Friday night, according to Adamu Kupto Dishi, the commissioner of homeland security for Gombe State.

Dishi confirmed the incident on Saturday following an emergency State Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of the state.

“We responded immediately to calls about the attack by mobilising security operatives, including the police, the military and our local vigilantes, to the area. So far, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has carried out assessment for immediate deployment of relief materials,” he said.

Security agents are presently conducting an investigation to identify individuals responsible for the heinous act, the commissioner assured.