Science and Technology

By Rabiu Muhammad Gama

Prof. Yuval N. Harari might be a fake scholar, as some critics are desperately “begging” us to accept and believe. Some critics also imply that he might be the most grossly over-hyped and rigorously marketed scholar in the West. Harari might be basking in unearned attention. He might even be an irritating know-it-all or an intellectual nuisance.

The scientific community might have debunked most of his claims. His works might be riddled with some historical and scientific errors here and there. He might not deserve the wide global acclaim he is receiving today. His works might be replete with idle speculations and groundless generalizations that many scholars find annoying.

However, you cannot dismiss the fact that Harari always asks the big questions – the earthshaking questions that every intellectual worth his salt should be obsessed with. And there’s some “indismissable” magic that seems to clothe his books: when you read his books, you can’t help but feel a bit smarter and/or more informed than anyone who hasn’t read them.

To say Harari is highbrow is a sheer understatement. He is a perfect definition of a polymath. He is blessed with an unusual brain, a razor-sharp brain. His grasp of the esoteric world of science and the humanities is as baffling as it is admirable. Very few scholars can merge science and the humanities as Harari does.

If anything, the torrent of bashings and roastings that Harari is receiving lately from some of the finest critics in the world is a testimony that he has come up with something fascinating that makes his readers curious and his critics restless. Of course, some people might like to dismiss him as a mere talented storyteller. Nonetheless, and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, he is one of the greatest intellectuals around!

Rabiu Gama wrote from Kano, Nigeria via rabiumuhammadgama0@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

A Nothern Nigerian technology firm, Engausa Global Tech Hub, has trained and certified 1353 persons, including men and women, in different modern technical skills in its effort to reduce the rate of the ravaging unemployment affecting the country.

In attendance at the certification event were the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Malam Kashifu Inuwa, and representatives of the Emir of Kano and Emir of Karaye, among other dignitaries.

Speaking on the purpose of establishing the firm and training the young people, the founder of the firm, Engr Mustapha Habu Ringim, said they had saddled themselves with the responsibility to train young people in digital technology in their mother tongue (Hausa).

He added that every human has the right to learn technology through his mother tongue, and “ENGAUSA is here to break barriers and bridge gaps” in teaching technology.

“We brought out those who speak Hausa, even if they understand Arabic or English, to train them,” according to Engr. Ringim.

While commending dignitaries on the high table, Mr Ringim said his firm wouldn’t have achieved all it achieved in the past three years without their collective efforts, stressing that he could not have done the work alone.

He noted that you mustn’t understand English before you begin to innovate, as there is what is called formal and informal education.

“Here in Northern Nigeria, we have this misperception that anybody who is not into formal education is not regarded as a literate person. This is a big mistake because the basis of this formal education you see was developed from non-formal education.

“One of our most significant efforts is getting these over 1000 young people we just concluded training. And it’s only for this year. In the year 2020, we trained over 300 people. This is proof that the knowledge of science and technology can be learned in one’s mother tongue because that was when we started featuring innovative young people, like Osama. Now, Osama owns a firm, and any is an employer.

“We also have Muhammad, who fabricated an excavator made from cartons and has now started fabricating a solar-powered generator. The BBC came here and covered what we were doing at Engausa. The news went viral. Afterwards, Muhammad is also now an employer.

“If these young people didn’t get to understand that we at Engausa teach in Hausa [mixed with English], they wouldn’t have come here to get trained,” Ringim is quoted as saying.

The firm’s founder further noted that by bridging the gap in the medium of imparting knowledge of technology, Engausa is in no way discouraging its learners from acquiring knowledge of the English language because efforts are underway to begin English, Arabic and French classes.

“We are doing all these because we have understood that the language barrier is one of the reasons that bar our people from understanding Mathematics, Physics and so on,” he said.

Another milestone achieved is that of those trained previously; about a hundred of them now own their own firms.