A LETTER FROM ZINDER (DAMAGARAM)

The Hausa say Tafiya Mabudin Ilimi, that Travel is Key to Knowledge. Last April, if readers could recall, the children and I were in Sakkwato (Sokoto to you), in what I themed The Islamic-North Tour, where we were guests of His Eminence the Sultan. You may recall also that it was in Sokoto the children […]

The Hausa say Tafiya Mabudin Ilimi, that Travel is Key to Knowledge. Last April, if readers could recall, the children and I were in Sakkwato (Sokoto to you), in what I themed The Islamic-North Tour, where we were guests of His Eminence the Sultan. You may recall also that it was in Sokoto the children met History (for them) in the person of former President Shehu Shagari, Turakin Sokoto, with whom they had a picture taken and shared on this page.
MAIDUGURI ALAS!
This holiday I had so desperately hoped to take the children to the natural second destination on The Islamic-North Tour – Maiduguri. I would have wanted the children to see the Shehu in his Royal Palace and Council, to experience Kanuri culture and cuisine, to see the legendary horses which gave meaning to the Hausa adage – Kara wa Borno Dawaki. Alas! Maiduguri is not yet ready for us. (It was partly to compensate for this inability to visit that this page last week lamented that ancient city’s situation; hoping, praying it does not become Our Last Stand. May Allah make Maiduguri safe for its inhabitants and safe enough for us to visit during the next holidays, amin.)
EBOLA HOLIDAY
As we contemplated on what to do with the remaining holidays after Ramadan and Sallah, bang came in Extra Time as Ebola Holidays. Meaning we had so many extra weeks to spend. So, rather than just allow the children more time with PS3 or Tom and Jerry, we did the next best thing (if we couldn’t visit Borno); we went ‘abroad’, although not ‘overseas’. We went over into Niger Republic, visiting Maradi and Zinder (Damagaram), with Kusugu Well in Daura as a collateral advantage, or ribar kafa. (Remember, the children of the Nigerian elite studying abroad have since resumed school).
GEOGRAPHY HISTORY
Niger Republic, an almost-wholly Hausa-speaking country, lies between Libya to the north and Nigeria to the south, with whose northern territories it shares historical cultural ties. Its economy depends largely on the export of uranium, an important ingredient of the nuclear industry. Some coal is mined in the country, some cement is produced and petroleum has been found in commercial quantity. Being a landlocked nation, Niger relies on its southern neighbours, primarily Nigeria and Benin, to reach the coast. The country also depends on Nigeria for 70 per cent of its electrical energy.
MARADI KATSINA
Our first port of call in Niger Republic was Maradi (after, of course, traversing Katsina and Jibia on our way out). Maradi, or ‘Katsina Proper’ as some of my Niger journalist friends termed it, is to Nigeria’s Katsina what Suleja is to Zaria – bastions of Hausa traditional authority that abandoned the ancient (now Nigerian) kingdoms and founded other states rather than surrender to the Jihad forces of the early 19th Century. And near Maradi is Tsibiri – another Hausa bastion from Gobir in the Nigeria’s far north-west. We spent a day and night in Maradi and, though the Sultan was away, we visited the Palace and other interesting, historical places. Hotel Jan Gorzo (Gwarzo) was deliberately named to remind us of Bawa, the legendary King of Gobir of the mid to late 18th Century.
ZINDER DAMAGARAM
Our next stop was Zinder, also known as Damagaram, in the heart of Niger’s Hausaland. Originally the capital of Niger Republic before it was moved far west to Niamey by the French colonial masters, Zinder (together with Agades further to the North) had been an important centre on the Trans-Saharan Trade route from North Africa with southern termini in Kano and Borno. The Sultanate of Damagaram, almost half of a millennium old, was historically Kanuri in this Hausa city but, like the Fulani who hold sway in many northern Nigerian cities, the powerful Hausa language and culture subsumed the Niger Barebari as well. The city comprises three main areas. Birni, the old Hausa town, is home to the Great Mosque and the Sutan’s Palace. The Zango is the old Tuareg suburb, known for its traditional northern architecture. The Sabon Gari (or new town), lies between Birni and Zango, and is the commercial centre, known for its large market.
SULTAN ABOUBAKAR
We had the privilege of paying a courtesy call on Sultan of Damagaram Aboubakar Sanda, chairman of the Association of Traditional Chiefs in Niger (ACTN), similar to the role of our own Sultan in Nigeria. For ten years from 2001, Sultan Aboubakar had been suspended from his throne on charges of treason. But in 2011, the Supreme Court of Niger made two rulings in his favour, cancelling his suspension and reinstating him to his position as Sultan. During our visit, the Sultan was not in Council so was relaxed enough to answer the questions posed by the children who had earlier visited the Musee (Museum) where they had been ‘taught’ the history of Zinder.
OIL REFINERY
Perhaps the most important modern edifice near Zinder is Niger Republic’s oil refinery a few kilometres out of town. The Chinese struck oil in Niger’s eastern Sahara, built pipelines to transport the oil, and built a refinery near Zinder to refine it. With the finding of oil in Niger, the circle of oil finds in Chad Basin was completed – earlier, Chad, Cameroon and Sudan had struck oil in much the same geographical area. That there is oil in Nigeria’s part of the Chad Basin is no longer news, the news is when will Nigeria strike it? Most Nigerien oil ends in Nigeria now.
WATER ‘REFINERY’
Zinder has had a long history of water shortages. The French colonial masters in fact claimed this as their reason to move the capital away from Zinder to Niamey in 1926 (although, as everyone knew, the French were afraid of the Zinder Hausa Elite who refused to be subdued; and Niamey happened to be in minority territory). If Nigeria’s north could suffer acute water shortages, it would be no surprise that Damagaram, almost 300 kilometres due north from Kano and smack in the vestiges of the Sahara Desert, would suffer same. So the brilliant Chinese, after building and oil refinery, also built pipelines to transport water from the north into the city, as collateral advantage, another ribar kafa.
DAURA KUSUGU
On our way home, we stopped over in Daura where the children and I visited the famous Kusugu Well. A history lesson on Asalin Hausa Bakwai (the Myth of Origin of the Seven Hausa States) was re-lived by a guide. The children had the opportunity to do as Bayajidda did all those centuries ago – to draw water from the well, and drink it. This time, though, there was no Serpent.
HOTEL KOUREN-DAGA
To have stayed in a hotel called Kouren-Daga as Kano people showed times have really changed. Kouren-Daga happened to be the name of a 19th Century Damagaram Sultan who had inflicted so much damage on Kano – he attacked and pillaged all the way from Zinder to my own city back in the 1800. But there we stayed, in a hotel named after him.
ANFANI RADIO
At an interview at Zinder’s Anfani Radio, the children were asked the main difference between Nigeria and Niger. The answer – you just can’t imagine!
“French Bread – Baguete – is so so tough, while Nigerian bread is so so soft!”
AGAIN, MAIDUGURI
For Maiduguri, Borno, the North East and Nigeria, and for our journey through Allah’s trials, we continue to recite HasbunalLahu wa ni’imal Wakeel!