‘I think pupils should be taught in local languages’

What is your history?I started my education at Tudun Wada Primary School and then to the then Provisional Secondary School in Zaria now Alhudahuda College, Zaria. After school I joined the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria, BCNN as presentation Assistant or (Continuity Announcer in 1970) and later a translator. I then transferred my services with […]

What is your history?
I started my education at Tudun Wada Primary School and then to the then Provisional Secondary School in Zaria now Alhudahuda College, Zaria. After school I joined the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria, BCNN as presentation Assistant or (Continuity Announcer in 1970) and later a translator. I then transferred my services with NNN as Sub Editor before rejoining the BCNN in 1977 as Duty Editor. I was then posted to Bauchi State as the Bureau Chief, I was later transferred to Kano State as Senior Correspondent and served for 4 years during the turbulent political situation in the state. It was a very difficult stay in Kano and eventually when another year of politicking came I was transferred to Plateau State where I stayed for 40 days. I was there shortly because Umara Yahaya the correspondent died in a ghastly motor accident. It was while I was serving in Borno that the new Gov of Kano Alh Sabo Bakin Zuwo appointed me the New GM of Kano Broadcasting Corporation . My BCNN employers in Kaduna refused to allow me to go and serve because they consented that if I have accepted that position people will say that it was as a result of the work I have done to the People Redemption Party, PRP while I was in Kano. And that was not the case. But eventually an agreement was struck between my employers and Kano State government on secondment, and that was done. And while I was there after the expiration of the secondment I was transferred back to Kaduna.
I was there as the supervisor of current affiars before I was transferred to Lagos as the chief correspondent of Radio Nigeria Kaduna. While I was there I was offered the position of Director of Information in the  Kaduna State Ministry of Information where I served for four and half years before I was finally  appointed the MD of KSMC where I retired and ventured into my own private business. I retired in 1994 during the time of Governor Colonel Lawal Jafaru Isa. I then ventured into publishing. The company was registered as Garkuwa Communication and started a Hausa vernacular Newspaper called Sawaba.
 
How did you become an author?
 It is for the interest of improving the Hausa literature. I had also written many books in Hausa and some were direct translation of the famous works of the English Man Williams Shakespeare as Macbeth, Julius Ceaser and Romeo and Juliet.
 Macbeth in Hausa I called it Makau, all the characters in the book were given local names. Julius Caesar was Jarmai Ziza. Jarmai in hausa means a brave warrior, and Ziza means a beautiful girl. All this attributes is why I have all these names.
Makau is Macbeth, Duncan who was the King of Scotland is Dannau, Danco is Dankau. This is to guide any reader to understand when compared with the original book.
 
Did you introduce the book to the Ministry of Education for accreditation?
 Only one of the books has been launched. Dan Hausa was not a translation. It is a compendium of works of 52 titles each about the culture of the Hausa people. I have always wanted to write about the Hausa culture since I was a child. And I will take every aspect of it to write a short story and then make it a poem which will convey the exact meaning. It contains the cultural ways of the Hausa people that are now almost extinct or forgotten like the “Hawan Kaho” similar to the Spanish bull fighting, like
“Sharo” done by the Fulani to show their prowess and ability to endure hardship and to also seek the hands of their heartthrob.
 
Did you make comparison with what is obtained now or you just recalled history?
 I did not do comparison. I did it for the younger ones to appreciate the past.
 
You come from a large family. How many children did your father have?
 Twenty-eight at the time of the death of our father. I am the ninth. The eldest was Aminu Baba Ahmed, he died in 1981.
 
How did many of your family members end up as journalists?
 The first was Aminu who had a good broadcasting voice. We joined because we admired him very much.
 
How many Journalists do you have in your family?
 
Aminu, Khalifa, myself, the late Husaini, Malik, Abdulmalik Baba-Ahmed, Shafi’i, and now Dr Hakeem who just joined recently.

One of the people you grew up with was the Vice President Namadi Sambo. Can you tell us something about that?
 What happened was VP was our neighbour. His father’s name was Alhaji Muhammad Sambo (or Sambo Jama’a) a retired railway staff. When he retired in 1964, he settled in Tudun Wada and his house was just opposite my father’s house, Nalado Sambo was my mate and friend, while Namadi was the friend of my late younger brother Hussain.
 When we were passing out from secondary school, Namadi Sambo was in Primary school and he used to ask me about secondary school when I would visit their house with his brother. He used to hear me talking both gases, air and many things then he will come and ask me on Science. I handed over to him all my text books and exercise books like Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. That was the tradition then. Then Younger ones will come and ask for your book. That drew him closer to me.
 
What drew you to publishing?
My father has written a lot of books in Hausa on humour, jurisprudence etc. Zaria then was the hub of learning. And this led to the prevalence of publishing and a lot of people gathered around Dr Abubakar Imam who was a famous writer and a renowned teacher. And in the Institute of administration, Sir Tafawa Balewa used to come to the house of Abubakar Imam and discussed world affairs and that was how the Northern People Congress, NPC was established under the Chairmanship of Barau Dikko. That was why they wrote to justify their positions.
Dr.Abubakar Imam was my father’s best friend. He also wrote so many books. So we developed interest in writing.
When I was in school I was the founder and editor of our school magazine called Alhudahuda. I used to receive a lot of encouragement from him and he told my father to assist me to make me achieve my goals.

How many books have you published so far?
 I have published six books so far.  They are “Yar Halas”, “Makau,” “Dan Hausa”, “Uwani Reza”, “Jarmai Ziza” and “Habiba ta Habibu” is the translation of Romeo and Juliet is in the works.

Are you writing for money, fame, to win an award or what?
For all, first to advance Hausa studies. The second is that Hausa as a language ought to be dynamic through literature. Any language that has no written literature is bound to die. That is why I have taken it upon myself to keep the Hausa language written to appeal to general readers.
 
Was the launching of Dan Hausa a success?
It was great as many people graced the occasion. And the ERC has recommended it for use in Kaduna State. Three commissioners did not bother to heed to the recommendation of the Educaton Resource Centre, ERC.
 Makau, Ziza and Dan Halas have been taken to the Institute of Nigerian Languages for the Professors and Doctors to examine them and correct the translation and the typographical errors and suggestions.
 
WASSCE result shows that about 25 percent passed Math and English, how can this anomaly of failing exams be remedied?
Our entire educational system is suffering a lot because our children are taught in an alien language at the beginning. Children are being taught at primary one in English as they have never had the language before. What about English. How can you describe an object and appreciate a language you don’t know. Unless we go back to how we were taught in our mother tongue.  It will be very difficult for our children to cope. People in the south know a lot of English word even if not pidgin English. And because of that the people teach them in pidgin in English. Even if they speak in Pidgin English they will not understand. I teach my children right from age four. If they want to read English they know the alphabets and the vowels.
 
How can the reading culture be revived?
 Television, social media and many other things have distracted children from reading. Reading is hard but watching is simple.
Even if parents are hungry the goverment can assist in buying the books for them. I don’t think hunger is a veritable cause to reduce reading culture.
 
Has the government ever bought your books and donated them to a library?
 No government but only individuals buy my books.
 
Many libraries don’t have updated and modern books, how can this be rectified?
 There is a law in Nigeria that says any publication even if it is a pamphlet must be deposited in the National Library. Many people writing books in whatever language under whatever subject eventually these books don’t find their way to the national library. Because they don’t buy the ISBN(International Standard Book Number ISBN) and ISSN (International Standard Serialisation Number). Without this, it will not be deposited in the national library.
 When they write they don’t take them to recognized publishers they patronize road side publishers to publish their books. They then lack the standard means of reaching the library. That explain why they are not regularly updated.

How much is the ISBN number?
About two to three thousand naira.
 
How much does it cost you to publish one book?
“Dan Hausa” cost me 180, 000 naira to produce 100 copies.

What is your advice to those in government, authors, parent and teachers?
 It is to sustain the book. Good and qualitative writing. As is the case with many Hausa authors, there must be a supervisory agency to guide the practice in promoting the language for them to pass the acid test. And the writers do not want their works to be criticized and to comply with the standard of writing. Eventually they will fail and their project will follow suit.
 
Will you continue publishing?
 
Yes I will always write. I am a newspaper columnist with so many papers in Hausa and English. I want to select some of my best essays and put them in a book. The title is “Whither Nigeria”, and the one in Hausa “Ina mukadosa”. The columns are political essays that proffer solutions.
 
What is your concern now as an author?
 
The goverment is not patronizing authors’ work. And I have not seen any workable policy proffered by any goverment that will assist and help writers. This is needed to encourage writers otherwise the enthusiasm of various writers will be down and that would be the end of it. A woman I know has written many books in Hausa and she is not celebrated. Baidu’u Muhammad Gada