I was honoured in Niger for reviving folklore – Dr. Bukar Usman

What informed your visit to Niger Republic this time around? The writers associations in Nigeria and Niger Republic invited me to come and attend this international conference which coincided with the United Nations day for mother tongue. They wanted to honour me in recognition of my efforts in the revival of folklore. That informed my […]

What informed your visit to Niger Republic this time around?
The writers associations in Nigeria and Niger Republic invited me to come and attend this international conference which coincided with the United Nations day for mother tongue. They wanted to honour me in recognition of my efforts in the revival of folklore. That informed my coming to Niger Republic. But again, I had been looking forward to any invitation whether for this honour or for another, having reached seventy years of age. It is unfortunate that for a country that is as close to us as Niger, the communication between us is so bad. Otherwise, why shouldn’t I know Niamey the capital of Niger? So, as soon as I got the invitation, I was very enthusiastic to come. Nothing could have discouraged me from coming. There is a flight between Abuja and Niamey twice in a week, but I decided to come by road because I wanted to see the country side. I wanted to experience how the people live. Is it true that the desert encroachment in the country side is serious? Well, I could see as I travelled by road that some parts of Nigeria are even more deforested than some parts of Niger. I was surprised.
This three-day conference, how do you assess the proceedings?
You can see the number of enthusiastic participants in terms of paper presentations. In fact, it is a question of time rather than the question of papers. Even the three days that have been set aside, I realized as it appeared that we have to give people about ten minutes to present their papers for some questions to follow. Ideally, people should feel very relaxed and have sufficient time to discuss questions to be asked, but we realized that people come from very far – imagine from Kano to Niamey we spent seventeen hours nonstop travelling by bus and by road. So, if you journey alone by road you know how difficult it is. Fortunately the roads were good. For most part of the journey, the road was very good as far as we are concerned. It was only the distance, otherwise the journey was comfortable. In terms of the output of the conference, it was very rich. We had about 20 Professors from Bayero University, Kano; Danfodio University, Sokoto; Kaduna State University; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Umaru Musa Yar-adua University, Katsina and others. They all came here to mix up with their fellow academicians in the Republic of Niger. And you could see the enthusiasm with which people were talking both in Hausa, French and English.
As a folklorist, how has the conference made an impact on you?
The conference has impacted me positively. In fact, we took the opportunity to also distribute to people some books I published on folklore. At least it is a forum which can enhance academic activities.
Any plan for the future? As a writer what are you going to do to develop indigenous languages as a result of what you have learned in this conference?
You are already aware that my book about languages disappearance is coming out very soon and so that is part of it. I believe people who would read this book that is coming out in the next few months will be of help in spreading the messages in that direction.