Nur Alkali: An intellectual of boundless wisdom

a former Director General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), and currently, a Professor of History at UNIMAID and a delegate at the National Conference came as a shock to most people in the land. Professor Alkali who was variously described as a national asset and an intellectual mountebank had quietly […]

a former Director General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), and currently, a Professor of History at UNIMAID and a delegate at the National Conference came as a shock to most people in the land. Professor Alkali who was variously described as a national asset and an intellectual mountebank had quietly passed on in his sleep early morning Saturday at a time when “his services were desperately and importantly needed” especially in helping the country address its current challenges. Undoubtedly, the demise of Prof Alkali is a personal loss to many people, the academia, Nigeria and humanity.
 For many individuals like me in and out of UNIMAID, Prof Alkali was an inspiring leader and mentor who played very remarkable roles in our professional growth and development. He saw us grow from being students to becoming Professors in our chosen disciplines. He encouraged the Departments to recommend their top graduating students for retention irrespective of their backgrounds. The current Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima and many other graduates of the University like me were recruited upon graduation and immediately sent on training purely based on the recommendations of our Departments and not because of any lobby or state of origin. Indeed, Professor Alkali will be remembered as one of the top Nigerian and African History teachers and educational administrators who planted fertile seeds that bloom and blossom as summer flowers.
My last encounter with the Professor was sometime in the earlier months of 2013 when I met him after our monthly Senate meeting at the University of Maiduguri. I walked up to him, greeted him and, as usual we talked about the Department of Mass Communication where I was the head. He had a very passionate relationship with the Department since its establishment in 1983 by Professor Jibril Aminu when Nur Alkali was a Director and later Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor. So, while Jibril Aminu conceived and gave birth to the Mass Communication Department, Nur Alkali midwifed and saw the Department to maturity. Since then, he had related with the Department and its staff positively. On that day, I informed him that I have done much in writing the biography of Professor Jibril Aminu, the man who persuaded him to relocate to UNIMAID; therefore, I would like to plead with him to grant me an audience for a chat on his relationship and experiences with Aminu. Instantly, he welcomed the idea and said “definitely, I have much to say. Make sure you have received my inputs”. I thanked him and we parted.
Professor Alkali was a thoroughbred scholar who had extensively researched and written on the Borno Empire and the surrounding lands. He had also written on Islam and religious uprisings in Northern Nigeria in the latter periods. He was not just a historian who studied the past but an individual who utilized lessons from the past to shape his contemporary handling of modern day reality. Professor Alkali studied at the Abdullahi Bayero College before it was transformed into the Bayero University where he obtained his degrees in History from the Ahmadu Bello University. Based on excellent performance, he was retained by the new Bayero University as a Lecturer and later appointed the pioneer Director of General Studies. In 1980, he reluctantly agreed to accept the invitation of the newly appointed Vice Chancellor of UNIMAID, Professor Jibril Aminu (who was also drafted back to Nigeria from the Medical School of Howard University, Washington DC).
When Aminu approached Nur Alkali through his Registrar, Alh. Dahiru Bobbo who was Nur’s good friend, the former politely but firmly rejected the offer insisting that he was not willing to leave BUK for Maiduguri. But, eventually, persistent Aminu and Bobbo persuaded Nur to relocate to Maiduguri as a Senior Lecturer in History. He worked and held positions like the Director of General Studies, Chairman of Committees, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Modibbo Adama Campus of UNIMAID in Yola) and eventually a two term Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri from 1985-1992.
As the Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Prof Alkali consolidated on the physical and academic developments recorded by his predecessors, Professors Essien Udom and Jibril Aminu. He attracted government and private funding to build new hostels, students centre, staff houses and Faculty and Departmental complexes in addition to improving municipal services on campus. Equally, Professor Alkali supervised the rapid expansion of the University in terms of intake and staff recruitment. By the time he left as the VC in 1992, the student population in the University was almost 12000. He built on the robust staff development policy laid by his predecessor in recruiting brilliant graduates and sending them for postgraduate studies in reputable Universities all over the world. He upheld and promoted the international character of the University by ensuring that the Institution retained its world class foreign and national staff recruitment system, admissions and honoring of only globally, nationally and community wide acknowledged individuals; plus active academic engagements that attracted the attention of notable scholars and institutions worldwide. I can still remember the encomiums then President Babangida poured on the management of the University on the occasion of the commissioning of the current massive complex of the Faculty of Agriculture built during Alkali’s leadership in 1991. President Babangida was visibly impressed with the quality and cost of the building that he said so loudly. Little wonder that immediately Alkali’s second term ended, the President appointed him the Director General of the National Institute of Strategic Studies, Kuru-Jos. As the DG, he also served as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee during the reign of General Abacha.
Having completed two terms at NIPSS, Muhammad Nur Alkali returned to the University of Maiduguri as a Professor in History. But even while he was away, he continued to supervise postgraduate students at the Masters and PhD levels. He reintegrated himself in the University and participated actively in academic and non academic activities.  He taught in the Department and was always regular in the Senate. However, while he was adjusting to settle, he was invited by the Government of Alh Bukar Abba Ibrahim in Yobe to chair the Committee on the establishment of the State University. He did that efficiently and was subsequently appointed the pioneer coordinator and Vice Chancellor of the Yobe State University until 2007 when he left the position and returned to his base in Maiduguri where he continued as a Professor and took over the Directorship of the University’s Centre for Trans Saharan Studies from the late Professor Kyari Tijjani.
Professor Alkali was a fine writer as well as a delightful public speaker whose speeches were always exciting, educating and uplifting to listen. I was never bored listening to him at occasions or on television. He was endowed with an impeccable diction and elocution that espoused a unique style of writing characterized by careful selection of words and a sonorous voice   that engaged his listeners from the beginning till end.
A father of ten, Professor Alkali’s contribution in the development of education in the North East and University of Maiduguri cannot be listed easily. As a resourceful, revered and renowned teacher, his hands were all over the place. He was a pioneer in many respects, an advocate, facilitator, mentor & Professor that had touched the lives of many.  As a Graduate Assistant studying outside Nigeria, I was exchanging personal letters with Prof Alkali, then as the Vice Chancellor. He would reply every of my letters in his handwriting and encourage me to work hard. Today, his personal letters are among my cherished personal collections. In the death of Muhammad Nur Alkali, Nigeria has lost a strategist, tactician and organizer; a teachers’ tactful teacher; a dogged researcher; an Intellectual of boundless wisdom and a Professor that championed political and economic freedom.
We can only continue to pray and thank the Almighty Allah for Professor Alkali’s resourceful sojourn on earth; like any mortal, he gladly yielded to the final call when it came. May Allah (SAW) grant him eternal rest, forgive his mistakes and grant his family, relatives and associates the fortitude to bear the loss.
Professor Pate writes from the Department of Mass Communication  Bayero University, Kano