Oldest Kaduna pupil, 63, talks about inspiration

A 63-year-old man who recently enrolled at a public primary school in Kaduna State and believed to be the oldest pupil in the state said he was inspired by Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i’s free education pledge. Danjuma Aliyu, popularly called Sarkin Lambu, got enlisted into the Kachia Primary School, Kachia, as a Primary One pupil.  Aliyu, […]

A 63-year-old man who recently enrolled at a public primary school in Kaduna State and believed to be the oldest pupil in the state said he was inspired by Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i’s free education pledge.
Danjuma Aliyu, popularly called Sarkin Lambu, got enlisted into the Kachia Primary School, Kachia, as a Primary One pupil.  Aliyu, who attends lessons together with his colleagues mostly at the age bracket of his great grandchildren, said “I want to read and write and acquire a university degree. The governor promised to offer free education at primary and secondary schools and that gave me much impetus to start schooling at the age of 63 years. I hope to accomplish my aim in life.”
Sarkin Lambu said his parents were against western education and refused to send him and his siblings to school. “Our parents didn’t allow us to go to schools when we were growing up, to the extent of instructing us to hide whenever officials of the native authority were looking for children of school age. If I had attended schools then, I would have contributed a lot to the society but I hope to do that still.”
Most of the schools in the rural areas in Kaduna State are fraught with decaying facilities and lacked classroom furniture thus; Sarking Lambu had to sit on the floor of the classroom to take lessons like other pupils.  He was however not frustrated by the deplorable conditions and said he had made up his mind.
“The teachers decided that I start from class three but I insisted that I had to start from the beginning like my colleagues.”

Sarkin Lambu has a wife, eight children and 10 grandchildren.