‘What the educated can do, an illiterate can do better’

I grew up in Kano and came to Minna to study the Qur’an as an almajiri. I do not know my age or birthday because at the time I was born, parents did not really pay attention to birth dates. Not too long after I came into the city, government started clamping down on street […]

I grew up in Kano and came to Minna to study the Qur’an as an almajiri. I do not know my age or birthday because at the time I was born, parents did not really pay attention to birth dates. Not too long after I came into the city, government started clamping down on street begging all over the place because they did not want us on the streets. This forced me to start looking in other directions through which I could sustain myself. That is how I started hawking oranges.

The one thing I remember about growing up which I wish did not happen or at least ought to have happened differently, is the fact that I did not go to a formal school. In those days when educationists came to our village to encourage us to go to school, our parents would hide us under the bed so that we could go to farm instead of going to school.

Many parents would declare a false number of children they had so that some go to school while the rest went to farm. Unfortunately, I fell in the latter category.

After a series of such hiding games, a malam met with parents asking to take their children to different parts of Nigeria in order to learn the Qur’an. Fifty of us were sent to various destinations. That is how I ended up in Minna from where I started to learn the Qur’an as an almajiri.

How did you survive being an almajiri and evolve from that?

When the government stopped us from going about begging, people started hiring us to hawk oranges, kola nuts and other items for them. If we sold a thousand naira’s worth of commodity, they would give us two hundred naira N200. So, I began saving these N200s until my brother asked me to stop hawking and come to join his business. I started selling chicken. I would sometimes buy on credit and when I sold off would pay the people I bought from and then buy again. In no time, I became Mai Kaza (that’s where the name originated) and my customer base grew to the point that I became a supplier to the Shiroro Hotel among other clients, on a regular basis. I ventured into supplying cows, and traveling to Kano to buy groundnut oil for supplies. I suffered o, no be small, but I had a goal and was not discouraged by the temporary hardship.

In this time, my spirituality developed a great deal. That also drew people to me as they came for prayers believing that Allah always answered the prayers of an almajiri.

It was during this time that I got married and was able to rent a house and had two children and also was regarded as a prayer don. Not long after I took a second wife and had two more children and also bought a parcel of land on which I built my own house

What was the motivating factor for you?

I have always believed in myself and fervently prayed for my success. It continually hurts me that my parents deprived me from having an education and that I am an illiterate. This is my greatest motivation to do something for myself. So far, I have no regrets at all and I have not done badly. If I die tomorrow, I am confident that my kids will not suffer because I have laid a foundation for them to build on.

Is this how the idea of starting a school came about?

No, not exactly. When my children reached the age to start nursery I took them to register in a school where I paid heavily. I thought that was money enough for the year. I was surprised when in the second term the proprietress asked me for more money for fees. I challenged her asking what she did with the one I paid before. After she rudely schooled me on payment modalities and requirements, I began pleading with her for time so I could raise the fee since it was not pre-planned. She literarily walked me out of her office. In my anger I told her I too was going to own a school in Minna. She mocked me saying, ‘You illiterate; how do you ever think you can own a school; how will you run it?’ I told her that as long as there is life there is hope and that by the Grace of Allah my school will open.

Right there and then I spoke to some of the teachers who gave me a rough idea of what it entailed to start off a small nursery school. I gave some people who were willing to help me realise my dream some money to buy a blackboard, chalk and a few other materials. That was how, with my four children, I started my school in one of the bedrooms in my house, the following day.

Within two weeks, I had 40 children in my school. By the end of that term, there were 250. In one year the number had increased to 1,000. Today there are 2,100 of them. I have 71 teachers of which 30 are university graduates and 41 NCE holders. I have never delayed their salary or compromised the standard and quality of education we give to the children.

Considering your rise from almajiri  to success symbol, what do you say about the almajiri as it is today?

I am totally against the notion of able-bodied teens or even children begging. The original meaning of the word almajiri is one who has migrated from his home to another location in search of knowledge. That was my case. But today it is synonymous with homeless street children many of whom have become nuisance. I will readily give money to a blind or other physically challenged person but not to a full-bodied one.

The interesting thing is, these same people accept to be called almajiri outside their localities. But anyone back home who refers to them as such should be ready for a good fight with them. Also if they come to you begging for money and you refuse, many of them abuse you for refusing.

Young people should learn to work. Every job is honourable as long as it is decent. Many feel too big to do some certain things because they believe it is beneath them. I didn’t feel too big to hawk oranges and kola nuts or jump trucks to supply my chicken. Many today will be embarrassed to do these things. My advice is that they should pocket their pride and be more productive with their lives.

People are sometime reluctant to help them nowadays because they believe they are the ones hired to commit atrocities…

In as much as that may be relatively true, almajiris should be protected from such and be made learn to stay away from such because in the end they are on their own with nobody to stand for them. Society never has, nor have their families. This is a Northern phenomenon as you will not find an Ibo, Yoruba or any Southerner involved in such. Therefore, almajiris need to have a re-orientation of their mindset and values.

In this regard and in appreciation of the fact that the Federal Government is planning structures to accommodate them and restructure them along with others who have special needs, I am also pleading with the government to place premium on their lives. Those who have sympathy for them are the ones who should be given responsibility over their welfare; not people who will misappropriate the funds.

Another thing is family planning. This is not something we believe, here. I believe in it and practice it. There is no way we can combat the case of almajiranci with excess children. How can you give your child the best as a parent when you are running helter-skelter to care for fifteen or more of them? Even the child after a certain age will feel your provisions are inadequate and will decide to go and fend for himself.