‘Writing about Northern girl’s travails was crucial to me’

Bookshelf: At what point did you decide you needed to write ‘Memoirs of Malika’? Habiba Abdullahi Adamu: It was when I was sixteen years old and a member of the Nigerian Children’s Parliament. I was part of the passage of the children’s act and other activities, including children’s advocacy. So those experiences, coupled with the […]

Bookshelf: At what point did you decide you needed to write ‘Memoirs of Malika’?

Habiba Abdullahi Adamu: It was when I was sixteen years old and a member of the Nigerian Children’s Parliament. I was part of the passage of the children’s act and other activities, including children’s advocacy. So those experiences, coupled with the kind of community I come from, made me want to put pen to paper because I wanted to get a feeling of the true essence of life and air out my own opinions. 

There’s a glass ceiling for a girl coming from the Northern culture, some boundaries which imply there are heights one cannot attain. The fear of that made me very careful. I wasn’t scared of the challenge, but wanted to take things one at a time because I believed I could impart with my work. I have a skill in writing and thought it was a good way to do that. 

Bookshelf: The community you come from influenced your writing. How will you describe that community? 

Adamu: My mum is Hausa and my dad is Fulani. Our culture has remained a typical way of life for centuries. It’s been the same routine and isn’t easy to alter. Sometimes even when it’s not clearly seen that a barrier is put up, it actually becomes impossible for you to achieve, have an education and be empowered. A typical Fulani or Hausa community thinks self-empowerment for a woman is self-destruction because by the time you become too exposed, educated and westernised, you will let go of your culture and religious morals, almost becoming an infidel. They think if you are out there you are going to abjure your faith. That’s the whole idea of early marriage. Also, the men are usually intimidated by career driven women. Even though I can’t blame them sometimes because it does happen, so it takes a great mind to understand the bigger picture and choose the path of an amicable life.

At the same time, the community has a very beautiful culture that’s mesmerising to some extent. Sometimes the ideals of a Muslim woman and the virtues of a typical Fulani woman correlates and you think the cultural ways are the Islamic ways. In most cases the cultural norms contradict the Islamic values. 

Bookshelf: Your central character, Malika, decided to pursue her career in a society that relegates girls to the background. How much of the story comes from your personal experience?

Adamu: Malika is a reflection of certain experiences of mine and the principles I stand for. At each stage, there’s a story, a lesson and a solution. The last few chapters were reflections of my life and what I wanted to do or be. The rest is a variety of experiences because I try as much as I can to diversify. I have mixed up with different people and those of different colour. In terms of advocacy I have met certain people that have instigated a part of the writing and some stories which actually happened.

Bookshelf: How will you describe the kind of society Malikat grew up in?

Adamu: I am from the North Central of Nigeria and Malika’s entire plot and setting is in the core North, the typical Hausa community, such as Sokoto , Zamfara, and Kano. They are the areas where culture and tradition have remained very strong. Despite modernisation or Westernisation, the values are maintained no matter what. So all Malika went through is a reflection of a typical Hausa community where you are not even allowed to be a part of, not to talk of go to school. I believe that it’s not about going to school because not everybody can be successful academically. But there’s something that comes with being empowered, you are not just sitting ideal. So the society believes that once you go to school, to the university, all you do is chase men and live a life of vanity. They feel if you desire material things you should simply marry a rich man that’s arranged for you. Even though, sometimes our parents make good choices for us because they mean well, they expect what worked during their time to apply to us, not realising that we have evolved and are in the 21st Century. Even religiously, Westernisation has improved us a lot. 

Bookshelf: Culture and Islam played an important role in the part of the North where you set the story. Did you wonder whether or not, your book will cause girls to rebel?

Adamu: No, I am not saying we should let go of our culture and religious norms. We can’t because we are Africans. That’s what makes us special. What the culture is trying to portray is good, but people are going about it wrongly. It’s very necessary for us as women to respect and maintain our virtues. It makes us special. What the culture says, like get married and have children are all good because marriage brings honour to a woman. But how we do it is wrong, like when a girl is forced into marriage. Islam is a very flexible religion and doesn’t stop us from living an amicable life, living peacefully with people from different cultures and colour. Islam preaches unity, modesty and development. An ideal Muslim will know all those things. There’s a part of the Qur’an that talks about how women can be good wives, maintain their virtues and the essence of modesty. It hasn’t stopped us from being modest. There are very beautiful ways of dressing and people are even trying to copy the culture, particularly in terms of our weddings where we use the henna. I am proud to be a Fulani girl. But I am trying to tell girls that we should know our place in the society. God created us out of the man to become partners.

Bookshelf: How did you start writing?

Adamu: I started writing in JSS two or three where I belonged to the Young Readers Club and the Press Club. One of the people that really encouraged me to start writing was my late teacher, Mrs. Odeshola, who was in charge of the Young Readers Club. We always went out for reading competitions. There were some book we used to read that really impacted my writing, such as ‘Sizwi Banzi is Dead’, ‘Passport of Mallam Iliya’, ‘Chike and the River, ‘Things fall Apart’, and so on. My first piece was on my teacher who inspired me. I came second place for that essay and it opened a new world entirely for me. I started tutoring children and read stories for them in my quarters. I soon realised I needed to find a solitary place to write.