Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has produced an unimaginable number of personalities that

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER

Editor-in-ChiefDr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora

Ph.D FPSN, FPcharm, mni (Wakilin Maganin Zazzau)

Deputy Editor-in-ChiefBraide Olufunmilayo Olasumbo

Ph.D, PP, JP

Managing EditorSam Agbi

EditorMadina Azaki

Deputy EditorLubem Gena

Sub-EditorArc Ibrahim Sani Khali, Ph.D

Bashir Munir

Consulting EditorSimon Imobo-Tswam

ContributorsTunde Ogundele

Arc. Lawal Muhammed Yusuf

CorrespondentsDcn. David LambertHaj. Hafsat Ibrahim

Finance Department/MarketingEngr. Maimaje Ibrahim Abdullahi, FNSE

Hosea Yashim BomanMahmud Muhammed Danjuma,

MNES, MPPAN

MarketingLeonard Oru

AuditorDr. Haruna Mohammed Jumare,

FCNA, P.hD, FCPA, FIPFM, Mnim(Maradin Zazzau)

Legal AdviserMohammed Abdallah Benisheikh

Advisory BoardMrs. Gloria Dubi Itiveh

Mrs. Tina AgbasiBldr. Sa’eed Suleiman Darazo

Dear esteemed readers, It is indeed the pleasure of the editorial board of this great alumni maga-zine to welcome you to this full-packed edition. It is an edition that can simply be described as “unputdownable.”From the cover page’s first word to the very last word contained herein, the team has ensured that only the best is offered to you on a platter that is, at once, informative, educative, entertaining as well as refreshingly au-thoritative. In this edition, we are proud to present to you great personalities who have been drilled into the knots and bolts of their career courtesy of the charac-ter, charisma and content that the institution was able to imbue into them. They are forever appreciative to this all-embracing institution. When we came knocking on their doors to have a chat with them and con-sequently capture them into this edition, we were dazed at how, in spite of their busy and extremely tight schedules, our distinguished alumni en-thusiastically opened their doors for us. In this edition, we present to you Nigerians of timber and calibre, among them the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP) Ibrahim Kpotum Idris. To underscore the importance the association accords the Alumni Maga-zine, I personally led the Editorial Team to the IGP’s office for the interview. You will enjoy it. Equally, we beamed our searchlight on our distinguished alumnus who are presiding over the affairs of four out of the seven states in the North-East Geo-political zone of this country. These are: Their Excellencies, Governors Ibrahim Geidam, Darius Ishaku, Ibrahim Dankwambo and Ibrahim Moham-med of Yobe, Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi respectively. They are worthy am-bassadors of ABU, and the Alumni Association is proud of their landmark achievements as they hold these positions of trust. We can only wish them the best. We also have spotlight-interviews with the deans of the three faculties of the university during which they spoke about the journey they have so far made in their respective faculties. They are: Professors Funmilayo Alabi, Haruna Kazeem and Umar Usman Pateh. You will learn from them that their lives revolve around selfless service to our fatherland, in particular, and mankind, in general. We proudly show-case them as our shining stars. We deeply appreciate them. Distinguished, alumni, readers, ladies and gentlemen, this edition equal-ly parades two of our illustrious brothers in the persons of the Directors-Generals of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Alh. Abdullahi Sabo Muku, and that of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi. They shared with us (and you) their contributions to national devel-opment and their visions for their respective agencies. Characteristically, we have chronicled our immediate-past events namely the Annual General Assembly (AGA) and Lecture/Dinner ceremony, which featured awards to deserving members. The events which were attended by the creme de la creme or Who is Who in Nigeria and beyond did not only serve the purpose it was meant for, it equally metamorphosed into a cred-ible platform for happy re-unions, the cross-fertilisation of ideas and above all, charting a new course for our association. And to spice up the magazine for happy reading, we have served you the memorable moments generously captured in photographs. And for variety, this edition has informed commentaries on topical social issues such as corruption, the girl-child education, climate change, agri-culture, sports, lifestyle, personality profiles etc. Worthy of note is the fact that, our association has done well already. Such details are captured. We have embarked on projects, completed some and others are either on-going. Yet there is still a long way to go. We must brace up. No doubt, we are a moving train. We left the station several years ago and no one is standing on our way. We are unstoppable. Glory goes to the vi-sion of the founding fathers of this institution and God, the Almighty.Happy reading and warm regards.

Sam Agbi. JP

ABU ALUMNI MAGAZINE 3

Managing EditorSir. Andy Ehanire

OUR MISSION Supporting our Alma-Mater’s effort to transit from a great Nigerian University into a world-class institution through our promotion of Research, Teaching, Learning and Com-

munity Development.

OUR VISIONTo make ABU the first among equals and the best among the lot.... through strategic Alumni inkages as well as deli-

brate and sustained pay-back measures

TEMPLATE/GUIDELINES FOR A.B.U. ALUMNI BRANCH ACTIVITIES 1. Branch update on Database and Members welfare: eg. Appointments. Promotions, transfers, retirements, child birth, birthdays, obituaries, etc. (career, family, social matters.) 2. Capacity building by way of in-house talks/lectures. Exchange of strategic information (Networking).3. Updates on A.B.U. and issues relating to the needs.4. Facilitation of liaison with A.B.U. e.g. Admissions, Transcripts, intercession, etc. 5. Community Service: Areas requiring display of social responsibility within Branch locality - such as public enlightenment campaign, charity, etc. 6. Banch Management matters e.g. Monthly Dues, Levies, elections, bye laws. 7. Planning AGA Home Coming representation. 8. Fundraising for Projects and Programs. 9. Committees may be set up for aspects of Branch Programs.

A.B.U. ALUMNI DUE DILLIGENCE GUIDE A.B.U., the quintessential brand. A.B.U. Alumni Associa-tion, your life-long constituency with strategic links. Please check your alumni compliance status. 1. Are you registered? Get Branch membership at State of residence and Chapter membership with Faculty / De partmental group. 2. Find meeting dates to “fellowship” and network on social and professional issues. Offer to host a meeting; share strategic information to boost capacities.3. Make concerted community impact, including social groups in need. Assist alumni Corpers (NYSC) within your base. 4. Establish links with alma mater and orchestrate group or individual support through Branch, Chapter and Advancement Office. Specify special projects for students’ welfare. 5. Be up to date with membership dues, levies, etc especially Alumni Development Levy and Alumni Centre project support: these are the most basic forms of giving. 6. Plan attendance at Annual General Assembly (AGA) — Home Coming (Zaria), OR other Alumni Re-union events. 7. Be positive and kind to those you meet, because you are a leader any day! 8. Together we can make A.B.U. and Nigeria great (work in progress). For details visit : www.abu.edu.ng/alumni


9 COVER

I am passionate about giving back to society –Mora

My vision is to make NIMET the world’s best –Mashi

34BIOTECHNOLOGY: STAKEHOLDERS MOVE TO END MISGIVINGS IN NIGERIA

38FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE IS ADDING IMMENSE VALUE TO THE SOCIETY –PROF. ALABI

42NIGERIA’S ANTI CORRUPTION WAR: WILL A NEW APPROACH WORK?

42PHOTO NEWS

50WE ARE DOING VERY WELL DESPITE CHALLENGES –HARUNA

54ART IS WEALTH –MUKU, NAT. GALLERY OF ART DG

60ALUMNI PERSONALITY: ATIKU ABUBAKAR

63ABU ALUMNI SHOULD GIVE BACK TO THEIR ALMA–MATER

70ABU’S QUINTESSENTIAL BRANDS

77WORDS ON MARBLE

84SPORTS

16HEALTH INTERVIEW: ONLY 20,000 PHARMACIST ARE SERVING 180M NIGERIANS - PATEH

When the present National Executive Commit-tee (NEC) of our highly esteemed Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association was

elected on that historic day of Saturday, 15th Au-gust,2015 in the Senate Chamber of ABU, Main Cam-pus, Samaru, Zaria, I came out with a clear mission to salvage the membership profile of the Association.States and township branches as well as Faculty-

based chapters must be in existence as real organs of the Association as per the Constitution. It was in view of this that in less than ninety (90) days after our elec-tions, the first ever workshop for a total of 161 Deans, DeputyDeans, assistant Deans,heads of Department and Faculty officers as well as Directors of the univer-sity was organized by the association. It was titled-”Establishment and Revival of Faculty Based Chapters as Instruments for Dynamic ABU Alumni Association”.The National Presidentdelivered the keynote ad-

dress at the workshop on Friday, 30th October,2015 in the Assembly Hall, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria and was declared opened by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Garba. At the end of the keynote address, participants were organized into several groups and each was allocated a sub topic arising from the keynote address in an attempt to articulate easier ways of forming Faculty-based chapters within the university.The resolutions from the group’s findings were sent

to each Faculty immediately after the workshop.An-other set of correspondences were also addressed to all the Deans as a reminder by the National President, earlier in the month of January 2017. The faculties have adequately responded by presenting the two (2) delegates as their individual representatives dur-ing the 11thAnnual General Assembly (AGA), which took place on 15thOctober, 2016 in the Assembly Hall. Many thanks too for the timely coordination of the Director of the Directorate of University Advance-ment (DUA).Similarly, the Faculty of Agriculture Alumni Associa-

tion came on board shortly after to add to the ABU Pharmacy Alumni Association (ABUPAA), which was established in 1994 and inaugurated in 1997.To date, it appears to be the first and most organized of the Faculty -based chapter of the Association.During the year 2016, all the Vice Presidents were

mobilized and supported to tour the states under their control and establish or reactivate branches where these were lacking.All the Vice Presidents ex-cept one toured their states and presented or sent in encouraging reports. It was probably arising from these positive responses that one of the resolutions emanating from the 11th AGA that the assembly ap-proved for the National President to embark on a nation -wide tour for the purpose of galvanizing a membership drive and to also further augment the efforts of the Vice Presidents in consolidation of their earlier efforts along this direction.Consequent to this, therefore, arrangements are

presently at advanced stages for the first ever nation-wide tour by any National President of the associa-

tion for membership drive and arousing conscious-ness from within the ranks and file of members of the ABU Alumni Association in the northeast geopoliti-cal zone of the country as the first of the phases of the visit. The National President would be accompa-nied by the Vice President (North east); the Secretary General; National Legal Adviser, Bldr Sa’idu Suleiman Darazo (Ex-officio member),the Director, DUA and secretarial staff from the national secretariat.Already, a second round of letters of notification has

been sent to each of the state chairmen in Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa and Gombe as well as the Governors of the states for courtesy calls when-ever the entourage of the National President reach each of these states.Indeed, four out of the six Governors within the

states of the North east are alumnus of the great ABU. The itinerary has been drafted in such a way that a night would be spent in Bauchi, Damaturu and Jalingo, as well as up to three nights in Gombe, where the Governors are old students as a mark of respect.There will be interactive sessions with a cross section of the ABU Alumni members in each of the states to be coordinated by the chairmen of each of the six states.Indeed, the visits to the states are being planned to

end in Gombe, Gombe state on Friday, 24thFebruary, 2016 and with the first quarter meeting of NEC of the association scheduled on Saturday,25thFebruary, 2017,after the entire NEC members would have ar-rived in Gombe to link up with the entourage of the National President and collectively pay a courtesy call on the Governor in Government House, Gombe.All states are important and the tour to the north-

east states is to kick start the nationwide interactive sessions with members across the country as well as a courtesy call on every Governor during the visit to each state. Twelve (12) of the Governors presently are all alumnus of the great ABU, Zaria. And with the Honorable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), making thirteen (13). No university in Nigeria today has this number of distinguished alumni mem-bers in the various Government Houses in the states as the case maybe. For this, the association must reach out to them,

share with each one of them the objectives of the alumni association, and sensitize and remind them of their huge responsibilities as distinguished and privi-leged members of the ABU alumni associa-tion to the university that has trained them to become notable personalities and lead-ers with whom the NEC is very proud to be associated with. So, let the tours begin.

Ahmed Tijjani Mora, mni, Ph.D; FPC, Pharm, FPSN,mniNational President, ABU Alumni Associa-tion, February, 2017.

From the National President’s Desk


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The establishment of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) began in 1961 following the recommendation of the Ashby Commission on “Post-School Certificate and

Higher Education in Nigeria”. A Law establishing a Provi-sional Council for the University was passed by the Legisla-ture of Northern Nigeria in April while the Council itself was constituted in November 1961 under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Shettima Kashim, CBE, who later became Sir Kashim Ibrahim KCMG, CBE.

Sir Norman Stanley Alexander, a New Zealander and a Pro-fessor of Physics at the University College, Ibadan, was ap-pointed the First Principal and later Vice-Chancellor of the University in July and he assumed office in November 1961.

Ahmadu Bello University began full operations in 1962 on the cites of these educational institutions: the defunct Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, founded in 1955; the Clerical Training Centre, Kongo, founded in 1957; the Samaru Agricultural Research Station, estab-lished in 1924 and the Shika Livestock Farm, started in 1928. The University was named after Sir Ahmadu Bello (1901-1966), “the Sardauna of Sokoto” and the Premier of Northern Nigeria.

As the first Chancellor of the’ University, Sir Ahmadu Bello performed its Opening Ceremony on the 4th of Octo-ber, 1962. In 1975, the University was taken over by the Federal Government through a Decree (the Ahmadu Bello University [Transitional] Provisions Decree of 1975), thus becoming a Federal University.

Ahmadu Bello University began with the faculties of Ag-riculture, Engineering, Law and Sciences, fifteen academic Departments and 426 students. The University increased in size and scope under the successive Vice-Chancellorships of the late Professor Norman Alexander (1961-1966),

the late Professor Ishaya Audu (1966-1975), Professor Iya Abubakar (1975-1978), Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe (1978-1979), Professor Ango Abdullahi (1979- 1986), the late Professor Adamu Nayaya Mohammed (1986:-1991), Professor Daniel Saror (1991-1995), the Sole Administrator, Major General Mamman Kontagora (rtd) (1995-1998) , Professor Abdullahi Mahadi (1999-2004), Professor Shehu Usman Abdullahi (2004-2009), and Professor Abdullahi Mustapha (2010-2015). The present Vice Chancellor is Professor Ibrahim Garba.

As a result of its rapid growth, the University has been transformed into the largest and the most extensive of all the universities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The University covers a land area of about 7,000 hectares and encompasses two campuses, twelve Faculties, a Post-graduate School and 82 academic Departments. It also has five Institutes, six Specialized Centers, a Division of Agricultural Colleges, a School of Basic and Remedial Stud-ies, a Demonstration Secondary School, a Primary School and a Consultancy Outfit, which provides a variety of ser-vices to the University and the wider society.

The total student enrolment in the University’s degree and sub-degree programmes is about 35,000 drawn from every State of the Federation, Africa and the rest of the world. Currently, the University has about 1,400 academic and research staff and over 6000 non-teaching, senior and junior administrative staff. The University has also nurtured two University Colleges, AbdullahiBayero College (now Bayero University), Kano and the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa College (now Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University of Technology), Bauchi, while 27 institutions made up of Col-leges of Education, Polytechnics and Schools of Basic or Preliminary Studies are currently affiliated to it.

A PEEP INTO AHMADU

BELLO UNIVERSITY,

ZARIA



The current Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, a distingushed Alumnai of ABU, Zaria says

he joined the police to offer humanitarian service. In an ex-clusive encounter with SAM AGBI, SIMON IMOBO-TSWAM AND LUBEM GENA, he explained his stewardship, so far and where he wants the police force and the general Nigerian


We were thinking the Inspec-tor General of Police will have grey hair. That is not the case. What is the secret?Well, one should thank Almighty

God for his grace. The reality is my inheritance. My dad has the same features. And one should contin-ue to thank God because He has been good to me. I went through the university and came out at a very early age. Entered the po-lice job. And here am I today. So I thank the Almighty God.

Why did you join the police force?This is very interesting. I join the

police force obviously because of interest. My dad didn’t really want me to join the police force. He was fond of asking why I would go to the university and come out at such young age and wish to

pick a career in the police force. He wanted me to go into bank-ing but, in the end, my interest in joining the police force supersed-edhis decision.

When you say the desire to join the police, what was actually the desire?The police obviously, as you

know, is a humanitarian job. You assist humanity and, in fact, the police job covers all the aspects of life. You deal with family, commu-nity and so many issues. Protec-tion of lives and property is a hu-manitarian call. These are things that even God himself indicated in both the Islamic and Christian books. We are expected to protect lives and properties and ensure that the society is peaceful.

Several years down the line as a police officer and as the IGP

today, what would you say the police have impacted in you as a person?Just as you observed that I have

less grey hair, inspite of the stress-ful nature of the job, because it makes you obviously be up and doing. You are always busy, go-ing up and down. Like somebody who has served in various parts of this country and outside (because I served in the United Nations peace missions), which took me to different parts of the world, it, therefore, means that the police job has provided me with the op-portunity to understand the world as a whole. Not only this country. I have been to different parts of the country, Africa and several other parts of the world.

Was there any thought, when you joined the police force, that you would one day become the Inspector General of Police (IGP)?In any profession you find your-

self, the ultimate aim is for you to reach the peak. Like I said, I thank the Almighty God that I am op-portune to be where I am today. Many people will enroll into the force at the same time but only one will be able to reach here. And that takes the grace of God.

On your assumption of official as the IGP, what was the major chal-lenges that you meet on ground?Obviously, the greatest chal-

lenge we have in the Nigerian police force is, one, this country needs more police officers. We are under-policed. If you take the United Nations ratio of police and citizens, we are far below it.

Number two is the issue of the provision of logistics. In short, the funding of the police. From 2009, I remember the federal govern-

COVER


IGP Ibrahim K. Idris

ment sent a bill to the National Assembly in what is called ‘Police Security Trust Fund; which was aimed to have a sustained fund-ing of the police apart from the government budgetary provision. But that bill is still in the National Assembly. I believe by the time we get that bill passed, the police will be properly funded to tackle most of the challenges. I think these are the two major challenges the po-lice if facing now.

As a follow up to this. I know there was this issue of police equipment foundation. Was it not supposed to tackle some of these issues? From history, I am aware that

that police equipment foundation ran into some hitches. Because of that, it couldn’t go beyond where it was. We are trying to bring up another initiative. It is a sort of foundation because the police security trust (which Lagos has a similar outfit), was supposed to provide funding for the police,

which will be contributions by local, states and federal govern-ments and companies, local and foreign. It is supposed to be a first line charge. These are funds that would have run into billions. And with that I am sure that the Nigerian police will be properly equipped to address some of the

logistics problems that we are fac-ing today.

You became the IG when Boko Haram has been technically de-feated. So, you are a lucky IG. But is there anything you are doing in that direction?You know, I faced Book Haram

when I was Commissioner of Po-lice in Kano. I know what it was and the challenges we faced at that time. Just like you said, all of us should consider ourselves very lucky that that challenge the country faced has been crushed by the military with the support of other security agencies. And just as you observed, all of us are glad; whether you are a police or military officer because Boko Har-am was a challenge to the exist-ence of this country. The defeat of Boko Haram is for the advantage of every Nigerian because it has addressed the core value of this country and religious tolerance.

When you go to the police sta-

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLECOVER


Bail is free. When we say, bail is free, we mean it is free. And if anybody tries to force you to pay for bail, you are free to make a complaint to us and we will take appropriate action

IGP Ibrahim Idris (centre) posed for a picture with the members of the delegation of President Ahmed T. Mora’s during the courtesy visit and interview

tion you see the inscription, ‘the police is your friend’. You have been in the police 1984.Would you say, as a person, that the police is truly a friend of the citizens? Or is it just a public re-lations assertion?What I will say is that, as a leader

and sinceassumption of duty, we have tried our possible best to mirror our organisation to our-selves. That is why we have tried as much as possible to make sure that this message cascades down to the last citizen of this country. They should consider the police as their friends and any police of-ficer that constitutes himself con-trary to our creed should be made to face the provisions of the codes of the police. We are now trying to enhance, propagate the code of conduct for police officers to sort of portray this message. The po-lice is not just your friend in one instance but always your friend wherever you are and we should respond to the yearnings of the public. That is the international corevalue of the police that we are trying to make the officers to understand this and abide by it by

all means.

There is one issue that pitches the public against the police. The issue of bail. It is said bail is free. But is bail really free?Bail is free. The issue of right is

paramount and, as individuals, all of us should stand by our rights. If you stand by your rights, nobody can cheat you. In reality, bail is free. Like you said, it is a message which we launched in Abuja here and have gone round to every state to pass. I directed the com-missioners of police in every state to do so. I think from leadership, we have done our best. It is now left for the citizens themselves to insist on their rights; that no-body should take their rights for granted. When we say, bail is free, we mean it is free. And if anybody tries to force you to pay for bail, you are free to make a complaint to us and we will take appropriate action. Not necessarily me direct-ly, even at any level.

If you don’t pay for the bail and you are forced to sleep in the cell…..

(…Cuts in) When you sleep in the cell and come out, you can pick a civil case against the police officer that made you sleep in the cell be-cause he has violated your right.

What role is the police playing, especially as it affects Nigerian education, to ensure that cult-ism and other deviant behav-iours are checked in the society?

When I was the commissioner of police in Nasarawa state, we set up an anti-cultism task force to check such menace among our youths. And most of the commands have it now.It is unfortunate that cult-ism seems to be developing in some parts of this country as part of political culture. Most of these boys have been groomed and developed by politicians who use them for their selfish reasons. What we do now is that , all over the country, we have anti-cultism task forces in every police com-mand. And each task force is liais-ing with the university authorities and securities to see how they can control this. Some of these is-sues can be tackled through com-

COVER


CP Umar Garba (third from left) of the Force Headquarters posed for a photograph with the members of the president’s delegation


munity policing and liaising with traditional rulers, community and religious leaders to see how these youths can be enlightened. When I was CP in Kano, you will

be surprised, we had parents that were afraid of their children. It is true. People give birth to children that they cannot even control. Social fabrics in some areas have completely broken down. And that is what is giving rise to these things.

In those days, when we were growing up as children, if your fa-ther came out, you behaved your-self. But today, even some of the parents are afraid to talk to their children. That is one of the prob-lems we are facing in terms of the social aspect of our lives. It is the misbehaviour that our children are going through that is leading to issues like cultism, robbery and kidnapping. We need to tackle these through social engagement with the youths. In some places, people give birth to the number of children they cannot control. We need to be able to manage these things, so that the society will be better for it.

How would you want the Ni-gerian students, youth and the rest of the society to support the mandate of your adminis-tration?Thank you very much. When I

was in Nasarawa state, we had this anti-cultism task force. Some of these boys renounced cultism and wanted to fight for the better-ment of their lives. Let the youth put themselves together and form an association that will sup-port the police in tackling this. If we are tackling it within the youth or peer group perspective, it will be easier to tackle it. Because we will be able to provide the infor-

mation on where they meet in the evening or whatever, then the po-lice will be able to stop it before they carry out any activity. We also used the instrumental-

ity of the government to support them, so that other students will realise that, even when you re-nounce cultism, somebody will come to support them. Through that measure we were able to check their activities.There was also the deterrence

factor. Anybody who was arrested for cultism was taken to court, so that the other ones will know that there is always a price to pay for some of these behaviours.

We are talking about recession in the country. How is the police helping the government to get

out of it?We maintain law and order. We

try to obviously mobilise the com-munity towards possible goals and aspirations and, as much as possible, we ensure that the so-ciety remains safe and properly structured and monitored. The police have a major role to

play. Like I said earlier, obviously, the social fabric aspect of the soci-ety should be restored. We need to let people bear in mind that they should give birth to the number of children they can cope with. They should ensure that such chil-dren have proper upbringing, so that we can have good members of their communities. Every child should grow within the structures and become good members of the community.

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLECOVER

History was made recently when a leading computer manufacturer and suppli-

er, Omatek Ventures Distribution Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU) with the larg-est university in Africa, South of the Sahara and North of the Lim-popo. The parties were Omatek (Supplier) and the Ahmadu Bello Students Representative Council (ABU-SRC). This is just as the ABU Alumni Association as well as the office of the Dean of the Students Affairs (ABU) were on hand as wit-nesses and guarantors 1 and 2, re-spectively. The date was 30th August, 2016

and the place/venue was the mul-ti-purpose Assembly Hall, ABU Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria. It is

needful to point out that the com-puter loan scheme is a concept and initiative of the university’s alumni association, headed by its National President, Dr. Ahmed Tij-jani Mora,mni.The historic occasion was sched-

uled to start at 11 am and by 10:45 dignitaries had started arriving at the Assembly Hall. Between that 10:45 and 11 am, the Executives of the ABU-SRC, led by Comrade Mohammed Ringim; theDean of the Students Affairs, Prof. M.S. Shehu; the Group Managing Di-rector/Chief Executive Officer of Omatek, Engr. (Mrs.) Florence Seri-ki (MFR); as well as other Deans and Directors and well-wishers, had thronged the hall and were already seated.

And by 11 am, the Vice-Chancel-lor of the university, Prof. Ibrahim Garba (represented by the Deput-yVice Chancellor–Administration- Prof. Ibrahim Naiya Sada), was ushered into the hall, in the com-pany of the President of the Alum-ni Association, Dr. Ahmed Mora mniand the Director of theDirec-torate of University Advancement (DUA), Prof. Ahmed Adamu.Shortly after this, the ceremony

kicked off with opening prayers. The President of the SRC, Com-

rade Ringim, said he was happy to witness the historic day when up to 95 per cent of the students could own their laptops and pay at their convenience, pointing out that it would enhance scholarship and draw students into the 21st

History Made As ABU Alumni Association Signs MoU With Messrs Omatek Ventures Distribution Ltd.

THE STUDENTS LAPTOP LOAN SCHEME:

ALUMNI LANDMARK


Alh. Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande (L), Director Omatek Plc handing over a laptop to one of the beneficiaries of the ABU Alumni Association- iniated Laptop scheme


century.Engr. (Mrs.) Florence Seriki in her

speech gave God the glory for being part of the history-making event. She said Information and Communications Technology (ICT) was an enabler that was turn-ing ordinary people, with creative resourcefulness, into Dollar-mil-lionaires and had charged both the university and the students to give it the attention it deserved. Seriki urged the students to be

thankful to the university authori-ties and the alumni association for agreeing to guarantee the loan

scheme, especially as such a ven-ture could have taken off since, but for lack of guarantors.The Omatek GMD, therefore, said

it was important to get as many students as possible in the first batch of the scheme, so that it would be easier to get the invest-ment-attention of Jaiz Bank, the official bankers.

She disclosed that the company would shortly be setting up an outsourcing centre that would take care of repairs and enquir-ies, stating that “sales, spares and servicing form a strong part of our corporate identity.”In his comments, the Vice Chan-

cellor, Prof. Garba, said it was a great opportunity that had come the way of the university, adding: “It is the desire of the university to stop the old methods of learning, and help students to find their feet in the multi-dimensional world of ICT”.

The VC noted that the university was blessed, as the internet fa-cilities in the school were some of the best in the country.His words: “The fibre is so big that

we can do what we like – it has the strength and the capacity. With the coming of this laptop scheme, the students can maximize use of the fibre because presently, it is

under-utilized.”“Ultimately, it will help the uni-

versity’s attain or maintain its rat-ing,” he added. Also speaking, the Director of

University Advancement, Prof. Ad-amu, said the laptop scheme was an innovation that cut across the university community, describing it as “a big milestone.”He recalled that before now, there had been pockets of intervention, but noth-ing on such a scale. According to him, the Private, Public Partner-ship (PPP) concept of Own-Today, Pay-Tomorrow was the first of its kind in the history of higher edu-cation in Nigeria and promised that, overtime, the university would endow the Best Graduat-ing Students in Engineering.In the same vein, the representa-

tive of the partnering bank, Jaiz, pledged to endow the Best-Grad-uating Student in Law and Ac-countancy. By 1pm, with the speech-mak-

ing over, the MoU was signed between the parties, with Mrs. Seriki endorsing for Omatek Ven-tures Distribution Limited (Sup-plier) and Comrade Mohammed Ringim signing on behalf of the Ahmadu Bello Students Repre-sentative Council (Buyer). In the same way, Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, the President of the ABU Alumni as well as Prof. M.S. Shehu, the Dean: Students Affairs, endorsed the MoU as guarantors 1 and 2, respectively.With the refreshments over with,

the DUA Director, Prof. Adamu, gave the votes of thanks after which the curtain was drawn on the event with closing prayers and group photographs.The first set of beneficiaries had

already emerged and collected their computers during the last annual general assembly meeting of the alumni.


ALUMNI LANDMARK

Who really is Professor Pate? Well, in a nutshell, I am Prof.

Umar Usman Pateh, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Dean of the Pharmaceutical Sciences, ABU, Zaria.

What begun as the Pharma-ceutical Faculty here started in 1968 when the pharmacology and pharmacy Departments were fused into one Depart-ment in 1968. In 2018, the De-partment/Faculty would be 50 years. What do you plan to show-case to the world?Wow! (Laughs). You see, the

Faculty, as a school of Pharmacy, started in 1934. At that time, the school was training chemists and druggists.Then after some time, the training was stopped because of the WWII. Then, in 1945, the school resumed and they were giving Certificates of Chemists and Druggists. And then the cer-tificate was upgraded to Diploma in Pharmacy. It was in 1968 that the school was

upgraded to a Faculty, but it ef-fectively started in 1970. And yes, on paper, we started as a Depart-ment in 1968, but the effective date is 1970. But the Department has grown from a small building into a full-fledged Faculty. It has passed through many

stages. Initially, it was the Depart-ment of Pharmacy and Pharma-cology. At that time, it was under the Faculty of science. Then, it was upgraded to a Faculty, with four Departments. From four Depart-ments, it became five.Even now, we are about to split one Depart-ment into two so that the Faculty will have six Departments. And it is really a big achievement. Num-ber one, we have grown and we have trained thousands of under-graduates as well as a large num-ber of post-graduate students.

HEALTH INTERVIEW

Only 20, 000 phar-macists are serving 180m Nigerians –Pateh

Prof. Umar Usman Pateh is the Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ABU, Zaria. In this exclusive interview with the ABU Alumni

Magazine editorial team, says as much that phar-macists play vital roles in the lives of the people, their number in Nigeria is not enough to cater for the vast population. He also comments on topical issues in the Faculty. Excerpts:


Prof. Umar Usman Pateh, Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ABU, Zaria

Most of the staff in the faculties of pharmacy within the North were trained here. Even now, we are still training them. These are landmark achievements. We have given birth to many pharmacy schools in the north, ranging from University of Maiduguri, Kaduna State University, Bayero Univer-sity, Kano, Gombe State Univer-sity, Bauchi State University, the University of Sokoto. And we are making great advances in re-

search, too.About breakthroughs, you know,

for a drug to come out as a prod-uct, it takes a minimum of 10 years. And I must tell you we have many researches that have been done and can be patented. But unfortunately, most are not pat-ented. That is due to the peculiar-ity of Nigeria – the private sector is not coming in and it is not col-laborating with universities. So, this has dampened the research zeal of academics and even the issue of patents. You know, even after patenting, you need capital to do anything meaningful. This is where we are.

From a distance, one just hears: Pharmacy. But when one comes nearer, one begins to hear about pharmacology, pharmacognosy, etc. What is the difference between phar-macy, pharmacology, pharma-cognosy, etc?(Laughs again) Okay. You see,

pharmacy involves all the pro-cesses involved in developing a drug. For you to develop a drug, you need to know why you need

that drug and how it works. That is pharmacology. You may need to formulate it into tablets, capsules, syrups and injections.That is phar-maceutical technology. And there are drugs that have activity on mi-cro-organisms and drugs that are produced by micro-organisms: that is pharmaceutical micro-biol-ogy and bio-technology.Now, pharmacognosy is a very

interesting area, especially for us in Africa. This is because we be-lieve in plants, a large diversity of plants that are being used as herbs for medicinal therapy or whatever. So, the area of pharma-cy that deals with plants or drugs from plants is called pharma-cognosy. But it goes beyond just plants – it also includes animals and minerals resources as drug sources. And because the drug we produce must interact with biological systems, which, in most cases, involves chemicals and substances that have identified chemical nature, so we have to study the chemistry of that drug. So, there is the chemical aspect of pharmacy and it is called pharma-ceutical chemistry.

Let me quickly add that of this figure of 20, 000 for the entire population of Nigeri-ans, 30 per cent are in the diaspora. Anoth-er 30 percent is either in the university sys-tem or in administra-tion somewhere

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEHEALTH INTERVIEW


The Dean with members of the interview team. Professor (Mrs.) B.B. Maiha, HOD Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practise is third from left.

And there is clinical pharmacy. Before, pharmacists used to sit in a cubicle and just dispense drugs, but it is different now. Pharma-cists need to give patients drug information, counsel them on how to use it, how to manage the side effects, and if there are any contra-indications, the pharma-cist will interact with the patient and sort things out. So, there is so much to pharmacy that people do not know.

What is the major challenge of the Faculty today?The Faculty is old. The infrastruc-

ture is decaying. Initially, the Facul-ty was just built to accommodate pharmacy and pharmacology. Just two. But now, the Faculty has five Departments, and there are plans to make it six. So, accom-modation in terms of office space, is a challenge now. And we need spaces for laboratories because when we split pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical micro-biology, we need to have a laboratory for bio-technology. Similarly, clinical pharmacy, which is a new Depart-ment, needs a laboratory. And there is the problem of

equipment. Most was bought in the 70s and is now obsolete. It cannot function properly now. In this digital era, the analogue equipment is obsolete.

The under-funding of the uni-versity system is, therefore, directly impacting on your Fac-ulty?Yes, it is and directly so. Because

for you to run a Faculty with an operational budget of N20, 000 per month it is not easy. It is not easy.

What is the way out?Yes, as I said earlier, there is no

synergy between the universities

and the organized private sector. But there are areas that the pri-vate sector can synergise with us, especially in areas of drug analy-ses. For some time, we have been doing some consultancies, that is, undertaking drug analyses for companies and analyses of sam-ples as well as in drug research. And our researches can be taken up to develop new drugs. So, in-terested companies can come forward so we can partner with them. That would bring us some money, too, and we can modern-ize our facilities with this comple-mentary revenue.

In the developed world, re-searches are usually funded by industries. Here, that sector is al-most non-existent. There, post-graduate students get pinned to particular research areas that are funded by an industry or two. The students do the laboratory work and the industry takes up the end-product. To come up with a drug, from

a chemical entity, one needs to come up with a billion dollars. And it takes over 10 years, on the average, to come up with a prod-

uct. In the Nigerian context, this is almost impossible.

Pharmacy and medicine: they are so near and yet so far. What really is the difference?Let me start by saying in the

medical area only pharmacy has a product. Pharmacy has two inter-esting areas, that is, patient-care and the product. The product has to be developed. Medicine more or less or dwells more on the dis-eased condition and how to man-age that condition. On the other hand, pharmacy concerns itself with the product, the product

that can be used to manage the condition. It sounds like a family. So, why

the seeming rivalry? I recall that under the military, when a certain pharmacist, was made the Health Minister, medical doctors kicked.Ideally, it is not supposed to be

so. This is because administra-tion is administration. Any health professional can administer the health sector. And if you look at the international trend, leader-ship in any hospital or health min-istry can be done by any health


ABU ALUMNI MAGAZINE 18Continue on page 32

Sir, you seem to be everywhere: management, academics, com-munity relations, mass mobili-zation and the rest. Where do you derive your passion from?

What drives you?Thank you very much. I don’t

think anyone has ever asked me this before. And I think I have the answer. My own duty in life is to

bring people together. I don’t want to see people quarrelling. I always believe in the communal spirit, that if we put hands togeth-er, we can achieve the impossible.And so, I have been involved in

associations, especially alumni and old boys associations. I am the Secretary-General of Barewa Old Boys Association (BOBA). I am the National Chairman of Confer-ence of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU). All along, my involvement has been homogenous. That is to say, education: teaching, supporting teaching, motivating teachers and students and mobilizing peo-ple and resources for the develop-ment of education.

Your support for education seems to be limited to higher education. But when statistics of students’ performance in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) are released, northern states seem to be lag-ging far, far behind. Are you not bothered about foundational education?Even at the foundation level, I am

involved. I just told you that I am the Secretary-General of Barewa Old Boys Association. It is the first, post-elementary school in the North. Everybody went to Barewa College in Northern Nigeria. It was established in 1921 in Katsina. Then it relocated to Kaduna and we are now preparing for our cen-tenary celebration in four years’ time. So, we are making input at that level, too.

I am passionate about giving back to society –Prof. Mora

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEPERSONALITY LIFESTYLE


Prof. Ahmed Tijjani Mora is a man of many parts: Aca-demic, administrator, regulator, mobilizer etc. He is the Secretary-General of Barewa Old Boys Association

(BOBA), the National Chairman of Conference of Alumni As-sociations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU) and National President, ABU, Alumni Association. He bares his mind on a number of issues in this interview. Exerpts:

Then I am from this place.We have ZEDA, that is, Zaria Educa-tion Development Association. We founded it. That is community involvement in education at the primary and secondary school level. We have given scholarships, we have vocational trainings, etc. But we also run remedial classes and we have been doing that since 1993. As a result of this, thousands of students, who leave school with deficiencies, who should ordinarily be roaming the streets, are able to remedy their results and enter the university or other higher institutions of learn-ing like polytechnics and colleges of education. So, if you ask me, I am sold out to education.

That is beautiful, but how can other northern states replicate this ZEDA model?

Again, that is a very good ques-tion. We always have Annual Gen-eral Meetings (AGMs) and this year’s ZEDA AGM was on 27th January. We have always invited a Governor as a special guest of honour.This year’s Guest of Honour is the

ExecutiveGovernor of the state of Imo. Before now, we have invited Governors of Northern states: Kogi, Bauchi, Kebbi etc. This is an attempt to inculcate and democ-ratize this culture of community involvement in the educational process in their states and local governments. Owelle Okorocha does not need to be schooled in this, but we invited him so we can learn something from him. In fact, it is both ways.

You have been involved in the university system for a long time.

What would you say is the major challenge of education in Nigeria?If you ask me, it is infrastruc-

ture and I know what I am talk-ing about. I have lectured in this university for 30 years, and it is a Federal Government institution. I was also the foundation Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Scienc-es at the Kaduna State University for four years. Now, I am a Visiting Professor at Igbinedion Univer-sity, Okada, in Edo State. It is the first privately-owned university in Nigeria – and the only one of the private universities with an approved Bachelor of Pharmacy degree programme. Now, that is why I commend the

foresight of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in es-tablishing Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), which collects two percent of taxes from quoted companies. If you look at universi-ties in Nigeria, without TETFUND most of them will not be where they are today. There is this question about ex-

tending the TETFUND interven-

My own duty in life is to bring people together. I don’t want to see people quarrelling. I always believe in the com-munal spirit, that if we put hands together, we can achieve the impossible



tions to private universities. I must say it is a big debate. I am not saying this because I am now in-volved with private universities, but I think there is some wisdom there. This is because the pres-ence or advent of private universi-ties, just like state universities and faith-based universities, is taking the pressure off Federal universi-ties. Look at them: Igbinedion, AUN, Yola Covenant and Madon-na, among others, are assisting the federal government indirect-ly. So, I believe we can work out some modalities, so that these universities also benefit from TET-FUND – after all TETFUND’s man-date is tertiary education.So, my first take is infrastructure.

You cannot do anything without stable power or adequate water supply. The second one is the ab-sence of research. And you cannot conduct research without infra-structure. Universities the world

over are ranked through research studies. And research is grossly under-funded in Nigerian univer-sities.And thirdly, the time it takes to

produce M.Sc. and Ph.D gradu-ates is worrisome. But, again, this is tied to the availability of infra-structure. And if you want to be in academics, you must have your Post-Graduate Degrees and to get them takes a long time. I think, off-hand, these are the major challenges confronting the Nige-rian university system.

What is the remedy?For me, the answer is involve-

ment of the Alumni Associations. When I became the President of the ABU Alumni Association, they asked me what my focus was. And I said: One, membership drive. By this I mean an effective mem-bership drive. In fact, I am going out next month on a tour of the

North-Eastern states on member-ship drive, awareness and the re-activation of dormant branches. You cannot have an association without members. People are just laid back as far as a membership is concerned. Secondly, revenue-generation.

We need to get money from out-side for the university. And you can see the projects we are doing now. If you go to the north-gate, you will see the overhead pe-destrian bridge we are building through the financial instrumen-tality of an alumnus, His Excellen-cythe former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The project is costed to the tune of N80million. It has never happened like that before.So, the alumni associations are in

positions to render great help to their former schools by mobilizing funds that can complement gov-ernment budgetary allocations. They are in a vantage position to



Continue on page 30

Muhsin, Shamsiyya (not her real name) called my at-tention. I answered and

listened. “Come and marry me”, she finished, retorting to my al-legation that she was still unmar-ried not because she lacked suit-ors, but for her being too choosy. It was later that I pondered on our lengthy conversation and realized that I was wrong. Many men are afraid of successful women like her. She was from a wealthy fam-ily, had two degrees and worked with an international organiza-tion. She also confided to me that she could not stretch the cultural perception and norms to serious-ly ask anyone to marry her. She would rather continue to wait for Allah’s choice. I was left in a daze.I came back home, sat down and

ruminated over our chit-chat. I

then recalled Dr. Muhammad Tahar Adamu aka Baba Impos-sible’s lecture back in our fresh-man year in the university. He one day spent many minutes of his period admonishing the ladies in the class on relationship and marriage issues. He was upfront, as usual of him, while warning them that they should accept any marriage offer from any serious-minded suitor even during their studies. Once they finished, their certificate intimidated prospec-tive husbands. The irony, which he also stressed on, is that: without the so-called Western education, they lacked much value, at least in some instances. Baba Impossible cannot be more correct, for I have witnessed several such cases.Mardiyya (not her real name)

is a girl from a poor family. Both her immediate elder and young-er sisters are married, while she is not. As could be expected in

a traditional setting, pressure is

mounting on her that she should bring forth a suitor. But fact be said, there is little or nothing she can do save to respond to who-soever comes and says he loves her. A few months ago, she nearly fell into the trap of two different men: a young, posh guy who bor-rows cars to come to her house, and a man who is old enough to

By Muhsin Ibrahim

India is one of the last places where women are regarded as humans and as their fellow male counterparts. Virtually everything feminine is frowned at right from pregnancy to infancy, adulthood to meno-pause and to death

Girl-Children as ‘Endangered’ Humans in our Society


be her father. At the initial stage of the latter’s courtship, he told her that she was voluptuous. Af-ter hearing about that, her sister cautioned her seriously and told her to be extra alert. He alas, the next day, attempted to grope her in the name of love.That was the end of it.I yet again, know another wom-

an who succumbed to such a pressure. Bilki (not her real name) got married to a man she barely knew. They now have 8 children, but the marriage cannot survive. He divorced her for the third time a few weeks ago. She is left with all the kids, majority of whom are girls. But for her brothers’ as-sistance and support, she would have to beg or do other menial or illicit work to look after the kids. The ex-husband gives her noth-ing, absolutely nothing.The above stories are real, but are

only a few out of numerous simi-lar or even sorrier ones. Through-out the world, there are fewer places where women are not cul-turally, religiously, socially, mor-ally and whatnot disadvantaged. I am Hausa and Muslim from the northern Nigerian city of Kano. My society is not an exception as

could be deduced from the forgo-ing. The story is, however, not dif-ferent in India, for instance.I and my wife were in India for a

good two years. Thus, I was privi-leged to have access to some ‘clas-sified’ stories on how women are treated in that ancient, culturally-bound country, though the stories are commonplace. The classified ones are, nonetheless, more dev-astatingly heart-tearing. India is one of the last places where wom-en are regarded as humans and as their fellow male counterparts. Virtually everything feminine is frowned at right from pregnancy to infancy, adulthood to meno-pause and to death. But India is not the topic for this article. Kano, as a microcosm of northern Nige-ria, is.Girl-children face more chal-

lenges than can be confined in a single piece like this one. A girl child is, by her soul and flesh, like an embodiment of problems. Many poor girls languish in the river of despair, disgrace and dis-dain and have no one to listen to them. Their crime is only being girls. They are today the victims of abuse, rape, labour, hawking, ear-ly marriage, etc. Girl-children are becoming endangered humans among us. One may argue that so they were before. No.This is 21st century, for God’s sake. This is the era of education – both religious and modern, science and technol-ogy and globalisation. We risk los-ing them completely.I have, for long, observed that

the freedom of a girl-child ends when she begins menstruating. All eyes will now be on her. Yes, eyes should be on her but she should not be deprived of much of her freedom and right as hu-man. She should be spoken to, not spoken about. She should be giv-en a chance/choice to marriage or

education and be humanised, not objectified as a sex or child-mak-ing machine. A woman’s voice should be listened to, not just heard as a complainer when her husband beats her or divorces her or denies her some of her rights.I am not squarely blaming the

men folk for all the woman’s pre-dicaments. It takes two to tango. They too are not completely guilt-less. Some of them are many a time very ungrateful, rash and easily get influenced by bad friend(s). This does not apply to the girl-children, for they are al-ways more the victims than the victimisers.Let us join hands to value our

girl-children and women in gener-al. They are the veins of mankind. Respect your wife. Support the education – both religious and modern – of your daughters and wards, sisters and wives. Talk to them. Often, we don’t talk to our wives, sisters and daughters. We talk more to our female friends, cousins, etc. Yes, some talk with their wives but very rarely their sisters. Women need our atten-tion, assistance and much more. Give them that, especially money, for they need it for consumables, cosmetics, etc. Leave no room for her to beg or quickly accept a gift from her boyfriend. That gives more room for other things.Let us advocate for peace and

unity among married couples and support girl-child education, right and freedom. Women do not only belong to the kitchen, the living room and the other room, as our President jokingly/seriously said. They also belong to the hospital, the school, etc. It is all about de-cency, respect and ethics.

Ibrahim can be reached via email: [email protected]



You are new at NIMET, and the question many Nigerians are asking is: Who really is Sani Abubakar Mashi? Can you, please, tell Nigerians a little bit about yourself? My name is Sani Abubakar

Mashi. I am a professor of Geogra-phy. I was born in a village called Mashi in Mashi local government area of Katsina state in 1964. I at-tended Bayero University Kano for my first degree. After that, I joined Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1989 as a Graduate Assis-tant. I did my Masters and higher degrees; rose through the ranks

and became Lecturer I in 2000. I left Ahmadu Bello University Zaria for the University of Abuja in 2000, where I continued as Lecturer I.I became a Professor in 2008. At the University of Abuja, I was the Deputy Director, Centre For Distance Learning. I was later Director-in-charge of Academic Planning. I eventually became the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the uni-versity. It was from the University of Abuja that the President and Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed me as the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Na-

tional Meteorological Agency (NI-MET). As it is typically said, I am happily married with children. That is the brief about me.

That is quite interesting, sir. We would also like to know a little about NIMET. We know it was established in 2003, but what really is its mandate? Thank you very much. This is the

oldest agency or parastatal in the country as far as Nigeria is con-cerned. This is because NIMET was there before Nigeria was even cre-ated. The agency’s major mandate is to collect and manage weather reports for national development. Observing records on weather

i.e. the condition of the atmos-phere, has been an activity going on in the country even long be-fore Nigeria got independence…in fact, even before Nigeria be-came a nation. We have records now of weather reports collected over locations over centuries in the country. Like we all know, Nigeria was created in 1914: that was the amalgamation time. Well before then, there was NIMET but not as NIMET as we know it today because the activities on NIMET were already being carried out. Even before the independence,

the activities of collecting infor-mation and analyzing were go-ing on. The only difference was

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEINTETRVIEW

My vision is to make NIMET the world’s best –MashiProf. Sani Abubakar Mashi is the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency

(NIMET). A professor of Geography, with specialty in the Environmental Application of Re-mote Sensing, he was until his appointment on January 9, 2017, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja. In this interview with the Editorial Team of ABU Alumni Magazine, the 53-year-old Alumnus of Bayero University Kano (BUK) speaks on NIMET’s history, man-date, triumphs and challenges as well as his vision for NIMET. EXCERPTS:


that there was no central agency like NIMET which was saddled with the responsibility of collect-ing and managing the weather information. But with time, the Federal government decided to create a department that would henceforth coordinate all these activities that NIMET is doing. And with time, the Federal govern-ment considered that it was very important to have an independ-ent body; an agency that would be saddled with the responsibility of collecting, managing and utiliz-

ing this information for promot-ing national development in the country. That was what informed the decision to establish NIMET as an agency. NIMET was established as an agency of the Federal Min-istry of Aviation largely because weather information is used most-ly by the players in the Aviation

industry. Although almost eve-rybody needs weather informa-tion, the immediate user of that information is the aviation sector as industry players require that information in real time, almost on minute-by-minute basis. Be-cause of that, they are the major consumers of the meteorological information; and this is why it is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Aviation. What we do majorly is collect information on weather. We collect this information by having a lot of points; hundreds of

them all over the country. When we collect the information, we put it together, collate it, process it, analyse it and make it available and accessible in a form that peo-ple can easily consume.

Who are the end-users?The consumers are many. Those

in agriculture consider the infor-mation on weather so that they will take decision on what and when to plant and so on. Those in engineering sector, they require this information, for instance, in designing dams and other things. The civil engineers require that too. Those that are into building require information on the weath-er to help them in what they are designing. Those who are into wa-ter resources planning and so on also require weather information. That is why, when the Act estab-lishing the agency was passed, it specifically spelt out that the agency would be supplying infor-mation for application in all these areas. The agency is, therefore, specifically structured and strate-gically mandated to address that. Anywhere weather information is required for national develop-ment, the agency is there to pro-vide the services.

How effectively would you say NIMET has been in fulfilling its mandate?We have been doing so. The

agency is structured in such a way that it has a number of depart-ments and units. Each depart-ment or unit is saddled with the responsibility of addressing a par-ticular issue. For instance, we have a Weather Forecasting Servicing Department. Their own is just to look at weath-

er reports and forecast what is likely going to happen within the shortest possible time. They are the ones that offer aviation ser-vices to the aviation sector where from day-to-day, hour-to-hour, we do inform the country and all who are interested in what is happen-ing in the country about the situ-ation of the weather at that time. That is why any time the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) is pre-senting news, it makes provision for us to go and present our re-

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEINTERVIEW


ports. Then, we have a depart-ment that is called Applied Mete-orological Department. The function of that department

is to collect and collate all these information. Because when you forecast, it is like you are saying what is likely going to happen and with time, you collect the ac-tual information so that you will see how reliable your forecast is. When you are forecasting, we come and say what will happen like say, tomorrow morning. By tomorrow morning, we will collect the information. When we collect the information, we now update our records. What we do then is to put it together so that we have a long or comprehensive database on the condition of the weather of the country. The Applied Mete-orological Department will collect this information and subject it to analysis and look at the implica-tion of that information for agri-culture, water resources, marine and other services so that we can now be in an informed position to advise the various stakeholders on the basis of the weather and say: these are the things that are supposed to be done or happen-ing over the country. This way, we have been able to

effectively ensure that all the ar-eas of the mandate given to us have been met and are being met by the structures and processes that have been going on in the various departments we have in the agency.

To what extent would you say your forecasts or predictions have been accurate? We ask be-cause sometimes, people dis-miss your forecasts as scientific gambles.Honestly, our forecasts are ex-

tremely reliable. When we are making predictions, there is a room for error that we always give because it is a probability. If you

have elementary knowledge of Mathematics, you will know that in probability, you don’t predict a 100%. When we predict, we also say it is this or that per cent reli-able. We are not the ones to blow our

trumpet, but let me tell you this: A delegation from one of the state governments came to us on a visit. And they were telling us that we were too economical with our estimations or predictions; that we were saying our estimation was just over 80% reliable, but they said when they looked at the forecasts we gave them on this year’s rainfall characteristic in that particular state, and they com-pared them with what actually happened, they said our predic-tions were 100% correct. Although some may say our

forecasts have not been reliable, but the fact of the matter is that people have not been making themselves available whenever we release our forecasts for them to look at what we are forecast-ing and then match it with events that have occurred so as to be

able to say our forecasts were cor-rect or wrong. I am just giving you an example of some people that came and said in an entire state our forecasts for last year were 100% correct.What we do on our level, like I

said, when we forecast, we are saying what is likely going to hap-pen over time. And because we have stations from where we col-lect the information, we come and compare the two. We know that our forecasts are quite reliable. Certainly, they are quite reliable. It is because people have not been availing themselves of the infor-mation that we are having every year when we make our presen-tations. These (pointing at peri-odicals on the table) are examples of some of the publications. It is not everybody that would spend considerable time to see what we have forecasted and what has been the reality. And even if they are available, it is not everybody who will try to compare what we have forecasted with what will eventually happen for them to marry the two.

Beyond the weather predic-tions, sir, what other preventive measures or activities does NI-MET undertake in order to en-sure the safety of our environ-ment?We also send out alerts when-

ever we notice an extreme event – It can be related to rainfall or anything. Whenever we forecast an extreme event, it is likely going to happen. We are always interfac-ing with our sister agencies that are supposed to be taking care of a lot of development activities in the country. From time to time, we normally communicate that this or that is going to happen and because it is going to happen, these measures are supposed to be taken. For instance, when we are issu-



This is the oldest agency or parastatal in the country ....This is be-cause NIMET was there before Nigeria was even created. The agency’s major mandate is to col-lect and manage weath-er reports for national development...and this has been an activity going on in the country even long before Nigeria got independence

ing flood warning, we normally give it early enough and say in the light of the rainfall trend that has started, we are expecting that there is likely going to be a flood occasion in so and so loca-tions. And, therefore, we are ex-pecting that our sister agencies, which are working in addressing such issues, should take a lot of pre-emptive measures so that by the time it occurs, some preven-tive measures have already been taken …like evacuating people to minimize the impact etc.

Talking about agencies that you work with, could you please mention some of them and tell us the exact role how they make your job easier?We have the National Emergen-

cy Management Agency (NEMA). Whenever there are problems, they try to intervene so as, for instance, to ensure that the issue of displacement, relocation, reha-bilitation and compensation are taken care of. Recently, they have been carrying out some preemp-tive measures in order to mini-mize the impact of disasters. They call it Disaster Risk Reduction. This means they want to reduce the risk of occurrence of disasters. For you to be able to reduce the risk of occurrence of disasters, since a number of them are caused by weather as a major factor, in mani-festations like, drought, flood etc, it means they need to rely effec-tively on the information they get from us. Because of that, NEMA is working hand-in-hand with this particular agency so that they can get the right type of information in the right proportion at the right time. This will help them to apply this information in order to come up with contingency plans in case of any disaster occurrence. This is just an example.We also have the National Space

Research and Development Agen-

cy (NSRDA) which, like you all know, has the mandate to look at what is happening in space. They are also collaborating with us so that they can see how they can extend their service and match them with what they are doing so that we can now form a team. By combining forces together, we can get the right type of informa-tion that will help in promoting development processes and in solving some of the problems that

are facing this country.There is the National Hydrologi-

cal Development Services Agency (NHDSA) that has been given the mandate to look into what is hap-pening in the rivers of the country. Before flooding, which does not

only occur in the coastal areas but even on the banks of the riv-ers, before there can be flooding, there must be rainfall, so through that way, since they have the man-date to monitor what is happen-ing in the rivers, that is a product of the rainfall, it means that there is no way they can work without

interfacing with us. The agencies have been working

closely with us to get the kind of information, to merge with what they have so that they have the type of information that they re-quire so as to make predictions about what is happening in the rivers and take proactive actions. These are just some of the agen-cies but it is worthy to mention river basins development authori-ties, agricultural development programme offices and many oth-ers.

Do you have a synergy with universities, research institutes both in Nigeria and abroad?Certainly, we have many of them.

We have entered into several Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with many of them, es-pecially those with the mandate that deliver services in agriculture and so on. We have been giving to them the information we have generated for them to form a very strong basis so they can carry their research. When they carry out their researches, they give us the information so that we can know the information to give out to farmers. Let me give you an example: In

Agro-Meteorology, what we are trying to do now is to make use of the information we normally get on weather so that we can advise the farmer on the time to plant, the type of crops to plant, when to plant them, when to harvest and so on. The research institutes are now the ones that will devel-op the type of crops that will suit certain climatic conditions. So our own now is to predict and

say this what is likely going to be the condition of the climate area given the past event. So given the direction in which the climate is moving, we will now rely on our colleagues in the agricultural re-search institutes to give us the



My vision for this organisation is clear: it is to make NIMET a world-class outfit be-cause the services we offer are not just for Nigerians but for the benefit of everybody any-where in the world

type of crops that should be well suited for this climatic condition. This way, we can see that we are

interfacing with them. They are using our information

to design or improve the crops and we are using their informa-tion on the planting character-istics for us to be able to advise the farmers on what they are sup-posed to do. This way, every year we are predicting the rainfall and saying this is what is likely going to be the rain. We don’t normally stop at that stage, we also advise farmers.

For us to be able to do that, we have to rely on our partners from the other sectors like the agricul-tural research institutes; for insti-tutes, for instance, to come and tell us the implication of what we are predicting so that we will be better positioned to advise the farmers and other stakeholders within the country.

Since you talk about weather, is there any kind of synergy be-tween you and the military who are now carrying out opera-

tions in the North-East and the Niger Delta?Certainly. Some of these things

have security implications so the security agencies normally come to us and tell us specifically the type of information they require about a particular location at a particular point in time so as to enable them launch their military operations – be it intelligence gathering or engagement. When the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) was planning the great campaign that led to the capture of Sambisa For-est last year, they relied heavily on

the information provided to them by us. In fact, after the campaign was successful, NAF wrote us a letter of commendation, showing their appreciation for what we did towards the success of the opera-tion. In fact, they even sent a high-powered delegation that came to the office here and they expressed their gratitude immensely to the agency for assisting them. Certainly we are assisting very

well in that regard too because before a pilot can enter into the

atmosphere, he must know its condition. And we are the ones that normally tell them about that. So, we are always working in partnership.

Sir, we can see that this is an impressive job done very well already. But certainly, there may be some challenges that you as an agency is grappling with. Would you like to share them with us?There are challenges certainly.

And like every other agency, any time you ask them about their challenges, the first thing they will say is funding. We would love to do a lot. You know there is an in-ternational organization supervis-ing us, that is, World Meteorologi-cal Agency (WMO). At least, for a country like our own, we should have nothing less than 500 sub-stations. And whenever you have a sub-station, it should be with full compliment of staff and the facilities that are supposed to be there. And that particular station is sup-

posed to be taking information on at least an hourly basis and be sending it to us at the headquar-ters here, where we will collect, process the information and re-lease it. But as it stands now, we don’t even have half of that. For us to be able to meet with the in-ternational standard, one of the major priorities is to be able to establish more stations. And by the time we establish more sta-tions, it means we will have access to more information. Then we will be able to go beyond approxima-tion, estimation so that we can have more specific information that we will be able to release to the society. Before you can estab-lish these and maintain them, cer-tainly, money is needed. The challenge is there but we

know the situation in the coun-try, so we are not folding our


ABU ALUMNI MAGAZINE 28ABU ALUMNI MAGAZINE 28

arms. We are not saying because things are so bad in the country, we cannot do anything. We are already diversifying and ensuring that the sources where are get-ting funds are increased so that we will be able to tackle some of these problems even in the midst of the dwindling resources of the country.We also have a lot of other chal-

lenges which are technical in na-ture, equipment and the facilities we are using; we have to rely on our partners outside the country to bring them. Whenever you run into problem with them, you find things a bit difficult. We are mak-ing so much effort to ensure that we develop local component of design of these equipment. There are a lot of government agencies that are concerned with the de-velopment of some of this infra-structure. We are forced out of ne-cessity to look inwards, those that we can see, we can see how they can be produced locally so that we can solve some of these chal-lenges. But those that we can’t, there is nothing not much we can do. We can continue to move slowly and steadily. We know, over time, a lot of these problems will be eliminated.

You mentioned that we are in an economic recession. Now, how is your agency contribut-ing in its way to take us out of this trouble?We are not a revenue generating

agency. We are not the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the rest, otherwise we would say, we will go an increase our revenue so that we can add to the national economy. But, one thing we are ensuring as an agency is cost ef-fectiveness. This is our watch-words. Whatever, we can do with N10:00, if we can do it with N5:00 we can do that so as to limit the amount of spending. Part of what

has led us to where we are now is the excesses and the abuses that were common in the system. We are trying to ensure that effec-tiveness is there. In our little way, we are ensuring that the little we have, we can make very good use of it so that so much out of it. And like I said, we are already diversi-fying to make sure that we try as much as we can, we will get much

returns from some of the services we are offering so as to finance our activities and free the govern-ment from the burden of ensur-ing that they keep on pumping resources into the agency.

At 53, you are not exactly an old man – you are still a youth, so what message of encourage-

ment do you have for the Nige-rian youths?Well, Nigerian youths should al-

ways think of Nigeria first because it is only when we do this that wherever we find ourselves, we will know that we have a lot to do in the upliftment of the country and not necessarily what Nigeria can do for them. If they see some-body doing something wrong for Nigeria, they don’t have to wait for someone to tell them to rebuke that person all the youths of Ni-geria must rise up to defend the country. They should adopt this concept that Nigeria comes first, wherever they find themselves ei-ther within or outside the country.

Since you are just coming on board, we would like know your vision for NIMET? My vision for this organisation is

clear: it is to make NIMET a world-class outfit because the services we offer are not just for Nigerians but for the benefit of everybody anywhere in the world. When for-eign airlines are coming into the country, they rely on us. So we want to keep up the service so that whenever they go up, and by the time they enter the Nigeria’s territorial space, they get the best type of information. This is my vi-sion for this organisation.

Your office is tenured, we wish you success while you preside over the affairs of this agency. But when your tenure ends, what will you want to be re-membered for?I want to be remembered for

transforming NIMET, as the trans-former, who made NIMET, not just the best agency in the country, but one of the best in the world. This way, whenever any country wants to develop their own, they will look at NIMET as their role model.



When the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) was planning the great campaign that led to the capture of Sam-bisa Forest last year, they relied heavily on the information provided to them by us. In fact, after the campaign was suc-cessful, NAF wrote us a letter of com-mendation, showing their appreciation for what we did to-wards the success of the operation

promote teaching, learning and research in these institutions.

So, how can alumni associa-tions leverage with corporate bodies to promote or support teaching, learning and research in the universities?Corporate bodies are profit-mak-

ing organizations. But despite this, if you show some seriousness, if corporate bodies see that serious-ness and commitment to a cause, they will key in. Let me give you an example. We did not know an-

ybody at Omatek, an indigenous computer assembly firm. When we wanted computers for our stu-dents, we went to them. And we had useful discussions. Today, our students are using the laptops.They liked our approach; they

keyed into it. They said nobody had approached them with such an initiative before. The Group Managing Director, Mrs. Flor-ence Seriki, said no university had come to them before us. We sat down and spoke and brain-

stormed. After about seven meet-ings, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The rest is now history. Once you are a student here, you can own a lap-top and pay in 36 months time, spread across six semesters.

Any more interfaces with the corporate world?Yes, of course, although we can’t

say everything here and now. What I can say publicly is that we are talking with Innoson Motors in Nnewi about our intra-city bus campus shuttles. We are also talk-ing with Leyland. Many things are in the pipelines from the alumni association and, God-willing, we will do what we can do.

Everybody is taking from the country, from the system. But in your case, you are engrossed

in the task of giving back to the society. What is the motivation?Well, you are asking me the

question as many have done in the past. I sometimes find it im-modest talking about it. I am not

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEPERSONALITY LIFESTYLEContinued from page 19


I was at this confer-ence and a young man shouted my name. He did his undergraduate studies here at ABU and moved to the US.... He said: “Sir, is that you?” He started telling every-body around how I used to give them handouts free, free at a time every other lecturer was sell-ing it

blowing my own trumpet. I came from an educated family. My fa-ther was an educationist. And he started the giving. He was among the first generation of teachers in Northern Nigeria. So, all along in our house, it is giving back. We don’t have businessmen in our house. There is nothing wrong

with being in business please. We give back. It is the language of our family. That is what our father did and taught us until he passed on. Once, I went to Los Angeles, in

the US. And I was at a pharma-ceutical conference. I was then the Registrar of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN). I was at this conference and a young man shouted my name. He did his un-der- graduate studies here at ABU and moved to the US for his post graduate studies. He said: “Sir, is that you?” Of course, I recognized him, but I could not remember his name. A young man from the east. He started telling everybody

around how I used to give them handouts free, free at a time every other lecturer was selling it.So, the youngman took pic-

tures of me, with himself, with his mates and friends and, honestly, even though I was not expecting it, I was happy. So, there is joy in giving. That is my experience. And

that is my passion. It is not the money.

Private universities are paying very high tuition, sometimes, as high as N1m per session. As someone who is involved with both public and private varsi-ties, is there superior scholar-ship in these private universi-ties?There is no superiority in any way.

It cannot be. The curriculum is the same. The Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) is one or same for every course. The Ni-gerian Universities Commission (NUC) regulates everything. Be-

fore you offer a course, the NUC must accredit it. And from time to time, it sends teams to evaluate and assess the standards. And it must be in accordance with laid down criteria. If not, the Depart-mentand/or programme would lose its accreditation. So, there is no difference in terms of the qual-

ity of tuition. Yes, there may be air conditioners everywhere – the classrooms, the hostels and the restrooms. It is true, however, that the atmosphere is much more serene and the accommodation much more beautiful. These are things the public universities may not give, but that is where it ends.

What would you want to be remembered for at the end of your tenure?I want to be remembered as the

President of the alumni associa-tion who expanded the member-ship exponentially and who also revived the dormant branches.




professional, not necessarily the medical doctor. But I really don’t know why our medical colleagues are not seeing it that way. So, I re-ally cannot talk for them. But this is something that is not an issue. Any health professional can head administration in any health sec-tor – once they have the requisite experience. In Europe, there are courses for

hospital administration or health-care management. Once you are so trained, you can head admin-istration in any health facility or

ministry. But in Nigeria, people just want to corner everything. That is what is stopping the coun-try from developing: greed. People may not know it, but

pharmacy is the most important segment in the health and allied sector of the economy.

We often hear of the doctor-patients ratio in Nigeria. Is there something like: pharmacist-pa-tients ratio too? And how does it look like in Nigeria?

Of course, there is. Unfortunate-ly, I have not calculated it. So, I do not know the ratio off-hand. But what I know is this: the number of pharmacists in Nigeria is less than 20, 000. And the national population is about 180 million! So, you can do the mathematics. But I can call the pharmaceutical council and get the ratio for you. The ratio is on the low side and this is why we are opening new pharmacy schools. Let me quickly add that of this

figure of 20, 000 for the entire

population of Nigerians, 30 per cent are in the diaspora. Another 30 percent is either in the univer-sity system or in administration somewhere. They do not have the right to operate pharmaceutical premises. Therefore, the number of pharmacists operating as retail pharmacists is very minimal. This is why patent medicine stores are proliferating. This is a real crisis situation. But the pharmacists’ council is

working to check this. Now, the

PCN has zonal and state offices to check this.There is a national drug policy is place: let government implement it.

Do you have any message to the alumni association about how it can partner with you, intervention-wise?

Yes, yes. They were here before, they passed through this uni-versity. Some of them were our students directly. We would like to see things return to the way they were, transform things for the better, turn this place into a modern Faculty with modern concepts of pharmacy: learn-ing, teaching and research. It entails the patient-care side and the product-formulation side. In fact, we want the alumni to look back and see how they can give back. Things are not so good. In one case, one class has the chairs that have been there since 1973 or thereabouts and this is not so good. These things need to be changed and government alone cannot do it. Although I want to mention that

the Faculty has benefitted from the alumni greatly, we want more. We have two giant theatres, we have a borehole that is supply-ing water to the Faculty, but still, there are many challenges before us.There is what we call Active

Pharmaceutical Ingredients. If the Alumni can assist us with a research grant, there is much that we can do. We can produce Paracetamol here. It will go very well in developing remedies for illnesses like diabetes, hyperten-sion, malaria, etc. There was once a report of a

malarial breakthrough here and then everything became

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEHEALTH INTERVIEWContinued from page 16


quiet. What is the latest on that? There was the malaria herbal

remedy that was developed by a staff here. And at the moment that particular staff had formed a com-pany and she was producing that remedy. But it is a herbal mixture or preparation; it is not an ortho-dox drug. So, normally hospitals don’t prescribe herbal remedies. At the moment, it has not been fractionated and isolated into a single component drug that can be developed for use convention-ally. And the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has not started registering herbal prepa-rations. It only gives them a list-ing permit. As it is, you cannot do clinical trials except you have a li-cense to produce. Let us continue to pray that NAFDAC will soften some of its positions on herbal medicine, so we can move faster in that direction. Then, we can start combining both Western/Conventional drugs alongside tra-ditional/alternative medicine as it obtains in China, India and so on.

Is there any alumni that is out-standing in his/her giving back that you want to commend or point others to?Yes. We have them, many of

them. There is the managing Di-rector of PAL Pharmaceutical, In-dustries Ltd, Pharm. Alex Onyido.He has contributed enormously, and continues to do so. We also have an ICT Centre courtesy of our alumni. There is the late Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua, the former President. When he was Gover-nor, the Governor of Katsina, he graciously gave us the sum of N8million. What we had budget-ed was about N12million. Pharm. Alex Onyido gave us N1million too at that time. That is how we were able to complete the centre,

which was, in any case, started by the alumni. And it was the first ICT centre in

the university. It was later that the university felt there was the need to develop ICT centres within the faculties. But that is not all. We have the

former Governor of Taraba state, Pharm. Danbaba D. Suntai. He re-ally assisted us because he con-structed two twin-theatres, each having a capacity of 250. And I must mention the Presi-

dent of the ABU Alumni Associa-

tion, Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, the Wakilin Maganin Zazzau, because he marshaled the pharmacists around the country and champi-oned the appeal funds that culmi-nated in the construction of these two theatres.I believe he has to be emulated. He is here and has been teaching here free of charge for 30 years. And there is another person too: Alh. Dahiru Suleiman Wali. He was the Managing Di-rector of Tsamiya pharmaceuti-cal chemists in Kaduna. He was a member of the Faculty board for more than 15 years. In fact, up till

now, we have not replaced him. He has retired, he is old, but up till now, we cannot get someone that has his kind of passion. We have not gotten someone who can fit into his shoes squarely. Every time this distinguished alumnus comes here, he would come with a cheque. And anytime he is out of the country, he will buy books for the library. He also instituted prizes for best students pharma-cology and medicine in the uni-versity.

So, with only about 20, 000 pharmacists, serving about 180million people, are road-side chemists filling in the gap?Unfortunately, yes, but it

shouldn’t be so. This is because they are just patent medicine ven-dors. By law, they are supposed to sell only over the counter-drugs like Paracetamol, Panadol and such other drugs, as it is listed in the pharmacists council. They are not supposed to sell anti-biotics, but they do. They are even selling narcotics.

Would you say this is healthy?It cannot be healthy and it is not

healthy. It is a challenge. There have been so many issues around this, even litigations, between the patent medicine vendors and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN). It is just of recent that the council won the case. The challenge is that we have

a plurality of regulatory bodies: apart from the PCN, there is NAF-DAC, National Drugs Law Enforce-ment Agency (NDLEA). All these are regulatory bodies. So, some-times there is an overlapping of functions and rivalries. The media can help us to force government to enforce these regulations. Pat-ent medicine dealers are impor-


Medicine more or less or dwells more on the diseased con-dition and how to manage that condi-tion. On the other hand, pharmacy con-cerns itself with the product, the product that can be used to manage the condi-tion


Even though there is a grow-ing body of evidence and ex-perience spanning across 20

years of commercial cultivation that modern biotechnology has the potential to increase produc-tivity, debate has been opened in Nigeria to dissuade the country from progressing in that direction.However, all hands are now on

deck among all the key stakehold-ers to show that biotechnology and Genetically Modified Organ-isms (GMOs) can responsibly re-duce the use of pesticides and of-fer safer as well as nutritious food to the growing population.Speaking at a sensitization work-

shop in Abuja, the Director Gen-eral and Chief Executive Officer of National Biotechnology Develop-ment Agency (NABDA), Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, said the world is at a greater risk arising from increased population agricultural ageing la-bour force and flare for white col-lar jobs.She said all these in combina-

tion with other environmental factors have placed a huge bur-den of feeding the people, point-ing out that the best way out of the crises is to embrace the safe biotechnology,whose applica-tion, according to her, has signifi-cantly improved on Agriculture, health, industrial and environ-mental related activities.Speaking particularly on Agricul-

ture, she said, “Food consumed has been genetically modified through centuries of crosses, both within and between species. Se-lective breeding has led to higher yielding varieties”.She enumerated benefits of

crops biotechnology to include; increased yields, incorporation of insects resistance varieties which decreases use of toxic pesticides, use of more benign and precise herbicides, crops disease resist-ance, drought tolerance, crops for improved health and use of less land.Other benefits of biotechnology,

according to her, include less till-age, less fertilizer and fuel use in the same manner as global warm-ing is reduced.In his presentation, Dr. Rufus Eg-

beda, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of National Biosafety Agency, said even as new technologies offer great po-tentials, they equally need to be

adequately monitored in order to ensure that they are safe empha-sizing that there is no zero risk in life.“Safety in the modern biotech-

nology and the use of GMOs is not negotiable, the development of this technology has quite natu-rally raised concerns about public safety and welfare.“The most publicised risk of bio-

technology is the inadvertent es-cape and subsequent establish-ment of recombinant organisms in the environment”, he stressed.He, however, noted that there

is a greater need for a mecha-nism to remove the unfounded fears.Hence,scientists, GMO and biotechnology proponents must

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLESCIENCE - BIOTECHNOLOGY

Biotechnology: Stakeholders move to end misgivings in Nigeria

By Lubem Gena

Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, DG, NABDA


make conscious efforts to enlight-en the public.Dr. Egbeda further enjoined reg-

ulators to summon the courage to regulate and create confidence in the minds of the public.The Country Manager for Mon-

santo in Nigeria, Kehinde John-son, informed that, under his organisation’s policies more tech-nologies and platforms have been made available to farmers conse-quent upon which they are bet-ter positioned to improve yields.

Monsanto is a leading global pro-vider of technology-based tools and agricultural products that im-prove farm productivity and food quality.He also stated that biological or-

ganisms applied to seeds before planting has led to more nutrients in early development just as preci-sion Agriculture, which they have undertaken is an opportunity, which have been utilised by farm-ers in making precise agronomic decisions that led to improved sustainability in farming.“We work to deliver agricultural

products and solutions to: meet the world’s growing food needs, conserve natural resources, pro-tect the environment and im-prove lives.“When the farmer succeeds, we

succeed. From breeding to plant-ing, to growing, to harvesting, we support farmers’ right to choose the best available technologies to meet their needs”, he advanced.While speaking on the strategies

for appropriate agri-biotech and biosafety communication to meet Nigeria’s agricultural challenges, the National Coordinator of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnol-ogy, (OFAB), Dr. Rose Gidado, said a lot of energy had been chan-neled into that direction and posi-tive results also manifested even as the forum encountered monu-

mental problems.She told the gathering that the

forum had embarked on several activities with the aim of mobi-lizing with the aim to empower grassroots organisations, lever-age on grassroots to engage key stakeholders, persuade leaders to create enabling environment for bio-tech crops and guarantee safety of technology as well as en-hanced the capacity of decision makers and journalists.Arising from the foregoing, Gida-

do maintained that OFAB impact in Nigeria included: facilitating the passage of the biosafety bill and the establishment of national bio-technology management agency, sustained interaction between stakeholders and policy makers, public awareness on GMOs, grow-ing interest among teenagers and improved partnerships and link-ages as well as increased num-ber of publications by the media, among several others.“We are advocating for increased

access to GM crops for farmers and promoting agricultural bio-tech as a tool that will contribute in the fight against poverty, hun-ger and malnutrition.“We want a better Nigeria where

no one goes to bed hungry, farm-ers make more profit and the economy of Nigeria will be im-proved through agricultural bio-

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLESCIENCE - BIOTECHNOLOGY

When the farmer succeeds, we suc-ceed. From breed-ing to planting, to growing, to harvesting, we support farmers’ right to choose the best available technologies to meet their needs

The federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for

the development of the dairy sec-tor in Nigeria.Signing the MoU with one of the world’s largest dairy companies – Arla Foods in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, stated that the Ni-gerian government in line with its plan on food security, welcomes companies and initiatives that would help in the development of the agricultural sector.According to the minister, “the

population of the country is grow-ing so fast with an increasing pop-ulation of children malnourished. With the federal Government’s school feeding programme, we dream of a day, where every Ni-gerian child has a pack of milk per day to improve their health. “We are creating an enabling en-

vironment in the cattle breeding programme, where a poor widow in the village can own four or five cows to milk and have the facility to preserve them for local con-sumption. If a family has three or four cows, this can keep poverty away from them because rural poverty is a serious matter”.Ogbeh assured that Nigeria has a

huge market with endless oppor-tunities.Speaking earlier, the Senior Vice

President and Head of Arla Foods for Sub-Saharan African – Mr Steen Hadsbjerg, explained that Nigeria was chosen due to its vast potentials.“We are here to build a sustain-

able dairy industry in Nigeria Arla is more than 130 years old and

we have been in Nigeria for more than 30 years operating under the name of Dano, one of our global brands. By signing this MoU, we are committed to the proper de-velopment of the dairy sector and the technical know-how to farm-ers in Nigeria.“We will assist to develop the

supply chain; we will work to ensure quality delivery of milk produced here to meet interna-tional standards. We will work with international NGOs and use our connections in the EU to sup-port the Nigerian government in this project. We will talk and work with the farmers directly based on

local milk and we are aiming to train about 200 farmers in the first year”, he added.

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEAGRICULTURE NEWS

FG Signs MoU on Dairy Production, Development

The Federal Ministry of Agri-culture and Rural Develop-ment has launched a smart

phone application – “Wetin App” for flood forecasting, especially along the Niger and Benue rivers.The application, which will be

available on Google App Store, is a collaborative project of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).Speaking while launching the

event in Abuja, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr. She-hu Ahmed, represented by the Di-rector of agricultural businesses, processing and marketing – Alh. Azeez M. Olumuyiwa, said Nige-ria sought the help of the inter-

national agency to develop the application, following the devas-tating flood of 2012, which led to huge destruction of farms, houses and human lives.The Permanent Secretary added

that the country had decided to turn that bitter experience into a blessing by looking at the various ways farmers and government could take advantage of the tech-nology.The Regional Director for Africa at

the International Water Manage-ment Institute (IWMI) – Professor Timothy Olalekan Williams, said the application was developed using data from the Nigerian Hy-drological Service Agency, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the satellite.

Ministry of Agric Launches “Wetin App” for Flood prediction


Chief Audu Ogbe

AGRICULTURE NEWS

Because of the determina-tion to create livelihood for the teeming population and

bring life to the rural communi-ties, the federal government is set to establish skill acquisition cent-ers across the country.The Minister of Agriculture and

Rural Development – Chief Audu Ogbeh, disclosed this during his meeting with the management of Triton Aqua Africa Limited, Ni-geria led by its Chairman, Ashvin Samtani, in his office in Abuja.The Minister noted that, with an

anticipated increase in Nigeria’s population, which he put at 500 million by the year 2050, there was the need for governments to engage the teeming youth in Agriculture by establishing skill acquisition centers across the country. He disclosed that the Federal Government had already acquired 100 hectares of land at Gaobe, in Kuje Area Council of the FCT for the establishment of the skill acquisition center in FCT.According to the Minister, “The

young people are not happy with us, we need to find jobs for them, the African economy is not do-

ing very well, oil and gas will not employ a million workers at the best of time and we are heading for 500million people in 34 years, these young people want to work. We have just acquired a piece of land at Gaobe, 100 hectares, we want to set up a training center in all kinds of agricultural fields and we are hoping we shall get the Songhai center to come in there and create training a center where we can engage young people and women in six months training for them to own their small opera-tions”.The Minister said he was very

pleased with the Triton Aqua Nigeria Limited for their invest-ments in the country and asked the company to render assistance in Agricultural Training Scheme apart from doing business with the country.Chief Ogbeh, who was disturbed

by the shortage of protein in the diets of Nigerian homes, said the country needed to encourage the local production of other species of fish aside cat fish and tilapia species, adding that government would continue to partner with

research institutes and private groups to engage in massive in-vestment in fish production.He disclosed that the three uni-

versities of Agriculture would soon return within the purview of the ministry, saying that he fore-saw a situation whereby every undergraduate in Agricultural Sci-ence would own a farm and com-pany in the nearest future in the country.The Minister said the govern-

ment of Nigeria would continue to render necessary assistance to Triton Aqua Nigeria Limited to-wards its optimal local production of fish.Earlier in his message, the Chair-

man, TritonAqua Nigeria Limited Mr. Ashvin Samtani, who led the delegation to the ministry, the said Triton Aqua group, which has its companies spread across other countries like India and Ghana, established its company in Nige-ria in 1995.The Chairman said his company

with a local production capac-ity of 70,000 metric tons of fish per annum had created 3,000 jobs in the country, adding that, if his company was given neces-sary supports by governments, it would save Nigeria 125 million dollars per annum in the next two to five years.

FG to establish Skill Acquisition Centers Nationwide


How is the Faculty of Agricul-ture doing, madam?Well, first all, I would like to wel-

come our august visitors in Janu-ary. Welcome to the Faculty of Ag-riculture. You may not know, but

the Faculty of Agriculture is the strength of Ahmadu Bello Uni-versity, Zaria. Do you know why? Let me tell you: it is because it is 40 years older than the university itself. The Institute of Agricultural Re-

search (IAR) was established in 1922. And when the Faculty of Agriculture came in 1962, there was IAR already. So, there was no problem of take-off, no teething problems because we already had five staff with Ph.Ds who were al-ready working with IAR. And be-cause of that, the IAR became fused with the Faculty, using the resources both had. For example, the Director of IAR

is also a staff of IAR. The Depu-tyDean of the Faculty of Agricul-ture is a staff of IAR. Many Pro-fessors here – some of them are Faculty, some of them are IAR. This is why today we have over 50 Pro-fessors in this Faculty. It is because of this unique marriage. We teach, we research and we are into com-munity service.

Faculty of Agriculture is adding immense value to the society –Prof. Alabi

AGRICULTURE


Prof. Funmilayo Alabi, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture at Ah-madu Bello University, Zaria, strongly believes that Nigeria will

only get out of the woods if she urgently repositions Agriculture and makes it a business. The articulate and digital Professor shares the success story of the Faculty in this exclusive interview with ABU Alumni Magazine. Enjoy the excerpts:

Prof. Alabi stressing a point during the interview

Would you say you are adding value to society or even your immediate community?Yes, we are. The Faculty of Agri-

culture, ABU, is adding tremen-dous value to society. Because of our unique marriage with IAR, Nigeria is benefitting through the

release of 51 varieties of maize, with various characteristics; high-yielding andhigh quality, disease-resistant.Some are fortified with vitamin A, drought-tolerant, toler-ant to various stresses both biotic and abiotic. We also release about 50 varieties of sorghum of also various characteristics through collaboration with the staff of IAR.We have also released 14 va-

rieties of cotton, 24 varieties of groundnuts, about 13 varieties of cowpea and six varieties of sunflower. We are also working

assiduously to release varieties of other food or cash crops. Ad-ditionally, we serve our commu-nity through monthly Technology Review Meetings (TRMs) that we hold with the Agricultural Devel-opment Projects (ADPs) of our mandate-states: Kaduna, Kano, Ji-gawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara.Every month, our scientists take

new technologies to these ADPs to improve their Agriculture, practices and productivity. Ad-ditionally, we do several other

The Faculty of Ag-riculture, ABU, is adding tremendous value to society...Nigeria is benefitting through the release of 51 varieties of maize..., 50 varie-ties of sorghum..., 14 varieties of cotton, 24 varieties of ground-nuts...

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEAGRICULTURE


One of the Agric laboratories

The faculty’s Butterfly Museum, the best in Africa

advisory services in the areas of fertilizers, testing, certification, bio-technologies, bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides and so on and so forth. We do pest-control, soil management, agronomic servic-es, agricultural extension services, etc. So, we are working and add-ing value to society in a variety of ways and methods.

What really is food security? And why is it said to be eluding Nigeria?Food security is the availability,

affordability and accessibility of the food to a given population. If you have food available in large

quantities and that food is afford-able and accessible to the people, we say that country is secure. Be-cause you may have abundant food, but that food is not acces-sible to other parts of the country and, where accessible, the people cannot afford it. That is not food security. But this security is eluding us. We

are a net importer of food. And we know why. Agriculture has been neglected for many decades be-cause of the discovery of oil. This is why we are not there. This is why it is eluding us. Now that the government is refocusing atten-tion on Agriculture, talking of di-

versifying the economy, I believe we will get there. Our salvation is in Agriculture.

In the allocation for Agricul-ture in this year’s budget, do you think we are getting there?

No. We are not getting there yet. By the Maputo Declaration, any country desiring to achieve food security should allocate to Agriculture at least 10 per cent of the national budget. In this year’s budget, we have less than 1 per cent, i.e. about N93 billion out of about N8 trillion.

Another Agric laboratory in the faculty

Prof. Alabi leading a tour of the faculty’s orchard


PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEAGRICULTURE


Corruption is one of the most widespread social evils in Nigeria; it is seen as a main

threat in the public and private sphere. It undermines fragile democratic systems by fuelling popular disillusionment with politics and politicians; it also un-dermines trust and confidence, which are necessary for uphold-ing and development of sustain-able economic and social order. Corruption is not only peculiar

to Nigeria.It is a global phenome-non. However, the anti-corruption war in Nigeria is like a gun-war be-ing fought with bows and arrows.It is a war that can turn its fight-

ers into victims and those being fought into heroes.It is a war that both sides manipulate to gain personal and political points.It is a ‘world’ of controversies, politics, extensive debates and high pub-lic expectations.The Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the central institution saddled with the responsibility of fighting Ni-geria’s anti-corruption war. The Commission and its helmsmen were recently featuring in the news in positive as well as nega-tive pictures, both at local and international media. EFCC and its protagonists hold the view that

the Commission is on the right track; while its antagonists and some public commentators have observed some lapses in the man-ner the Commission is executing its mission.On the street, opinion about the

Commission and the anti-corrup-tion war in Nigeria is mixed; most Nigerians believe that it is “impos-sible” to root out corruption, espe-cially in within the political class.There is general public consensus that Nigeria needs a dogged anti corruption agency, but public trust on EFCC is regrettably fast di-minishing. This entails that, what we have is not what ought to be! There is the need for Nigeria’s anti corruption body and the men and women steering its affairs to make adjustments; shift ground and start ‘the big thinking’, be-cause the Nigeria in which the

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEANTI-CORRUPTION

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Will a New Approach Work?On the street, opin-

ion about the Com-mission and the anti-corruption war in Nigeria is mixed; most Nigerians be-lieve that it is “im-possible” to root out corruption, espe-cially in within the political class

Nigeria’s Anti Corruption War:

President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR


anti graft Commission was born, is today entirely a new one. The catchphrase in today’s Nigerian polity is ‘Rule of Law’, which many people are accusing the Commis-sion of not being adherent to, though EFCC’s protagonists are of the view that forces against the Commission are hiding behind ‘Rule of Law’ to cut the Commis-sion’s feathers.Whichever way one looks at it, it

is apparent that EFCC is in a tied situation, because it appears that it’s past, especially its pre-2007 elections actions, are hunting the Commission. But how would the EFCC and its new helmsman con-front these thorny challenges fac-ing them? In order to sustain the goodwill it is enjoying from inter-national community,it must clean the stains on its face that are mak-ing some Nigerians critical of it.What are these adjustments that

EFCC is expected to do? And ‘the big thinking’ Nigerians expect it new helmsman to do? First, things that this writer believes are paramount for the new helms-man of EFCC to have in his mind are: anti-corruption Czars rarely talk in public, but when they do, they carefully choose their words. Anti-corruption Czars can’t wine and dine with corrupt politi-cians, attend their lavish wedding ceremonies, be present at their extravagant traditional title in-vestiture or personal project fund raising ceremony and then expect complete public trust. When one accepts to be the Head of an in-stitution like EFCC, he or she has chosen to be a ‘saint’ and must la-bor to appear as one, though, as humans, we have our weakness.But the point is Anti-corruption Czars can’t preach fasting in the morning and practice gluttony in the night.The anti-corruption war in Nige-

ria, and particularly in EFCC as an institution responsible for fight-ing the war, has to be aligned with the current realities, because pub-lic morals may loosen and the bat-tle against corruption may well be lost if Nigeria’s anti-corruption war is continue to be affected by controversies, which are political in nature and EFCC continue to stick to its current style of pros-ecuting it mission- The situation where EFCC slammed 120 count charges on a person accused of being corrupt while in public of-fice and none of the charges can be established, should be re-

placed with an approach that is multifaceted, multidisciplinary and knowledge-driven, an ap-proach that would assist all the institutions of government in re-establishing norms and standards of governance, assist the public, Non Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and even the legislature in monitoring compliance with the standards; help in restoring social order,especially in politics; and promote advocacies and ca-pacity building among genuine whistleblowers.In short, Nigeria’s anti-corruption war should not only be limited to arrests and the

arraignment of accused in courts of law and unnecessary contro-versies. EFCC should explore the inter-

nations technical co-operation on corruption to develop mechanism that would help Nigeria have a system that discourages outright stealing of public fund and de-velop an anti-corruption war that relied on forensic evidence, well-trained personnel and free of un-necessary controversies.EFFC should, this time-around,

effectively utilize the provisions in the National Assembly Act 2004, establishing it. For instance, Part

III, section 12, subsection 1(c) and subsection (2), which provided for the establishment of Research Unit, and any committee to assist the commission are good avenues for the Commission to explore to bring itself at par with Nigerians expectations. However, the best weapon the new helmsman of EFFC have is adherence to rule of law, because with the current uncompromising stand on adher-ence to Rule of Law, by President Yar’Adua, any disregard of Rule of Law will not only send one to Kuru, it may send one to Kirikiri.

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEANTI-CORRUPTION

Ibrahim Magu, EFCC Acting Chairman


APC National Leader, Sen. Bola Tinubu, and former First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua

Prof. (Amb.) Ibrahim Gambari, Keynote Speaker at the ABU annual lecture series.

ABU ANNUAL LECTURE AND DINNER/AWARD NIGHT

Alh. Ahmed Yayale receiving Award from His Royal majesty, Igwe Alfred Nwae-meka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha and Chancellor of ABU Zaria.

HE, Dankwambo, Executive Governor of Gombe State and Alh. Umaru Muttalab

HE, Arc. Bala Bantex, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State and Prof. Ibrahim Garba, VC ABU Zaria

Former First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua receiving Award from Igwe Alfred Nwaemeka Achebe; Obi of Onitsha and Chancellor of ABU Zaria.

23rd April, 2016, ICC Abuja


His Royal Majesty, Obi of Onitsha, in warm chat with Arc Muhammed Dewu, Chairman ABU Governing Council.

Prof. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, mni, President, ABU Almni Association, welcoming APC National Leader, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

HE, Hajiya Salamatu Suleiman (centre) Chairman, FCT Branch with Distin-guished Guests.

HE, Hon. Umar Ghali Na’aba and Alhaji Ahmed Joda.

Alh. Yayale performing the official presentation of ABU Alumni’s 2016 informa-tion flyers.

Prof. Olufunmilayo Braide, Deputy President delivering the vote of thanks.



Chairman, Local Organising committee (LOC), Arc. Nurudeen Lanre Quadri delivering welcome speech at the lecture event.

Arc. Ibrahim Khalil, Phd, Secretary General, delivering speech.

Sam Agbi, National PRO in the midst of the VC and Deputy Governor of Kaduna State.

Distinguished members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) at the Lecture

Cross section of members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) at the Lecture



Alh. Yayale Ahmed delivering his speech at the lecture

GLIMPSES OF 11TH ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY OCTOBER, 2016

HE, Arc Bala Bantex, Deputy Governor of Kaduna State and the Keynote Speaker, Mall. Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.

From left, Mall. Hayatudeen, Alh. Yayale Ahmed and Prof. ibrahim Garba, VC ABU Zaria.

Centre, Prof. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, mni flanked by Deputy Governor of Kaduna State and Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

Prof. Mora and Prof. Adamu Ahmed, Director, ABU Advancement Sen. Abdul Ningi in warm handshake with Alumni President, Prof. Tijjani Mora


Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC)

Group photograph of Dignitaries at the AGA lecture Receipient of Students’ Computer Loan Scheme

Cross section of guests



Alh. Abubakar Chika Ladan, Chairman of the Kebbi Branch of the Alumni Asso-ciation

Mrs. Tina Igbaise, VP South West and NCC members at tour of faculties (Pharmacy)

Cultural entertainment by performing Arts Dept. of ABU Zaria Barr. Tony Iroagalachi, Chairman, Kaduna Branch of the Alumni Association

(Middle) President Mora and members of the Compendum committee of ABU Alumnus Member of National Consultative Committee (NCC) making a contribution



What really are the challenges of this Faculty?Without beating about the bush,

the major challenge is funding. You cannot believe that some Departments are given N27,500

to operate per quarter. Out of which they maintain everything, including the feeding of animals, examinations, running the offices, consumable and every other un-dertaking therein. I doubt if that

kind of amount could do anything tangible. Is it feasible? It is not done. We have complained, we have shouted, we have begged, but to no avail. And on top of these, we are admitting more stu-dents.In fact, I mentioned at another

place and time that the days are coming when no one would want to be Head of Department. There is no Head of Department that is not spending his or her own money to run things in the Department. If you have time, I could show you a colony of sheep there: they are on zero grazing. In other words, we feed them. How then can N27,500 take care of all these? So, we are using our mon-ey for the purpose of teaching the students. It is really unfair. This is where we are. You can see empty cases of consumables. They are there just to show the students. The bottles are empty, but we tell people this is how the bottle looks like. Some of them are not emp-ty, but they have expired. In fact, some expired since 1980, but we still keep them! There is need for Government to improve funding for the University.

But ABU has had three Vice Chancellors from this Faculty. They did not help their constit-uency?Yes, we have had the privilege

of producing three Vice Chancel-lors, but it does not mean that because they are from the Fac-ulty, all the money or resources in the system should be diverted to this Faculty. That is Number One.

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEVETERINARY MEDICINE

In this interview with our media team, the Dean of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Prof.

Haruna Kazeem says despite the numerous challenges the faculty is facing, it has been able to leverage on the opportunities within it to make remarkable progress. He also speaks on a variety of issues. Read on:

We are doing very well despite challenges –Haruna

Prof. Haruna Kazeem, during the interview


Two, they also operate on what is available to them, based on pri-orities. If money is allocated to the university to take care of such priorities, certainly the money will be so used. Similarly, we have also observed that other faculties have produced Vice Chancellors, too, but not that anything has changed dramatically in those faculties. However, if I become a VC to-

morrow, I will pay more attention

to my Faculty. There is no doubt about that. It depends on the indi-vidual and, sometimes, do not for-get how time flies. A person may get there and say: I will do so and so next year; the next thing your tenure is over. This is usually what happens in offices. Before you know what is happening, time is over. So, if you have the mind to help your Faculty, there is nothing stopping you from starting that from inception by putting in place a gradual sort of intervention in such faculties.

We went round and saw some of the decaying or cramped facilities and the expired rea-gents. How can government, corporate bodies or the alumni association help here?To the best of my knowledge,

wherever money comes from–whether it is government or cor-porate bodies or philanthropists – it will be most welcome. How-ever, you know what is happening now with the government.We are in a recession; they are even ow-ing the university staff in terms of earned allowances. And I under-

stand that even the overhead is never released as at when due. So, from government alone, it looks as if it is going to be slightly dif-ficult. I think our hope will only be realised from other sources like Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and even the alumni as-sociation – whatever they can at-tract for us and to us.

So, what are the immediate areas of challenge that would require immediate or priority intervention?Believe you me funding is num-

ber one,so we can take care of those consumables and reagents for practicals and diagnostics. We are not even thinking of acquiring modern equipment; we are just thinking of running those ones we have on ground. If we were to be up to date, we are supposed to be upgrading or doing away with such obsolete equipment and re-placing it with modern ones. But for us to bring up those requests, it would amount to dreaming dreams.And I think, for now, we just want

to have what would enable us to function. This does not mean we do not want to catch up with the modern world or modern devel-opments in veterinary medicine.

Not much is known about vet-erinary medicine. When we hear of veterinary medicine, what comes our mind is: animals. So, what really is vet medicine, as it is popularly referred to? Well, it depends on one’s envi-

ronment or where he is coming from. The Fulani value veterinary medicine a lot. And our elite, too. When they open ranches, they know they must consult the veter-inary doctors to be able to main-tain what they have.However, there is this interface

VETERINARY MEDICINE

The Dean, Prof. Kazeem and his deputy, Ass. Prof., Oluyinka Okubanjo

Also, know that we take products from animals directly. These include milk and meat, and if these animals are diseased, there is a high tendency that man will get these, too

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEVETERINARY MEDICINE


between humans and animals. And it is believed that 60 per cent of the diseases you have in human beings come from animals. So, you can see that when you treat your animals, there is that tenden-cy that you would play down on those diseases that can jump the species barrier and infect human beings. Also, human diseases also can

cross over to animals. So, these are areas in which Vet. Medicine plays a vital role.If you recall, too, there are cer-

tain strategic areas where we use animals: airports, seaports, land borders where dogs are used for security purposes. These are areas where veterinary medicine plays a social role.

Is there a connection between human medicine and vet medi-cine?Certainly. Most certainly. In some

climes, including ours, human beings live very close to their animals. In some places, humans sleep in the same room with their

animals, drink from the same wa-ter source and, as it is noted, dis-eases can, in such circumstances, criss-cross to either side. Also, know that we take products

from animals directly. These in-clude milk and meat, and if these animals are diseased, there is a high tendency that man will get these, too. This is not to talk of dis-eases like tuberculosis in humans

or bovine tuberculosis in animals. The work of the veterinarian is to minimize such health hazards, if not eradicating them completely, so that man can live on earth in peace.I am made bold to say that, in

practice, Vet Medicine or practice has always been at the forefront of even Human Medicine. Eve-rything they did, the discovery is from here. But we do not have the wherewithal to meet up. This is simply because we have been relegated to the background in terms of funding.The way I see, it is like the uni-

versity should at least bring ABU back to the glory it had in the past. At that time, no one graduat-ed in this country without passing through this Faculty. It was known for practicals. This was where eve-ryone got inducted before being released to the larger society. Luckily, we have people here who

are much older than us, who keep this place, men of professional in-tegrity. And it is this integrity that is helping us. That has permeated all the aspects of human endeav-our, especially accreditation at

Post-Graduate Vet students doing a post-mortem in the lab.

Some animals in the Vet clinic

VETERINARY MEDICINE


Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC), in the Veterinary Council of Nigeria. They look at us and say No: this place is good, they are do-ing their best. If it is a new univer-sity, no one will give us anything.

Is there any breakthrough in research, disease control from this Faculty in particular?I can answer that question hap-

pily and confidently. This Faculty, despite our challenges, is one of the best anywhere in the world. I was on the Mebusho Scholarship at the University of Tokyo, Japan, based on what I did here at my Masters. I have people who went to CDC, others to South Africa. It is always this work that we are do-ing here.But let me go back to break-

throughs. The laboratory I have (we have it in Parasitology) was donated to us by the European Union and it helped us to produce a particular parasite that can grow only in mice because of its na-ture. It was in this laboratory that we got the only T-Vivax, Mouse-adapted strain in the whole world. So, anywhere you see Y.58. Y is the Yakawada Village on your way to Giwa. It was from here. But we have lost it. When you make these discoveries, you need to properly package these things and bring them to the international fora. It is only recently that ABU is saying they will give us money to help publish. And the first thing they ask you is this: where is your labo-ratory? So, we can only talk about the past glory of seniors who have produced a lot of things. In human medicine, we have

something like alternative medicine. Do we have some-thing like that in veterinary medicine, too?

Yes, but it is called ethno-medi-cine. The only thing is that, like in human medicine, ethno-medicine is not as common as orthodox medicine. And there is a course on that at the post-graduate level.

How common are vet clinics? There is a teaching hospital

around. There is the local ADP. The state clinic. And there is by Gara city. So, Kaduna state has its own Kaduna state clinic. And in each local government, you have one or two, but sadly it is not enough. It is the same story of decay, de-spair, disuse. So, we expect that, under normal circumstances, since ours is a teaching hospital and a reference centre, when you can’t handle it, you tell us so that we can send a truck or a vehicle to bring it here or you truck it here on your own. In the good old days, we used to go as far as Kontagora, Mokwa, but now it is not possible. How do you do that with N27,

500 per quarter; not per month – mind you. It is not possible. When we go out at all, if we can buy fuel, we put students in the back of a Hilux. It is not supposed to be so. In the past, we used to have just

15 students in the entire class. But now, we have 23 students cramped into one small clinic.

If we were to intervene, which areas would you say are most critical and in need of urgent in-tervention?That is a very difficult question.

We have 10 Departments. These Departments contribute at the same time in training the student. It is not as if each Department graduates its own students. No: rather each Department contrib-utes in producing a single gradu-ate. So, if we say this is critical and we play down on the other, it shows in the product or student you are graduating. So, you can see why we try to balance every Department with minimum mate-rials to be able to bring out these products. This is why I say it is difficult to

say this Department needs more urgent help than this. But when and where we see that a Depart-ment is terribly behind or behind what is the average, that is when we say: yes, this Department is in a critical situation.

One of the faculty’s vet museums

hhh

Tell us briefly about yourself.

My name is Abdullahi Muku, the Director General of National Gal-lery of Art (NGA). I was born in

1965 in Mama in the Wamba lo-cal government area of Nasarawa state. I had my primary school in Mama from 1972-1978. Then I went to Uke (now called Zim-

babwe) Secondary school from 1978-1983. I went to School Pre-liminary Studies (SPS) in Keffifrom 1984-1986. I got admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where I read Sociology from 1987-1990. I did my national youth ser-vice in Anambra state.

Quickly sir, how has your field of study impacted on your job here?You know, some of these hings

you may not know. It is people who are watching you that will know that what you studied is im-pacting on your behavior but you may not necessarily know that the course is havingapplication on your behaviour.However, Sociology is an inter-

disciplinary course that broadens one’s horizon about relating with people. There is hardly any field that sociology does not touch. I think sociology prepared me to relate with every individual and discharge my duties creditably.

If you had not attended ABU, which university would you have attended?May be ABU again. (Laughs)Ok sir. Give us a peep into the

mandate of the NationalGallery of Arts (NGA).The gallery is charged with a lot

of mandates among which is to promote the visual arts through exhibition; to collect the best of Nigeria’s works, which will be housed in galleries; to encourage research into the new area of arts;

As Nigeria gets herself engrossed in the task of diversifying the economy, the Director-Gen-

eral of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Muku Sabo Abdullahi, has identified the Arts industry as a credible alternative, insisting that there is unimaginable wealth in the sector. He empha-sized this in an interview with Deputy Editor of ABU Alumni Magazine, LUBEM GENA. Excerpts:

ART IS WEALTH–Muku, Nat. Gallery of Art DG


ARTS

hhh

ARTS


to promote talent hunts, which, of course, we have been doing through a lot of yearly based pro-grammes. These are some of the mandates of the NGA.

One of your mandates is to em-bark on talent hunts. How ex-actly are you going about this?

We designed two programmes to achieve the talent hunt. One, we have what we call Saturda-yarts club. It is a biweekly pro-gramme, which is carried out in 25 states of the country where we have our offices so far and Abuja. In fact, we even have the Abuja state office. Primary and second-ary school children do come for coaching in these centres. These school children’s works are exhib-ited and winners are given some awards. We have been doing that for over 25 years now. Through this programme, we have encour-aged a lot of primary and second-ary school children to pick art as a profession. A lot of them have graduated and are practicing at the moment. The other activity is what we call

national visual art world tour. This is an annual event that primary, secondary schools, tertiary and professional categories do com-pete annually, starting from the state. Winners from the state do go and contest at the zonal level. Those who emerged at the zonal level do the final here in Abuja.

The awards are given at the state and zonal levels, too. Of what major economic benefit

is this parastatal to the nation?A lot of economic benefits be-

cause, when you look at the world today, tourism has taken the centre stage in terms of revenue generation for most countries. And you cannot talk of tourism without talking about its content. Arts is one of the contents of tour-ism. You hardly see a tourist com-ing to a country without picking a work of art along. If we have a lot of tourists trooping into this country, you will know what it will mean to our teaming artists.This is one sector that people who are trained in hardly search for government jobs. Most ofthe artists only want an enabling en-vironment to thrive. And how is it done? They just need to be promoted in terms of being en-couraged to carry out exhibitions, and assist them with studios and some workshop construction. Of course, Nigeria is one country

that has a large population of art-ists. Our artists are so good that

Government is do-ing its bit and I know government has been sponsoring the na-tional visual arts com-petition which since we started has never skipped a year. But we want to see how we can bring the private sector into it too, so that we can make it bigger

From Right: DG, National Gallery of Art (NGA), Mr. Abdullahi Muku; Ambassador of Spain to Nigeria, Alfonso Barnuevo Sebastian de Erice and Spanish Cul-tural Attache, Eva Barta during courtesy visit of the Ambassador to the NGA head office, Abuja, recently.

if you take them for exhibitions abroad, you hardly return home with any item except those that are not intended to be sold. We have experienced this in so many of our programmes. In fact, when we took some of our artist and some works to Egypt, through one of our programmes we call national visual art world tour, they were ready to buy the whole works, not knowing that some of

them were not meant to be sold. You can now see what art can contribute to the economy of this country.

How much, for instance, is your parastatal contribution to the 2017 national budget?It will be several billions. Where

we have galleries, it will encour-age tourists to always want to come back. Tourists would come for business but they will always need a place to unwind. And when they visit these galleries, they would always want to come back. I want to tell you that arts can contribute several billions to this country if we sit down to ana-lyse and take statistics of what it contributes.

You earlier said one of the core mandates of NGA is to embark on talent hunt across primary, secondary, tertiary and profes-sionals. How are you harnessing this and how sustainable is such initiative?

Majorly, it has always been through the annual statutory

budget allocation.But we are looking forward to see that we approach a lot of private sector players. The truth is that in most countries of the world, arts is ma-jorly private sector driven. Gov-ernment is doing its bit and I know government has been sponsoring the national visual arts competi-tion which since we started has never skipped a year. But we want to see how we can bring the pri-vate sector into it too, so that we can make it bigger.

Do you have a specific link with the universities in your activi-ties?Yes. We do have in many ways.

One of our mandates is, like I said, researching into arts. We have been using particularly the universities to achieve this. A lot of them have written so many scholarly books, which are always presented during two of our pro-grammes, the stakeholders meet-ing and annual distinguished lec-ture. We have had several editions of

these in collaboration with sev-

I want young Nige-rians to pay atten-tion to art because that is where wealth is. Before now, we were talking about oil. But I want to say that we may not know but art has replaced oil


ARTS

eral universities. We started with ABU, Zaria. We were in Benin and wanted to go to Maiduguri if not for Boko Haram, which made us move it to Calabar. We have been trying to have it with Federal University, Nasarawa. It is a very young university but they have done wonderfully well in threat arts. In fact, they have won inter-national glory. In fact, we have instituted some scholarships in some of these schools. In Zaria, there was a time we gave 5-year scholarship for the best artist. We have just done that in Nasarawa, a very young university to encour-age them. We gave them a 5-year scholarship to run.A lot of the lec-turers too have picked interest in coming to present papers in most of our programmes because it is used for their promotion.

One fundamental thing we have noticed is that your agen-cy is not having offices in all states of the federation. How negatively has this impacted on the collection of artistic work?For now, I don’t think it is a bad

situation. It is not that bad. At least, we have offices in all the six zones. So, we have increased the collection points that used to be only Lagos and Abuja. At least, we are now in all the zones. Even though we might not be in all the states, for us to be in 25 states from 1993 when NGA was established, I think we have done marvelous. And that is helping us. We may have little challenges of trying to get artist involved from all the states but we are making progress and I want to believe that very soon we will cover the 36 states.

You have painted a picture of an impressive journey so far. But let me know, what particu-

lar thing have you changed since assuming office here in this capacity as the DG?

A lot of things. When we came in, there was a lot of wrangling in the gallery. Gallery was polarised on a lot of lines. We inherited crisis but, first and foremost, we worked to-wards stabilising them. Every or-ganisation that is not united will lose focus and will not be able to achieve the mandate it was set out to. We were able to achieve that. Like I told you, we have institut-

ed a lot of scholarships in schools.

We have done a lot of collection of arts on behalf of the country. We carried out a lot of trainings. We are working hard to see that

we have our enabling law re-viewed because the laws that set us up didn’t pay attention to gen-erating revenue for government. It was more like a social service. Now that the government is in-terested in diversifying from the mono cultural economy that was bringing income to the country, I think if our enabling law is re-viewed, it will introduce some commercial aspect into it.We want to see a gallery that will not

only generate enough revenue to take care of itself but will be have enough to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country.

How much attention have you been given by the appropriate centres and how are you lever-aging on it to make things bet-ter for the gallery?So far, so good. Government is

trying. We are a country with a lot of problems that the government is tackling at the same time. But the government at the moment is paying much attention to us and

whatever government provides, we try to utilise it for the overall benefit of this sector. All that we need now is to encourage the private sector to see how we can penetrate them to assist in what the government is providing so far.

You have done so well in the arts works and you have re-ceived international recogni-tion for that, even with the pau-city of funds. What has made you think? I think, I appreciate that the lit-

tle I am doing, people are seen it.

ARTS


L-R: Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture & Tourism, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, DG, National Gallery of Art (NGA), Abdullahi Muku and Member, Committee on Culture & Tourism, Senator David Umaru during the Committee’s oversight visit to NGA head office, Abuja recently.


Actually, I was with an old uncle of mine who is over 80 years who likes arts. He said I have made him proud and that, in 2016, he saw so much of my face on television. He said if he did not loss count, he has seen me for about six or seven times either in local or interna-tional gatherings. He said people are talking about recession in the country, but we are not complain-ing. All I could tell him was that, you can actually make do with what you have so far as you have a focus. Again, the little you have, you have to put it on the table for everybody to see and then work with your team. We were able to have six programmes last year. I am not saying we are the best, but I think we could count our-selves among the best parastatals in the ministry of culture.I remem-ber the honourable minister was in three of our programmesto personally declare them open. We just had one this year even though it was supposed to have taken place last year. But due to some circumstances beyond our control, we shifted it to this year. We collaborated with embassies.

What message do you have for the Nigerian youth in the area of stimulating their interests in the arts? We still believe there will be some there who may need to be encouraged.In fact, in a phrase, art is wealth.

People may not know. If I had not joined the gallery, I wouldn’t have known, too. But the truth is that there is so much wealth in art. A piece of work that is pro-duced today and sold for about N500,000:00 will be sold for about or a million naira or more just few years afterwards.So, I think our youth should pay

attention to this new area where wealth is domiciled. You just have

to buy your canvass, a few other things and brush and, before you know it, you are hitting millions. I want young Nigerians to pay

attention to art because that is where wealth is. Before now, we were talking about oil. But I want to say that we may not know but art has replaced oil. If you see what we have in the national col-

lection, and the money that was used to collect it may not be up to N500million. But right now we have work that was recently val-ued at over N54billion. So, that is where wealth is. It is priceless un-like the oil where there is a fixed price for every barrel. The enabling law we are trying

to get reviewed is partly because we want anembellishment of our public structures. What do I mean by that? I went for an art program in Minnesota and discovered that so much of their public structures, including bridges and roads, were embellished. So,I was tempted to ask the Professor who was the Di-rector in charge of it. He told me that they encouraged the govern-ment to set aside a per centage of

the money meant for construc-tion work for the purpose of em-bellishment. When you have that in place and with the private sec-tor coming in, you will now know that there will be so much of funds deposited somewhere for artists to access and create good works. You will see artists come up with the best because they will know that their work will go through competitive tendering. I just told you that Nigerian art-

ists can compete favourably with any other artists anywhere in the world. We have seen that in all the exhibitions we have carried out. But they can still do better be-

cause most of the times you will see a young artist, who is faced with a challenge of either school fees or house rent, sit down and do a job, even in such haste they still do good jobs but when you know that you are going to pro-duce work that will go through competitive tendering, and the money is there to be picked, they will even go beyond the best. Peo-ple talk about Agriculture, which is very good, but the arts industry is where the money really is.

Some artistic works were found in the foreign lands and attempts were made to repatri-ate them. What is the update in this regard?We in the NGA are not faced with

that yet. I think most of such works were taken many years back. They fall under national museum and monuments. But from the interac-tions we are having in the minis-try, what we have noticed is that some of these works have been repatriated. Some people sug-gested the use of legal angle but I think that will not help much. So, I think it was better and agreed that diplomatic means is used to seek the return of these stolen works.

ARTS

I want to tell you that arts can con-tribute several billions to this country if we sit down to analyse and take statistics of what it contrib-utes


In the next quarter of the next, what programmesdo you hope to organize and how would you want Nigerians to key into them?We have not less than 16 yearly

programmes that we execute. We are majorly depending on gov-ernment releases to achieve our mandate. But we have about 4 programmes, which, with good releases, we will be able to do. In fact, recently, we introduced the Abuja Biennale. We discover that we have been attending bien-nales in Dakar, Senegal and we have never missed any of the edi-tions and we know that we are a larger collection of artist and we can introduce that to further expose our artists to the interna-tional community. And that is be-ing accepted by the national as-sembly. In fact, with the chat that I have with the organisers, particu-larly the secretary of the commis-sion, they do make so much mon-ey. He was able to give me three year’s ideas of how much they spent and how much the coun-try was able to realize.Even in the conservative figure, they always get more than four times of what they normally spend.I want to be-lieve that if we can introduce that into this country, there are a lot of benefits that we can derive there-from. It will further expose Nigeria to (particularly) the art commu-nity. This will generate revenue. Tourists will take taxis, stay in our hotels and buy our food, among other things.

You have been able to tell us that arts is wealth. We would like to know, in ten years time, what would be the legacy you will leave behind for the NGA?In ten years time, I am hoping

to have a national gallery. We are struggling as a national gallery

to have a befitting edifice called a national gallery of arts edifice built in Abuja. Nigeria is so large a country that if you have a gal-lery built, particularly now that we have over 3000 pieces of work collected, you will see the interna-tional communitytrooping here.We want to see that in the next ten years, we build a standard nation-al gallery of arts.I remember the immediate past government gave us the directive to commence the processesof building a befitting gallery in the city of Abuja com-parable with anyone in the world. We started that process, but you know, the life of a government is short.I rememberin 2000, the fed-eral Executive council meeting in their first meeting approved the construction of a befitting gallery in the three arms zone around the Millennium Park. That was as a re-sult of a memorandum presented by Graham-Douglas who was the minister of culture and tourism then. But unfortunately, as soon as that was approved, he didn’t stay more than two months and he was removed.And when an-other minister came, he couldn’t do enough follow-up for the fed-eral capital administration to ex-

cise that portion for us. That was another setback because, most of the times, the national assembly and some private sector organisa-tions get willing to ensure that a befitting gallery is built. I remem-ber Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), in particular, has been trying to see that that is done, so that they can have a hall therein which will house winners of their yearly competitions. Just like I said, when the immediate past administration challenged us to build a befitting gallery in Abuja, we wrote a letter, which myminis-ter then, Chief Edem Duke signed requesting for the Federal Capi-tal Territory minister to give us land. You know the size of land we are looking for is not less than fivehectares because gallery is a place that you build over time. And with a lot of things. We want to have even the printing section. If this work (pointing at a nice one in his office) is valued at N5 mil-lion, you can do a reprint of it and it can look exactly like the origi-nal and people with as little as N500,000:00 or even N100, 000:00 can buy it. That is money for gov-ernment. All we have to do, when we have that printing in place, is to agree with the artist to mass produce the work. As we sell, A percentage will go to the artist and of course the government. So, we have a lot of plans that we

want to put in place in the next ten years if appropriately funded either from the government or the private sector. We cannot be talking about national a gallery of arts without a gallery. I want to be where I can take you round to see our collection. The place ear-marked to be allocated to us was an ideal place. If the President has guests, they will not need to go far to have their visitors unwind in the gallery.

ARTS

I just told you that Nigerian artists can compete favourably with any other art-ists anywhere in the world. We have seen that in all the exhibi-tions we have carried out


Atiku Abubakar was born on November 25, 1946 to a Fu-lani trader and farmer Gar-

ba Abubakar, and his second wife, Aisha Kande, in the Jada village of Adamawa State.Atiku Abubakar became the only

child of his parents when his only sister died at infancy. Atiku’s fa-ther and mother divorced before his father died in 1957 and his mother remarried. Eventually, his mother died in 1984 of a heart at-tack.

Atiku Abubakar could not start school when he ought to because his father was opposed to him ob-taining western education. When his not going to school was no-ticed, his father was arrested and jailed until he paid a fine.Consequently, Atiku Abubakar

got registered into Jada Primary School at the age of eight. After his primary school, Atiku was ad-mitted into Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, Yola in the year 1960. He later finished his Sec-ondary School in 1965 after he made Grade Three in West African School Certificate Examination. Atiku Abubakar then proceeded to the Nigerian Police College, Ka-duna. He left the college to work as Tax Officer in the Regional Min-istry of Finance.Later, he got admission to study

at the School of Hygiene, Kano in 1966. In 1967, he graduated with a Diploma. That same year, Atiku Abubakar was admitted for a Law Diploma at Ahmadu Bello Univer-sity on a scholarship. He gradu-ated in 1969 and got employed in the Nigerian Custom Service that same year.Atiku married his first wife, Titi-

layo Albert, in December 1971, in Lagos. Titilayo begot four children for him, Fatima, Adamu, Halima and Aminu.In January 1979, he married

Ladi Yakubu as his second wife in order to expand the Abubakar family, having been the only sur-viving child of his parents, and they had six children: Abba, Atiku, Zainab, Ummi-Hauwa, Maryam and Rukayatu. In 1983, he mar-ried his third wife, Princess Rukai-yatu, daughter of the late Lamido of Adamawa and she gave birth to Aisha, Hadiza, Aliyu, Asmau, Mustafa, Laila and Abdulsalam. In 1986, he married his fourth

wife, Fatima Shettima, and she

ATIKU ABUBAKAR

ALUMNI Personality:


gave birth to Amina (Meena), Mo-hammed and two sets of twins Ahmed and Shehu, Zainab and Aisha, and Hafsat. Atiku Abuba-

kar eventually divorced Ladi.This made room for him to marry Jen-nifer Iwenjora, who later changed her name to Jamila Atiku-Abuba-kar, and she gave birth to Abdul-malik, Zara and his youngest child, Faisal. Having been employed at the Custom Service, Atiku pro-ceeded for further studies to both Police College and Custom Train-ing School.After the studies, Atiku Abuba-

kar was posted Idi-Iroko, a border town between Nigeria and Benin Republic. His assignment was to be in charge of the Lagos Airport, Apapa Ports, Ibadan Customs Command between 1974 and 1979. Later, he moved to North and served in the Kano Command in 1976 and then to Maiduguri (as Area Comptroller) in 1977 and from there to Kaduna in 1980 and back to the Apapa Ports in 1982. In 1987, Atiku was promoted to the post of a DeputyDirector in charge of Enforcement and Drugs.

In April 1989, aged 43, Atiku vol-untarily retired from Customs. At different times, he engaged in dif-ferent businesses, including real estate, Agriculture, trading, buy-ing and selling. Atiku’s business also includes a beverage manu-facturing plant in Yola, as well as an animal feed factory.At the end of his Custom service,

Atiku Abubakar met Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who had been second-in-command of the military gov-ernment that ruled Nigeria be-tween 1976 and 1979. He then started attending political meet-ings with Shehu Musa Yar’Adua every now and then. In 1989, Atiku became the National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Front of Nigeria.As such, he participated in the transition program initiated by Head of State Ibrahim Baban-gida. Atiku Abubakar was later elect-

ed to represent his constituency at the 1989 Constituent Assembly.

ALUMNI PERSONALITY

Atiku Abubakar could not start school when he ought to because his father was op-posed to him ob-taining western education. When his not going to school was noticed, his father was arrested and jailed until he paid a fine


He won the primary election to contest for the gubernatorial elec-tion under the platform of Social Democratic Party in 1991but was disqualified by government from contesting the elections.In 1992, Atiku was to contest in a

Presidential election, but stepped down for MKO Abiola. In 1998,he won election as the Governor of Adamawa State, but before his swearing-in, he was called by the PDP’s Presidential candidate, Olusegun Obasanjo, to be his run-ning-mate. Obasanjo and Atiku eventually won the election on February 27, 1999, and Atiku be-came the Vice President of Nigeria on May 29, 1999.On December 20, 2006, Atiku

Abubakar was chosen as the Pres-idential candidate of the Action Congress (AC). After the election, Atiku Abubakar took third place behind the PDP candidate Umaru Yar’Adua and the ANPP candidate MuhammaduBuhari, with approx-imately 7% of the vote (2.6 million votes).In January 2011, Atiku contested

for the Presidential ticket of PDP alongside President Jonathan and Sarah Jubril and lost the primary. On February 2, 2014, he left the PDP and joined All Progressives Congress (APC). On December 11, 2014, Atiku Abubakar contested for Presidential ticket under the All Progressive Congress and lost to Munammadu Buhari, who emerged the party’s Presidential flag bearer.Atiku is a successful business-

man.Business rather than poli-tics defines the essential Atiku, the philanthropist, as he has em-ployed his resources, to fund both his politics and his philanthropy.According to the former Vice

President, philanthropy, entre-preneurship and human capital development have a long history in Africa, as it has enabled many

an African community “to build schools, roads, churches, and mosques.An individual’s success is deemed to be of limited social value if it does not lead to the suc-cess of others in the family, clan or community’’. The above helps to explain the passion of the Turaki Adamawa for philanthropy, nota-bly the one that has informed his deliberate citing of his business ventures in his native Adamawa State even though employment

opportunities in all his business and other endeavours are open to all Nigerians without favour or discrimination.The goal is to use philanthropy

to transform his home State while providing equal opportunity and livelihood to all Nigerians. The flagship of the philanthropic endeavours of the Turaki is the American University of Nigeria (AUN) and its affiliates.

ALUMNI PERSONALITY


The greatness of Ahmadu Bello University is not lim-ited only to its aesthetic val-

ues and serene environment or its landmass. Of course Ahmadu Bello University is the second larg-est university in the Sub-Saharan Africa. It is surpassed only by the University of Cairo. However, the greatness of this famous univer-sity resides in the products the prestigious university has been churning out over the years and who today have become the ‘’shakers and movers’’ of Nigeria economy. Products of ABU show exemplary conduct in leadership. They are prized globally and can-not be ignored anywhere. There is no doubt, ABU products

are among the most successful professionals and finest intellec-tuals ever produced anywhere in Nigeria. The social and political awareness instilled in ABU prod-ucts has not been surpassed by any university in Nigeria. Gradu-ates of ABU have distinguished themselves in governance, indus-try and academic. In accordance with its cross – cul-

tural mix, life at ABU, a melting pot that has strengthened it’s goal as its unifying factor that transcends ethnicity, tribe and tongue. Young Nigerians including foreigners who passed through the crucible of the famous ABU are record-ing outstanding achievements because they have reaped boun-tifully from the foundation pro-vided by this veritable citadel of

excellence. Distinguished by the work ethic

infused in them at the university, they have many reasons to be grateful to their alma mater where they honed their professions. These are the products that got the best ABU could offer in every ramification of life. As it is now, the famous university deserves support from them. To give back to the University that nurtured them to become what they are today, should be a thing of pride.

Today, the 55 years old institu-tion that have produced virtually man power needed for this na-tion, now appears to be in dire need of assistance of its products. When it was established in 1962, most of the infrastructures in ABU that gave orgasm to the visitors and made other universities be-came green in envy have waned down. Without deceiving ourselves,

with the parlous economy situ-ation in the country now, gov-

A PATRIOTIC CALL

ABU ALUMNI Should Give Back To Their Alma–Mater

By Tunde Ogundele/ADSTRO.COM

Prof. Ibrahim Garba, ABU VC


ernment alone cannot solve the problem of infrastructural decay that has become the albatross of a university that pride itself as the root of scholarship in Nigeria. With the Nigeria economy that is

still prostrating on the altar of re-cession, it is expedient and a mat-ter of necessity for the products of this great university to redeem the glory and the pride of Africa called the famous ABU. Products of ABU must come to rescue the university that paved ways for their greatness in life from the pang of infrastructure decay. A true indicator of love for and loy-alty for one’s alma mater is the extent to which one is willing to support it financially. Graduates giving back to their alma mater is a very good barometer of how the

alumni view their university.There are many reason Alumni

should give back to their alma mater. One of such is to show ap-preciation for the education and development of the school which provided them with requisite skills they are now using to move the world around them.Other people with similar expe-

rience, stay connected with the university community and even reap the social and emotional benefit associated with the donor. For ABU Zaria, it is no exaggera-tion that nine out of ten alumni of this prestigious university are nos-talgic about the time they spent on the campus of this prestigious university. They remember those days when they did not have any problem on campus rather than

to read and make good grade.

It will be evergreen in their mind because they were young, care-free and ready to embrace life with passion. That was the reason for the outpouring of emotions and nostalgic feeling expressed by the alumni during the last An-nual General Assembly, (AGA) of Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association under the leadership of Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, a man who is always aglow at the men-tion of ABU. His contributions to this university, especially the fac-ulty of pharmaceutical science are well documented for posterity. He has been teaching students on part –time in the last 30 years without collecting a dine. As part of the Alumni pro-

grammes for AGA, National Exec-utive Council of ABU Alumni paid a visit to faculty of Agriculture and Professor Funmilayo who is also an alumnus and the dean of Fac-ulty of Agriculture was in the of-fice that Saturday to receive the National Executive Council (NEC) members of ABU Alumni Associa-tion. It was revealed clearly that, the

college of agriculture in spite of the challenges it is facing has cho-sen to live above board, as it has what it takes to feed the whole Northern states. But now that government has seen the reason we must embrace agriculture to save the nation from the pang of hunger and create employment, ABU College of Agriculture should be the reservoir of the army of the middle level and higher level man-power needed as foot soldiers for the diversification into agricul-ture. ABU College of agriculture has the capacity to re –awaken the nation the expectation of Ni-

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEA PATRIOTIC CALL


gerians that, agriculture holds the prospect of greater diversification if government has a keen interest in research and funding of such. College of Agriculture is one of

the important division of the uni-versity, galvanizing the total sup-port of the alumni to mobilize fund, material and human capi-tal will go a long in restoring the glory of this college as the hub of research for agriculture in Nigeria.At the Faculty of Veterinary Med-

icine, which was the first point of call by the NEC members, was a pathetic case that made hot tear cascaded down the cheek of many alumni. It was observed that all the equipment are no longer in tune with reality of today. The lab-oratory was empty and the lectur-ers are doing their best to manage the bad situation and preserve the reputation of the faculty. Without iota of exaggeration, there are many problems that are wrestling with this faculty that require the wherewithal to surmount them.In an attempt to galvanize the

support of the products for devel-opment of the university, the ABU Alumni Association presented to the public the maiden edition of

the Information Flyer of the Asso-ciation on 23rd April 2016 at the International Conference Center Abuja during the Dinner and rec-ognition Award Event. Ever since then, second and third editions of the fliers were produced and dis-tributed to members through the branches. It is in view of this development

that National Executive Commit-tee of the Association studied a proposal from Messer ADSTRO Communications Limited in re-spect of a special Compendium of ABU Alumni members in tune with the objective of the asso-ciation to reach out and publicize its high net worth members as a form of showcasing to the world the essence and personae of ABU Products. This compendium will not only tell the story of this great citadel of knowledge that ABU is known for these 55 years but also a veritable platform for young Ni-gerians to lay foundation of un-common greatness.

Today, the 55 years old institu-tion that have produced virtu-ally man power needed for this nation, now ap-pears to be in dire need of assistance of its products

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEA PATRIOTIC CALL

Environment-current issues: soil degradation; rapid deforestation; urban air and water pollution; de-sertification; oil pollution - water, air, and soil; has suffered serious damage from oil spills; loss of ar-able land; rapid urbanizationDefinition: This entry lists the

most pressing and important envi-ronmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:

Acidification - the lowering of soil and water pH due to acid pre-cipitation and deposition usually through precipitation; this process disrupts ecosystem nutrient flows and may kill freshwater fish and plants dependent on more neu-tral or alkaline conditions (see acid rain).

Acid rain - characterized as con-taining harmful levels of sulfur di-

oxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rain is damaging and potentially deadly to the earth’s fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using the pH scale where 7 is neutral, values greater than 7 are considered al-kaline, and values below 5.6 are considered acid precipitation; note - a pH of 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) has been measured in rainfall in New England.

Aerosol - a collection of airborne particles dispersed in a gas, smoke or fog.

Afforestation - converting a bare or agricultural space by planting trees and plants; reforestation in-volves replanting trees on areas that have been cut or destroyed by fire.

Asbestos - a naturally occurring

soft fibrous mineral commonly used in fireproofing materials and considered to be highly carcino-genic in particulate form.

Biodiversity - also biological di-versity; the relative number of spe-cies, diverse in form and function, at the genetic, organism, commu-nity, and ecosystem level; loss of bi-odiversity reduces an ecosystem’s ability to recover from natural or man-induced disruption.

Bio-indicators - a plant or animal species whose presence, abun-dance, and health reveal the gen-eral condition of its habitat.Biomass - the total weight or vol-

ume of living matter in a given area or volume.

Carbon cycle - the term used to describe the exchange of carbon

Current issues in the Nigerian environment

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEENVIRONMENT


(in various forms, e.g., as carbon dioxide) between the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial biosphere, and geological deposits.Catchments - assemblages used

to capture and retain rainwater and runoff; an important water man-agement technique in areas with limited freshwater resources, such as Gibraltar.DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-

ethane) - a colorless, odorless in-secticide that has toxic effects on most animals; the use of DDT was banned in the US in 1972.

Defoliants - chemicals which cause plants to lose their leaves ar-tificially; often used in agricultural practices for weed control, and may have detrimental impacts on human and ecosystem health. Deforestation - the destruction

of vast areas of forest (e.g., unsus-tainable forestry practices, agri-cultural and range land clearing, and the over exploitation of wood products for use as fuel) without planting new growth.Desertification - the spread of de-

sert-like conditions in arid or semi-arid areas, due to overgrazing, loss of agriculturally productive soils, or climate change.

Dredging - the practice of deep-ening an existing waterway; also, a technique used for collecting bot-tom-dwelling marine organisms (e.g., shellfish) or harvesting coral, often causing significant destruc-tion of reef and ocean-floor ecosys-tems.

Drift-net fishing - done with a net, miles in extent, that is gener-ally anchored to a boat and left to float with the tide; often results in an over harvesting and waste of large populations of non-commer-

cial marine species (by-catch) by its effect of “sweeping the ocean clean.”

Ecosystems - ecological units comprised of complex communi-ties of organisms and their specific environments.Effluents - waste materials, such as

smoke, sewage, or industrial waste which are released into the envi-ronment, subsequently polluting it.

Endangered species - a species that is threatened with extinction either by direct hunting or habitat destruction.

Freshwater - water with very low soluble mineral content; sources include lakes, streams, rivers, gla-ciers and underground aquifers.

Greenhouse gas - a gas that “traps” infrared radiation in the lower atmosphere causing surface warming; water vapor, carbon di-oxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hy-drofluorocarbons, and ozone are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Groundwater - water sources found below the surface of the earth often in naturally occurring reservoirs in permeable rock strata; the source for wells and natural springs.

Highlands Water Project - a se-

ENVIRONMENT


ries of dams constructed jointly by Lesotho and South Africa to redi-rect Lesotho’s abundant water sup-ply into a rapidly growing area in South Africa; while it is the largest infrastructure project in southern Africa, it is also the most costly and controversial; objections to the project include claims that it forc-es people from their homes, sub-merges farmlands and squanders economic resources.Inuit Circumpolar Conference

(ICC) - represents the 145,000 Inu-its of Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland in international envi-ronmental issues; a General Assem-

bly convenes every three years to determine the focus of the ICC; the most current concerns are long-range transport of pollutants, sus-tainable development and climate change.

Metallurgical plants - industries which specialize in the science, technology, and processing of metals; these plants produce high-ly concentrated and toxic wastes which can contribute to pollution of ground water and air when not properly disposed.Noxious substances - injurious,

very harmful to living beings.

Overgrazing - the grazing of ani-

mals on plant material faster than it can naturally regrow leading to the permanent loss of plant cover, a common effect of too many ani-mals grazing limited range land.

Ozone shield - a layer of the at-mosphere composed of ozone gas (O3) that resides approximately 25 miles above the Earth’s surface and absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation that can be harmful to living organ-isms.

Poaching - the illegal killing of an-imals or fish, a great concern with respect to endangered or threat-

ened species.Pollution - the contamination of

a healthy environment by man-made waste.

Potable water - water that is drinkable, safe to be consumed. Salination - the process through

which fresh (drinkable) water be-comes salt (undrinkable) water; hence, desalination is the reverse process; also involves the accumu-lation of salts in topsoil caused by evaporation of excessive irrigation water, a process that can eventu-ally render soil incapable of sup-porting crops.

Siltation - occurs when water

channels and reservoirs become clotted with silt and mud, a side effect of deforestation and soil ero-sion.

Slash-and-burn Agriculture - a rotating cultivation technique in which trees are cut down and burned in order to clear land for temporary Agriculture; the land is used until its productivity de-clines at which point a new plot is selected and the process repeats; this practice is sustainable while population levels are low and time is permitted for regrowth of natu-ral vegetation; conversely, where these conditions do not exist, the practice can have disastrous con-sequences for the environment.

Soil degradation - damage to the land’s productive capacity because of poor agricultural practices such as the excessive use of pesticides or fertilizers, soil compaction from heavy equipment, or erosion of topsoil, eventually resulting in re-duced ability to produce agricul-tural products.

Soil erosion - the removal of soil by the action of water or wind, compounded by poor agricultural practices, deforestation, overgraz-ing, and desertification.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation - a por-tion of the electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun and naturally filtered in the upper atmosphere by the ozone layer; UV radiation can be harmful to living organisms and has been linked to increasing rates of skin cancer in humans.

Water-born diseases - those in which bacteria survive in, and are transmitted through, water; always a serious threat in areas with an un-treated water supply.

Source: CIA World Factbook

PERSONALITY LIFESTYLEENVIRONMENT


Brief on BauchiWhat is now known as Bauchi was

until 1976 a province in the then North-Eastern State of Nigeria. Ac-cording to the 2006 census, the state has a population of 4,653,066.

Bauchi State has gone through tremendous transformation over the years. The Ajawa language was spoken in Bauchi State, but became extinct between 1920 and 1940 as speakers switched to Hausa.

During the colonial era up to in-dependence, it formed part of the Bauchi Plateau of the then Northern Region, until the 1967 state creation exercise, when the Bauchi, Borno, and Adamawa provinces constitut-ed the former North-Eastern State.

With the creation of Bauchi State in 1976, then comprising present Bauchi and Gombe States, it in-cluded 16 local government areas. The number of local government areas in the then Bauchi State was increased to 20 and later to 23. However, in 1997 when Gombe State was created out of Bauchi and additional local governments were created in the country, Bauchi State was left with 20 local government areas as listed below.

– Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro, Dass, Toro, Ningi, Warji, Ganjuwa, Kirfi, Alkaleri, Darazo, Misau, Giade, Shira, Jama’are, Katagum, Itas/Ga-dau, Zaki, Gamawa and Dambam.

Sharia law was adopted in June 2001.

Bauchi State has a total of 55 trib-al groups in which Hausa, Fulani, Gerawa, Sayawa, Jarawa, Kirfawa, Turawa Bolewa, Karekare, Kanuri, Fa’awa, Butawa, Warjawa, Zulawa, and Badawa are the main tribes. This means that they have backgrounds, occupational patterns, beliefs and many other things that form part of

the existence of the people of the state.

There are cultural similarities in the people’s language, occupational practices, festivals, dress and there is a high degree of ethnic interac-tion especially in marriage and eco-nomic existence. Some of the ethnic groups have joking relationships that exist between them, e.g. Fulani and Kanuri, Jarawa and Sayawa, etc.

According to tradition, it was named for a hunter known as Baushe, who settled in the region before the arrival of Yakubu, the first traditional ruler of Bauchi emirate (founded 1800–10).

In Hausa the word Bauchi means the land of freedom and tourism. Bauchi and Adamawa were the two main sources of freedom and tour-ism for the Fulani empire of Sokoto.

Bauchi, usually referred to as Bauchi State to distinguish it from the city of Bauchi, is a state in northern Ni-geria. Its capital is the city of Bauchi. The state was formed in 1976 when the former North-Eastern State was broken up. It originally included the

area now in Gombe State, which be-came a distinct state in 1996.

The State has over 55 ethnic groups. Though these different eth-nic groups have their own languag-es, customs, historical background, festivals, occupational patterns and beliefs, the peaceful co-existence with each other clearly demon-strates the unity in diversity of the people of the State.

The State is bordered by seven states, Kano and Jigawa to the north; Taraba and Plateau to the south; Gombe and Yobe to the east and Kaduna to the west.

There are cultural similarities in the people’s language, occupational practices, festivals, dress and there is a high degree of ethnic interac-tion especially in marriage and eco-nomic existence. Some of the ethnic groups have joking relationships that exist between them, e.g. Fulani and Kanuri, Jarawa and Sayawa, etc.

Like most of the States of North-ern Nigeria, Bauchi State shares two distinct ecological zones, the Sudan Savannah which covers the south-ern part of the state while the Sahel Savannah covers the western and northern parts of the State and has a rainfall regime of between 700mm and 1300 mm falling over a period of three to four months annually. It is blessed with a number of large rivers, which include the Jama’are, Gongola and Dindima Rivers, in ad-dition to a number of smaller ones which provide suitable basin for agricultural activities such as Crop production, Fishing, Livestock pro-duction and Irrigation purposes.

These are also supported with oth-er dams and lakes that support ag-riculture and electricity generation. With a vast land of high soil qual-ity, agriculture remains the back-

Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has produced an unimaginable number of personalities that are making the institution proud in every sector of the Nigerian economy. In the North-Eastern part of Nigeria alone, four out of the six governors are distinguished alumni of the prestigious institution. It is in recogni-

tion of their selfless service to humanity, track records of achievement as well as an attempt to recognise some of our best brands that we have decided to provide a spotlight on the quartet of Their Excellencies: Gov. Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, Gov. Darius Ishaku, Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam and Gov. Ibrahim Damkwambo, who are presid-ing over the affairs of Bauchi, Taraba, Yobe and Gombe states respectively.


bone of the economy of the State. About 80% of the inhabitants in the region engage in the production of food and cash crops, but mainly on a small-scale subsistence basis. Cotton, Maize, Groundnuts, Millet, Guinea corn, Rice, Beans, Sesame seeds and Gum-Arabic among oth-ers make up the major crops pro-duced in the State.

H.E. Gov. Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar

His Excellency, Mohammed Abdul-lahi Abubakar, born on 11 Decem-ber 1956, is the present governor of Bauchi State, Nigeria. He began his career in the Civil Service where he rose through the ranks to become the Bauchi State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. He ran for public office as Governor of Bauchi State in 2015 under the plat-form of the All Progressives Con-gress, the state’s opposition party. He won the election, defeating the incumbent party’s candidate by

over 370,000 votes. He began his tenure as the governor of Bauchi on 29 August 2016, succeeding Isa Yuguda.

Early lifeMohammed Abubakar was born

in Gombe, to the family of Late Al-haji Abdullahi Abubakar (ACP rtd).

He attended Jos Native Authority Primary School from 1963 to 1968 and proceeded to Tudun Wada Pri-mary School Kano in 1969. He then gained admission into Government College Kano (Rumfa College) for his Secondary School education from 1970 to 1974.

EducationOn completion of his Secondary

School education, Barrister Mo-hammed A. Abubakar proceeded to School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria for one year pre-degree programme. He was among the first set of students of School of Basic Studies of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1974. From 1975 to 1978 he studied at the Fac-ulty of law, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he got his LLB Hons.

He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos from 1978 to 1979 for his BL course. He was called to bar after successfully completing the course and from 1979-1980, during his National Youth Service Corps, he lectured at Rivers State College of Science and Technology (presently University of Science and Technol-ogy, Rivers State).

Civil Service CareerOn completion of his youth ser-

vice, Barrister Mohammed Abuba-kar joined the civil service as a Pupil State Counsel in the Ministry of Jus-tice, Bauchi State. He rose through the ranks to the position of Senior Parliamentary Counsel and Head of Legal Drafting Department of Bauchi State House of Assembly in 1983.

After the 1983 military interven-tion, he was deployed back to the Ministry of Justice as Senior State Counsel. In 1984 he was promoted to the rank of Principal State Coun-sel and was seconded to Yankari Games Reserve and Tourism Com-pany Limited as the Secretary/ Le-gal Adviser. He was deployed back to the Ministry of Justice in 1986 as a Principal State Counsel and Act-ing Director Civil Litigations and in 1988 he was promoted to the posi-tion of Director of Public Prosecu-tion. He was appointed Attorney

General and Commissioner for Jus-tice Bauchi state between 1990 and 1991 before the handing over to ci-vilian regime. However, the civilian government reappointed him as At-torney General and Commissioner for Justice, Bauchi state from 1991 to 1993.

Private Practice, INEC and Politi-cal Career

When the military intervened again in 1993, Barrister Mohammed Abubakar went into private prac-tice as Managing Partner of Fortuna Chambers. He became the Chair-man of Nigerian Bar Association, Bauchi State Branch from 1996 to 1998 and was elected Deputy Na-tional Secretary of the Democratic People’s Party in 1997. He was ap-pointed Resident Electoral Commis-sioner of the INEC - The Independ-ent National Electoral Commission and served in Kogi, Delta, Plateau and Rivers States between 1999 and 2003. In 2003, he was promoted to National Electoral Commissioner in charge of Legal Services and su-pervisor of Borno, Jigawa, and Yobe states. He retired from INEC in 2008 and went back to legal practice as Managing Partner of M A Abubakar & Co. (Fortuna Chambers). This law firm has offices in Abuja, Port Har-court and Bauchi State.

In June 2013 Barrister Mohammed Abubakar was appointed a member of the National Judicial Council, NJC, and on the 11th of April, 2015 he was the elected Governor of Bauchi State, Nigeria on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Personal lifeBarrister Abubakar is married with

children. He is an avid supporter of football clubs - Manchester United and Wikki Tourists.

*From the official website of Bauchi State Government.

Brief on Yobe stateFulani Yobe is a state located in

Northeast Nigeria. A mainly agricul-tural state, it was created on August 27, 1991. Yobe state was carved out of Borno State. The capital of Yobe state is Damaturu.


ABU’S QUINTESSENTIAL BRANDS

H.E, Barr. Mohammed A. Abubakar

GeographyThe state borders the Nigerian

states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, and Jigawa. It borders the Diffa Region and the Zinder Region to the north in The Republic of Niger. Because the state lies mainly in the dry sa-vanna belt, conditions are hot and dry for most the year, except in the southern part of the state which has a milder climate.

HistoryYobe State came into being on the

27 August 1991. It was carved out of the old Borno State by the Ba-bangida administration. Yobe State was created because the old Borno State was one of Nigeria’s largest states in terms of land area and was therefore considered to be too large for easy administration and mean-ingful development. Ethnic rivalries within the old Borno State also con-tributed to the decision.

On 14 May 2013, President Good-luck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Yobe State along with neighboring Borno State and Ad-amawa State, due to the activities of the terrorist network Boko Haram. Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, was born in Shekau village of Yobe.

Local Government AreasYobe State consists of seventeen

(17) Local Government Areas (or LGAs). They are:

BursariDamaturuGeidamBadeGujbaGulaniFikaFuneJakuskoKarasuwaMachinaNangereNguruPotiskumTarmuwaYunusariYusufariEconomyWhile Yobe state is an agricultural

state it also has rich fishing grounds

and mineral deposits of gypsum in Fune LGA, kaolin, and quartz. The state’s agricultural products include: gum arabic, groundnuts, beans, cot-ton. The state is also said to have one of the largest cattle markets in West Africa located in Potiskum.

Ethnic groupsThe major ethnic group living in

Yobe State are Kanuri, while other ethnic communities include Ngizim, Karai-Karai, Bolewa, Bade, Hausa, Ngamo and Shuwa, Fulani (Bura), maga.

ReligionThe population is mainly Muslim.

Sharia law is valid. Also, there are Christians in the State.

His Excellency Governor Ibrahim Gaidam CNA, CPA an accomplished public servant and astute admin-istrator, was born 53 years ago to a family of Muslim scholars in Bukarti town, Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State on September 15th 1956.

Education.He started his early education at

Yunusari Primary School between 1963 and 1969 before he proceed-ed to Borno Teachers College (BTC) Maiduguri from 1974 to 1979 where he obtained the Teachers’ Grade Two Certificate.

Governor Gaidam’s quest for knowledge and bent for the math-ematical sciences led him to the prestigious Ahmadu Bello Univer-sity (ABU), Zaria between 1981 and 1983 where he bagged a Diploma in Accountancy.

A voracious seeker of knowledge, Gaidam was to return to the ABU four years later to begin a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy Degree programme, which he successfully completed in 1990.

Governor Gaidam’s BSc Degree in Accountancy successfully marked his complete academic and profes-sional transformation from a class-room teacher, which he was after he left the BTC, to an accountant and a full member of the Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria (CPA).

Public service.The governor’s public career

spanned nearly 30 years from being a classroom teacher, to an Audit Of-ficer to being an accountant in vari-ous government ministries from the old Borno State to Yobe State.

As his public service career peaked, Governor Gaidam rose successively to the positions of Assistant Direc-tor of Finance in the Defunct Direc-torate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI) and acting Director of Finance and Supplies in the Yobe Information and Culture Ministry.

Gaidam was appointed commis-sioner of Youths and Sports in Au-gust 1995. After nearly a year in the Sports Ministry, Gaidam was again appointed commissioner of Com-merce and Industries, a position he held until 1997. Between 1997 and early 2007, His Excellency the governor was also Director Final Ac-counts in the State Finance Ministry and Permanent Secretary in various ministries respectively.



H. E. Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam

In April 2007, Governor Gaidam was elected Deputy Governor of Yobe State and was sworn in to of-fice on May 29th 2007.

He was deputy governor for a pe-riod of 19 months before he was sworn in as Executive Governor on January 27th, 2009 following the passing away of Governor Mamman Ali.

His midas touchSince his assumption of office as

governor, His Excellency Alhaji Ibra-him Gaidam has brought a new spirit of commitment and service to public administration in Yobe State, through his wide ranging trans-formative policies and programmes.

Governor Gaidam is now working to bring to logical conclusion all the major projects started by his prede-cessor in the housing, health, edu-cation, agriculture, roads, energy and other sectors.

His recent instruction to the state finance ministry to pay over four thousand civil servants whose names were omitted in the biomet-ric exercise as well as the payment of teachers’ salaries according to the percentages recommended by federal government, amongst many other interventions, are widely sa-

luted in Yobe State and beyond as magnanimous and legendary.

Governor Gaidam is focussed on ensuring that his administration de-livers the dividends of democracy right to the doorsteps of the peo-ple and that Yobe is transformed to a more economically prosperous State.

From the official website of Yobe State Government.

Brief on Gombe stateBACKGROUND INFORMATIONHistorical Development: Gombe

State, “Jewel in the Savannah,” was created on 1st October, 1996 by the General Sani Abacha administra-tion. Its creation was a fulfilment of the aspirations of the people who, for long, had been yearning for a state of their own out of the then Bauchi State.

The genesis of the struggle dates back to 1979. Since its creation, the state has been growing fast, blessed with abundant physical, human and economic resources. One of the cri-teria for an area to qualify for State creation is economic viability. There is no doubt that Gombe fulfiled that criterion.

It is a confluence of economic ac-tivities, by its position as the meet-ing point for business people from the surrounding states. The states include: Borno and Yobe to the

north and east, Taraba and Ad-amawa to the south, and Bauchi to the west. This advantage has made the state vibrant in all respects.

In addition, the land is blessed with natu ral resources, while the people are highly industri ous and enterprising. Thus, within the short period of its existence, it has made tremendous progress.

Location and Size Gombe State lies within the North-

East region of Nigeria and occupies a total land area of about 20,265sq. km.

Administrative Areas: Gombe State comprised eleven Local Gov-ernment Areas (LGAs) in 1999, the same number created in 1996 (see Map151 Gombe State Administra-tive) However, some of the LGAs, notably Akko, Dukku and Gombe have been in existence since 1976, as part of the then Bauchi State.

Investment opportunitiesIndeed, most of the LGAs in the

state today, were created in 1989 or 1992 and thus existed before 1996, when three new LGAs were carved out to make up the eleven the state now has (Table 15.1). The state, re-ally and historically, corresponds largely to the Gombe Emirate under the Emir of Gombe, and made up of five chiefdoms, viz. Cham, Dadiya, Kaltungo, Tangale and Waja. It com-prises such previously dependent and powerful emirates

and chiefdoms as Gombe, Tangele and Waja. Gombe town is the ad-ministrative capital of the state, as it has been for the Emirate, the seat of the Emir. Its population of about 200,000 makes it the largest centre in the state. It is also the commercial and zonal services headquarters in Nigeria for many Federal Govern-ment establishments, including NNPC.NEPA, NITEL Territorial Office, NIPOST Territorial Office and Nige-rian Railway Corporation.

Investment opportunitiesThe state is richly endowed for ag-

ricultural, industrial and commercial development. Gombe State holds out considerable prospects for in-



vestors, tourists and settlers.The people, the vast agricultural

potential, and the numerous min-eral resources in the state consti-tute invaluable assets for economic investments. They are considerable economic potentials if properly har-nessed, particularly for agrobased and solid mineral based manufac-turing industries. Industrial poten-tials abound in the state.

Most of the existing industries in the state were those established long before the state was created. They are mostly agrobased, with the exception of Ashaka cement in-dustry.

The state has very few medium and large industries, but mainly cot-tage and small industries with lit-tle or no multiplier and accelerator effects on the other sectors of the state’s economy (Appendix 1). There are therefore considerable poten-tials for industrial.

This is a virgin area for profitable investments. Solid mineralbased industrial potentials in the state include those for paint making, ce-ramics, block making, glass/bottles making, metal fabrication, asbestos industries, jewelries and gem cut-ting. There are potentials also for pharmaceutical blending industries and bags/sacks making.

The government has issued com-prehensive ‘ documents on the In-dustrial Policy of Gombe State t and on Gombe State Investment Guide. The industrial policy provides at-tractive incentives for , investors wishing to invest in the state. It also provides for the development of economic and social infrastructure in the state.

In the tourism and hospitality sec-tor, numerous investment oppor-tunities exist in the state, especially in hotels, amusement parks, zoos, cinemas, i museums and art galler-ies development. Gombe . State, as yet, has no fivestar hotel, or facilities such f as zoos, parks and museums.

The few cinema houses and hotels existing in the state capital cannot meet the ever increasing demand for these facilities in the state. Inves-tors would, therefore, ‘ benefit im-mensely in the state in these areas.

Cotton and raw leather production is substantial in the state. The Waja tribes of Balanga LGA are famous for their locally woven leather apparels

H.E. Gov. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo

FULL NAME: Ibrahim Hassan Dank-wambo

DATE OF BIRTH: 4 April 1962OCCUPATION: Politician(Governor)Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo is the

Governor of Gombe state as of 2015 after winning his rerun election.

Early Life And Background

Dankwambo is a graduate of Ac-counting with second Class Up-per Division from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1981 – 1985, he later ob-tained a Masters of Science Degree in Economics from University of La-gos, Nigeria and post Graduate Di-ploma in Computer Science in Delta State University, Abraka.

Today, he is a Fellow and Associ-ate of Six professional bodies and associations which include: Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (FCA);

Associate, Nigeria Institute of Managements(ANIM);

Fellow, Chartered Institute of Taxa-tion of Nigeria (FCTI);

Member, Nigeria Economic Society (MNES);

Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bank-ers of Nigeria (FCIB); and

Fellow, Nigeria Institute of Market-ers (FNIM).

Dankwambo’s working career spans across both private and public sector. He started his work-ing career as Coopers and Lybrand International (Chartered Account-ants) now Price |Water House Coop-ers between 1985 – 1988. He later joined the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1988 till 1999 when he was ap-pointed the Accountant–General of Gombe State. His excellent per-formance is his career progression, attracted him to the Federal Gov-ernment in its search for a worthy successor to the then Accountant – General of the Federation, who retired in April, 2005. Thus, he was appointed Accountant – General of the Federation on 20th April, 2005. The position he has held till now.

Dankwambo is an outstanding ex-ample of excellence. In his quest for knowledge, he attended six Interna-tional courses in different countries which included:

Harvard University, Boston Massa-chusetts, USA where he attended a course on Global Financial Systems, Crisis Prospects and Solution.

Stanford University, Stanford Busi-ness School for a course on Budget-ing and Financial Management in the Public Sector just to mention a few.

Dankwambo has also served in fourteen very sensitive committees which included the following:

Protem Executive Secretary; Forum of Accountant – General and Audi-tor – General in West Africa (FAA-GWA).

Chairman Review of Financial Reg-ulations and other Financial law in Gombe State.

Co-Chairman – Standardization of Federal, State and Local Govern-ment accounts in Nigeria.

Sub – Chairman Review Of Sylla-bus For Bank Examiners Training.

As the Accountant – General of the Federation, he has introduced land-mark programs towards ensuring accountability, transparency and



His Excellency , Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo(Talban Gombe)

probity. Amongst them are: He embarked on massive re- or-

ganization of the Office to make it more focused, pragmatic and pro-fessionally suitable for efficient ser-vice delivery.

Career And Life He was then appointed Account-

ant General of Gombe State, hold-ing this position until 2005. He was appointed Accountant – General of the Federation on 20 April 2005. He held this office until he resigned to start his campaign for election as Governor of Gombe State January 2011.

In the 26 April 2011 election, Dank-wambo won 596,481 votes, ahead of Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu of the Con-gress for Progressive Change (CPC) with 91,781 votes and Senator Sa’idu Umar Kumo of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) with 84,959 votes.

As a Governor, Dankwambo lost his deputy Mr. David Miyims Albashi,who died on 4 November 2011 in a German hospital of inju-ries he sustained in a car crash on August 28. On the 17 December 2011 Alhaji Dankwambo appointed Mr. Tha’anda Rubainu as current Deputy Governor.

In the 2015 Governorship elec-tions he was again re-elected as the Governor under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.(PDP), be-ing the only PDP governor in the North.

He was later dragged to tribunal later same year but the supreme court upheld his election.

*From the official website of Gombe State Government.

Brief on Taraba stateHistory of Taraba stateTaraba State was created on Au-

gust 27th, 1991 when the Baban-gida Military Administration carved it out of the defunct Gongola State.

The State derives its name from one of the three major rivers and covers a land area of 59,400 square kilometres. At inception, the state comprised only ten Local Govern-ment Areas namely; Jalingo, Donga

(created on 27th August 1991 Zing, Lau, Karim Lamido, Sardauna, Bali, Gashaka, Wukari and Takum.

The State currently has sixteen lo-cal government areas as a result of the creation of the following new LGAs; Ibi and Yorro in September 1991 and Ardo Kola, Kurmi, Ussa and Gassol in 1996.

There is also Yangtu, a Special De-velopment area created by Dan-baba administration in 2008 and NGADA Special Development Area which was created by Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku in September 2016.

The State derives its name from River Taraba and is made up of six-teen (16) Local Government Areas and two Special Development Ar-eas. These areas constitute admin-istrative units in three geopolitical zones with a total population of about three (3) million people.

It is bounded by Bauchi and Gombe States in the north-east and Ad-amawa on the east, by Plateau State in the north-west. The state is fur-ther bounded to the west by both Nasarawa and Benue States, while it shares an international boundary with the Republic of Cameroun to the south and south-east.

Climate

The dry and rainy season com-mon to tropical regions are also the dominant climatic features. The rainy season starts in April and ends in October, while the dry season be-gins in November and terminates in March.

The dry Season reaches its peak in January and February when the dusty north-east trade winds blow across the state.

The climatic, soil and hydrology of the State provide a conducive atmosphere for the cultivation of most staple food crops, grazing land for animals and fresh water for fishing as well as forestry.

VegetationThe vegetation of Taraba State

comprises three types of vegeta-tional zones namely; the Guinea Sa-vannah which is marked by mainly forest and tall grasses are found in the southern part of the State like Wukari, Ussa,. Kurmi, Takum and Donga. The Sub-Sudan type char-acterised by short grasses are found in Jalingo, Lau and Ardo kola, inter-spersed with short trees. While the semi-temperate zone marked by luxuriant pasture and short trees is found on the Mambilla Plateau.

Taraba State Land Mass Total Area in Km Sq = 60291.82Taraba State has 16 Local Govern-

ment Area and 2 Special Develop-ment Areas which are listed below.

Ardo-KolaBaliDongaGashakaGassolIbiJalingoKarim LamidoKurmiLauSardaunaTakumUssaWukariYorroZingYangtu Special Development AreaNGADA Special Development Area



H.E. Gov. Darius IshakuHis Excellency, Arc. Darius Dickson

Ishaku was elected into office in 2015. He was born in Lupwe in pre-sent Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State on 30th July, 1954 to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Naomi and Ishaku Istifanus.

Arc. Darius Ishaku began his educational pursuit at St. Bartho-lomew’s Primary School, Wusasa, Zaria from 1961 and obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1967. He thereafter proceeded to St. Paul’s College Kufena, Zaria for his secondary education where he graduated in 1972.

He further enrolled into the School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello Uni-versity -Zaria between 1972 to 1974 for advanced level education, and immediately gained admission to the same institution where he ob-tained his Bachelor of Science de-gree in Architecture in 1977 and a Master’s Degree (M.Sc) in Architec-ture in 1979, with distinction, (a rare feat in those days).

He did his National Youth Service Corps assignment with the Imo State Ministry of works from 1979 to 1980.

As a student at ABU Zaria between 1974 to 1979, he never forgot his roots as he ran back to do vocation jobs at the Gongola State Housing Corporation in Yola at every given opportunity.

By the time he completed his Mas-ter’s degree in architecture, he had travelled to many parts of the world to see different architectural land-scapes in addition to well-planned and organized towns, cities and country-sides.

He appreciated this very much which propelled him to pursue a Master’s degree in Urban and Re-gional Planning; being confident that with additional skills and quali-fication, he will be able to contrib-ute to the new capital of Nigeria, Abuja.

In 1982, he was admitted as a Reg-istered Member of the Nigeria In-stitute of Architects and became a Fellow of the Institute [FINA] in June 2001. He is also a member of the Ni-

geria Institute of Town Planning.In 1980, he served as an Architect

with Inter Design Partnership, then joined Bestarc International Associ-ation, where he rose to the position of a Director in 1983.

In the same year he registered his company, Excelare Partners, an ar-chitectural, planning and engineer-ing firm where he acted as Manag-ing Director. With several decades of architectural practice and experi-ence along with an insatiable thirst for higher academic laurels, he be-gan a PhD program in Architecture also at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 2007. After 5 years, he completed his course work but is yet to submit his final dissertation due to demand on his time.

Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku along with eight [8] other alumni of the department of Architecture of the Ahmadu Bello University were later invited to reinstate the institution’s accreditation with Architects Regis-tration Council of Nigeria (ARCON). That singular call to duty restored the accreditation for the teaching of Architecture in ABU, Zaria.

Prominent among his architectural designs and project management are;

Phase III General Land Use Master Plan of Abuja – FCT.

South – East Regional Develop-ment Plan.

1000 Seat Lecture Theatre and the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, ABU, Zaria.

Faculty of Distance Learning & Continuing Education, University of Abuja.

250 nos. Lecture Theatre and Medi-

cal Health Centre; Nassarawa State University, Keffi.

National Space Research and De-velopment Agency (NARSDA) Min-istry of Science and Technology Housing Estate, Lagos.

Market and Shopping Complex, Area 7, Garki, Abuja.

The Central Post Office [Boat De-sign], Garki, Abuja.

Coordination of Development of Phase III District [FCDA], Abuja.

Ten(10) Storey Residential Apart-ment Block, Abuja.

In the area of Community Service, he has been passionate and com-mitted in providing free services in design, consultancy and supervi-sion of several projects which are beneficial to the welfare of the com-mon man. Some of these projects include:

Mitosath Clinic (River Blindness Clinic/hospital) Jos, Plateau State.

Renovation of Hekan Catheral and Primary school Kaduna.

Design and Supervision of church building in Gubuchi –Ikara, Kaduna State.

Design and supervision of Hekan Church, Jalingo, Taraba State.

Albarka Baptist church, Kaduna State.

Jukun Bible Institute, Wukari, Tara-ba State.

Christian Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria Hospital, Takum, Taraba State.

Today, destiny has crowned this ever dynamic leader. Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku the Executive Gov-ernor of Taraba State and Captain of the Rescue Team.

conclusionDarius Dickson is a Nigerian ar-

chitect, urban planner, university lecturer and political figure. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Ishaku was previously the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs before he resigned to con-test in the 2015 Taraba State guber-natorial election. He won the initial gubernatorial election and was elected Governor of Taraba state af-ter winning the subsequent re-run election.

*From the official website of Taraba State Government.




I thank you for naming me the special guest of honor at this excellent occasion celebrating

the distinguished alumni of the Ahmadu Bello University. It is a distinct honor for me to among you all this evening for ABU is one of the most impressive institu-tions in Nigeria and on this planet. Yet, there is even a much more

pressing and profound honor we must acknowledge. We must honor the call of our nation at this moment of historic transition and challenge. Our nation struggles mightily to

give birth to its better self. This is a difficult but necessary process that we must undertake if we are to find our true way and reach the good destiny that God has written for us. Mastering the art of learning

and education is the difficult task nations undertake when they commit themselves to progress. Barebones survival is all a nation can achieve when it disregards this principle. To esteem learning is to follow the gleaming light to prosperity. To discard learning is to walk into the fog of stagna-

tion and poverty. The path may be hard but the choice is clear and laden with promises. To revive this nation, we must

teach our people as never before done in terms of the scope and quality of the education they re-ceive. That education cannot be of the esoteric type that is only beauty in the abstract but devoid of practical value in our quest to build and develop the very foun-dations of a new political econo-my for this nation. As alumni of this excellent insti-

tution, the role that you must play is a large one. The revered lecture rooms and study halls of Ahmadu Bello University have shaped some of the most gifted minds of this nation. Its lecturers and Pro-fessors are world class and univer-sally renowned. Its students have excelled in every field of human endeavour.ABU has earned its reputation as

a center of academic excellence and national political articulation. This institution continues to be the fountain of creative learning that continues to push the fron-tiers of cutting edge technology. I could go on and on. Yet, I did

not come this evening to stand before you and comfort you with accolades telling you how good you are. (You already know that.) I am here to tell you that your na-

tion needs you as never before. I am here to challenge you to real-ize how much greater you can be-come. I ask you not to be satisfied with

BRIEF REMARKS BY ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU, SPECIAL GUEST OF HONOR AT THE AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ALUMNI DINNER AND RECOGNITION AWARD. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTER,

ABUJA. SATURDAY 23RD APRIL, 2016.

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H.E, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Jagaban Borgu)

the decades of the sterling aca-demic growth and development of this institution. Though this sustained performance stands as an amazing feat, I ask you to see it as a platform to attempt greater things for the university and the nation it thrives to enrich and serve. Established in 1962, ABU’s origi-

nal mandate was that of a re-search institution. Hence, it must be in the vanguard of research breakthroughs in relevant disci-plines. Named after the Sardauna of

Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, the university has grown into a na-tional treasure because Nigerians from every corner of this nation and from every ethnic group, reli-gion and social station come here to learn how to excel. Those who have walked these halls of learn-ing have also forged professional and personal relationships that transcend the differences that many think are insurmountable in Nigeria. Through this, Nigeria’s unity has been strengthened. The idea of strength through diversity has been shown to be a reality we can achieve and not a nice myth we tell ourselves. The academic dynamics of the

university and its endless search for knowledge place it in a pivotal role to develop the ideas that can accelerate Nigeria’s journey to self reliance. I challenge you as individuals

and as a collective body to ex-plore and develop creative ideas in key areas, such as: 1. Agricul-tural revolution 2. Development of alternative energy sources 3. Development of a new vocational curriculum that fits and meets our needs as a nation 4. New techno-logical innovations that can solve our problems in the key areas of health, environment and informa-

tion technology.

Given its excellent antecedents, Ahmadu Bello University and its alumni must take a leading intel-lectual role in developing the ide-as and innovations that will help Nigeria to create a new chanter before our very eyes. To feign blindness and act as if nothing has changed is to insist for a model for our political economy. The old model of an oil dependent politi-

cal economy has failure that will mortgage both our present and future. ground. The times demand that we change or fall by the way-side. There is no third option, no middle ground.Empirical study has found that

knowledge has become the main catalyst economic growth and education is the bedrock of such functional knowledge driving na-tional prosperity.

Therein lies the challenge before ABU and all of our universities be-fore you. Institutionally, we must

become catalysts to a surge in employment and wealth creation that will alter the very face of Ni-geria for the better. The Alumni can take the lead in

this by supporting and investing in the university and particularly in gifted and talented undergrad-uates and graduates. You must contribute in money, in kind and in ideas to help the university in this grand enterprise. Nigeria, our beloved Nigeria, is

being called forth to define itself. Do we remain as we are or do we dare believe ourselves capable of something better, something more fecund and sublime?That which we decide shall

shape not only our lives but will reverberate across the bounda-ries of space and time. What we decide shall affect the future of this nation for years to come. Just as it will influence the trajectory of brethren African nations and the entire race of Black people. Our ancestors, they now watch hop-ing we do that which is right. Our descendants too watch praying the same thing. Let us honor and fulfill the chal-

lenge before us. Let us use the knowledge and experience that ABU and other fine schools have given us to innovate and create new ways to learn new things that will accelerate the development of this nation, such that we bring forth an era of prosperity and hope from the challenges that now face us. I want you to leave this dinner

knowing fully well that it is a great thing to have passed through this institution of great repute. But you should not leave it there. The greater thing is for you to dem-onstrate that this institution has gone through you. Congratulations on a well de-

served celebration.


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The Jagaban Borgu


IntroductionAs an alumnus of this illustrious uni-

versity, I consider it a great privilege to be invited to address this esteemed body. I am particularly humbled by this opportunity, as it is the third time since my graduation in 1976 that you have graciously asked me to be guest lecturer at our Annual General Meet-ing. I am grateful for the opportunity to address such a distinguished group again and at a time our nation and university require a deeper conversa-tion on issues of great importance to us all.

The organizers of this AGM have given me the latitude to address any topic of my choice. With such unfet-tered freedom, I have decided to take as my theme for today the question: “Does Nigeria Matter?” I was inspired to speak to this subject for a variety of reasons. First, there are many centrif-ugal forces challenging the existence of the Nigerian State in varying de-grees of gravity. Many of these forces are rooted in our recent history and they can be viewed from economic, political, social and national security prisms. Every now and again these forces ebb and flow, appearing and receding like the tidal waves of the ocean — pushing the country to a tip-ping point whenever they charge for-ward with ferocious intensity. There should not be much disagreement that today we stand at one of those pivotal moments when the nation is severely challenged by these forces. Because we are all heavily vested in the future of this beautiful and great

country, it is incumbent upon us to parachute into this contentious but important national conversation.

Secondly, given the constellation of cool rational heads residing in ivory towers, Ahmadu Bello University is a pre-eminent platform where such a burning issue can be subjected to rig-orous analysis and a fair and balanced judgment.

Therefore regard me, if you will, as the “agent provocateur” whose role is to light up the fire and trigger a conversation, recognizing that, as one of the shining beacons of aca-demic excellence, you will, if you may, shape and mold the national debate in ways that enlighten all of us and in a manner that makes us more sober, contemplative and reflective in deal-ing with such a delicate question,

which carries huge ramifications for our national destiny. For in this age of social media, there are no shortage of pontificators who may not neces-sarily be firmly grounded in knowl-edge or have a good memory of our painful national journey — but who nevertheless are too quick to make inflammatory comments and “procla-mations.”

The stakes are that high and we can-not be aloof or indifferent. However, let there be no doubt in your minds as to where I stand with regards to this question. Nigeria does matter greatly to me and I believe it matters to eve-ryone in this august assembly.

The rest of this paper is structured into six parts. In Part 2, we discuss Nigeria’s evolution as a sovereign state and its very important attrib-utes justifying its viability as a nation state. Part 3 takes a snapshot of our performance so far and argues that the country is a laggard compared to some of its peers with whom we started the walk to freedom in the early 1960s. In Part 4, we lay bare the symptoms, which are more often mis-taken as the underlying causes of the nation’s malaise and stunted growth. Part 5 goes beneath the veneer of these symptoms to dredge up the root causes of Nigeria’s challenges. Part 6 contains proposals on what we must collectively do to build the na-tion of our dreams. We conclude in Part 7 with some remarks.

THE EVOLUTION OF NIGERIA AS A NATION STATE

DOES NIGERIA MATTER? MALLAM MOHAMMED HAYATU-DEEN (CEO,

Alpine Investment Services Ltd. Lagos) ON THE OCCASION MARKING: THE 11TH ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

(AGA) OF THE AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION on Friday, 14th of October, 2016

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Mall. Mohammed Hayatu-Deen


Speaking of Nigeria as a nation, we should ask ourselves whether such a concept applies to us as we are com-posed today or is it a fallacious misap-plication of terms to consider Nigeria as a nation? To address this question, we must look through the lenses of history and examine the process of state formation in our part of Africa to determine whether indeed a histori-cal process of nationhood has been interrupted or enhanced by the impo-sition of the colonial system and the subsequent transition to independ-ence.

According to social scientists, there are many theories about state forma-tion and various definitions of what a state means. I do not propose to go into such a discourse, since I shall as-sume that you are all familiar with this subject, suffice it to say that from Ibn Khaldun to Hegel, Karl Marx and Fred-erich Engels to modern scholars like Max Weber and Francis Fukuyama, various interpretations about the state and state formation have been proffered and, to some degree, while they all have succeeded in addressing some aspects of the phenomenon, they have, however, remained silent on others. The greatest drawback in most of the theories about state for-mation is the lack of proper contex-tualization about this process among people with no written records, such as most of the Nigerian societies be-fore the arrival of the colonial power, the British.

In this respect, many of our achieve-ments have been classified as outside the pale of history since none of it was written down for posterity and, as the bias of the outside world was more towards written records rather than other sources of history, such as oral traditions and recollections of elders, the processes that attended the formation of the state system in this part of the world were deemed inconsequential at best, or primitive at worst, and, therefore, not worthy of the notice of serious historians. This perception has been corrected

to some extent by the outstanding re-search of historians and anthropolo-gists like Dr.Abdullahi Smith,Professor R. A. Adeleye, Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, Dr. Mahmud Tukur, Professor Kyari Tij-jani and Professor Ali Mazrui, among many others.

Going beyond conjecture and po-lemics and standing us on firmer ground, it can be said that the mod-ern state, as it came into being, can be traced to the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the so-called Thirty Years War in Europe. Following from that document, identifiable entities with clear boundaries,the possession of coercive powers and capacity for the enumeration of populations and taxation came into being and became designated as states. They entered into relationships with other kindred entities and modern diplomacy took root from there on. Wars became no longer between feudal families but between states with organized ar-mies led by rulers claiming defined territories as their sovereign enclaves. The transfer of this system by the Eu-ropean colonial powers into Africa, especially the British in our own case, provided the template for the evolu-tion of the Nigerian state as we know it today. However, this may not be entirely true. The British found in ex-istence in most of the Northern part of the country and, to some extent, in the Western part as well, clearly de-fined state structures with hereditary rulers in the form of Emirs, Kings and Obas, who controlled armies, con-ducted warfare, imposed taxes and meted out justice to offenders in ac-cordance with the laws of their land.

The British incorporated this system, which they called the Native Author-ity system, into their form of adminis-tration and perfected the model that they called “indirect rule,” particularly in the Northern Emirates.

The evolution of the various entities that comprise Nigeria today towards nationhood may not have been co-ordinated, synchronized or even planned, but the drive towards a sem-

blance of states was indeed emerging with the consolidation of vast territo-ries under the Fulani dynasties that were established across Northern Nigeria by the Jihad of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio. Likewise, the consolida-tion of the ancient kingdom of Ka-nem-Borno under the new El-Kanemi Dynasty was a transformation and ref-ormation of the moribund state into a more compact and cohesive entity under a new system of governance.

The various Hausa States, particu-larly the “Hausa Bakwai” or the Seven States, and those others in Central Nigeria, such as the Nok Culture, the JukunKwararafa State, the Nupe and Igala Kingdoms, the Lamibe of Fombi-na and even the decentralized states like the Tiv and lgbos in South Eastern Nigeria, all portend towards the evo-lution of a distinct state and national structure that served the needs and purposes of their various constituent units. Nigeria, therefore, even from ancient times, was a gravitational point from which the diffusion of cultures, languages and civilization took place and the useful arts, such as metallurgy, the casting of bronze and iron implements, the making of orna-ments and the development of long distance trade across vast territories, emanated.

Nigeria is a magnificent land, which showcases all of the endowments so generously bestowed on it by Provi-dence and nature. There are not too many countries in the world that are nearly 900,000 square kilometres in size.

She lies near to the Equator and has, therefore, escaped the extremes between cold and heat, which is the burden of temperate countries of the world. Mercifully saved from the scourge of natural disasters, her proximate distance to the Equator brings her ample rains which lasts between four to eight months, de-pending on the parts of the country. This country encompasses two of the most precious resources — abundant water resources and over 80 million

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hectares of arable land. The coun-try is rich in other natural resources, such as precious metals and stones, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal cooper, nickel, limestone, bitumen, gypsum and, of course, ubiquitous oil and gas resources.

Expressed in economic terms, Ni-geria has been amply equipped by Mother Nature to play to its compara-tive advantage, raise the quality of life of its citizens, create a resilient, prosperous and globally competitive economy and build a just and egali-tarian society. Any nation so strategi-cally located with maritime access to world markets, with its large size of land, vast internal market, a teeming entrepreneurial population that cele-brates its unity in diversity represent-ed by the confluence of its beautiful rainbow cultures and endowed with all forms of natural resources —surely such a nation should be shooting for the stars. Nigeria should have be-come a runaway success just 25 years after its independence.

Unfortunately, in the real world, you cannot depend on some magic wand or miracle to climb the ladder to suc-cess. Even a gifted child endowed by the Creator with a large and power-ful brain has to do some hard work to convert his latent potential into a powerful success story. The moral here is that, natural resources, in and of themselves, cannot help you much unless you apply imagination, skills and wisdom in exploiting them to secure the future of your country. This argument can be flipped around by suggesting that, while certain fac-tor endowments can give a country a good head start in the race to the top, it is not necessarily a precondition for success. We know that 87% of Japan is rock and water, yet it was until recent-ly the second largest economy in the world. Singapore is only a city state but it is today a high income country punching way above its weight on the Human Development and Global Competitiveness indices.

Dubai, located in the scorching

desolate desert, with its hydrocarbon reserves rapidly getting depleted, is today an amazing global economic success story. The common thread which explains all of these success stories is the ingenuity of the human mind. The human brain and/or mind is so powerful that, if applied in a dis-ciplined and focused manner over an extended period of time, individuals, firms and countries can achieve dra-matic and mind-blowing results. The experience of many developing na-tions, including Nigeria, suggests that factor endowments can encourage a

culture of indolence and profligacy leading to stunted growth — the phe-nomenon of “resource curse.” As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. The evidence shows that people against whom the harsh va-garies of nature and life are stacked tend to have a far greater incentive to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

NIGERIA’S SCORECARDJust 56 years after her independ-

ence, Nigeria is still a country in the making with excellent prospects be-fore her but burdened by a mixed bag of successes and failures. On the positive side, we emerged from the civil war a more united country where many others faced with similar chal-

lenges have since fragmented into smaller pieces. After a long military interregnum, the nation has learned to settle down and accommodate a popular democratic form of govern-ment, which is now nearing its 20th anniversary by 2019. This, in and of itself, is a very big deal. Another big deal is the current war being waged against corruption. Although in its in-fancy and, therefore, still work in pro-gress, it is a monumental landmark project for a number of reasons. First, because corruption is a cancer that has been devouring the very fabric of our society and literally crushing us down to our knees.

Second, the man behind this cru-sade, President MuhammaduBuhari, is known for his huge moral fibre and Spartan discipline. Third, if anybody doubts his grit and determination to pursue this war, they should read the President’s authorised biography by Professor John Paden, which was launched two weeks ago in Abuja. Very importantly,President Buhari’s increasingly successful fight against insecurity and his uncommon cour-age in deregulating petroleum prices coupled with his unrelenting focus on the entrenchment of fiscal discipline and accountability are significant and noteworthy attributes. On other economic fronts, we have registered a string of victories since the mid-1980s. Through an orderly program of privatisation and commercialization, a large chunk of our public enterpris-es has been transferred to the private sector resulting, in many instances, in significantly improving performance levels, propelling the expansion and diversification of these enterprises and making available to the public better quality products. You do not need to look too far to catch sight the of evidence all around you.

Classic cases in point are the bank-ing, oil and gas and telecoms indus-tries. Although spurred by high oil prices, it is fair to say that we posted significant economic growth for 12 years, leading up to the beginning

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of 2015. The GDP more than dou-bled with an average year on year GDP growth rate surpassing 6% over this period. It also bears mentioning that the structure of the GDP also un-derwent significant change over this period with the non-oil sector and services accounting for a huge chunk of the GDP pie. The other notewor-thy achievement is the ability of the Obasanjo administration to sanitize the country’s balance sheet by seek-ing a large unprecedented debt relief from the international club of credi-tors, thus freeing us from the shackles of the IMF and World Bank bitter pills. Due to this and related reforms in the capital market, international credit rating agencies started rating Nigeria for the first time. Nigeria also took the bold step of complying with the anti-money laundering rules designed by the Financial Action Task Force, which resulted in the creation of such bod-ies as the EFCC and the ICPC. So, on balance there is a positive story to tell about our journey so far as a na-tion. However, there is an unflattering story to convey as well if you look be-neath the surface.

Relative to our struggle to move out of underdevelopment, Nigeria ranks 152 out of 188 countries on the Hu-man Development Index (HDI) with Niger Republic at the tail end. We have been hovering around this score for almost a decade. Consequently, our prospects for long term develop-ment and progress based on a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living are bleak. The picture is not any better rel-ative to our competitiveness ranking. We are 124 out of 140 on the Global Competitiveness Index, sandwiched between the Gambia —a country of 2 million people - and Zimbabwe, which has been in economic free fall for a considerable period of time.

The Legatum Prosperity Index ranks Nigeria 125 out of 142. This turns rea-son on its head when contrasted with HDI rankings where Niger Republic

is 188 but ranks ahead of Nigeria at number 114 in the Prosperity Index. The implication being that Niger Re-public is better able to galvanise its lean resources to provide a reason-able measure of prosperity to its peo-ple.

Based on the above statistics, it is no surprise that income disparities in Nigeria are widening at an alarm-ing rate. Such disparities are not lim-ited to just income gaps between rich and poor people but also between regions of the country with Northern Nigeria bearing the brunt of grind-ing poverty. Relative to access to so-cial services, such as education and health services, the regional dispari-ties between the north and the south are mind boggling, with southern Ni-geria taking its destiny into its hands by taking aggressive steps over the last 15 years to establish a deluge of private schools, clinics and hospitals.

Take a pause and compare Nigeria’s performance with some of our peers who were not any better than us at in-dependence. I am talking of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and South Ko-rea. Let us examine Malaysia as a case in point. Malaysia has posted one of the highest economic growth rates in Asia averaging a 6.2% per annum real GDP growth since 1970. Thanks

to a patriotic, dynamic and progres-sive leadership coupled with a world class public service delivery system — Malaysia successfully transformed itself from an essentially Agriculture-based economy in the 1970s to man-ufacturing in the mid-1980s and to modern services economy since the 1990s. Malaysia’s national per capita income increased from $400 in 1970 to almost $11,000 in 2014 and is ex-pected to join the league of high in-come countries by 2020 when this figure is expected to exceed $15,000. Incidence of poverty has been re-duced from 49% in 1970 to 0.6% now; approximately 76% of the population are home owners and over 96% have access to both potable water and electricity.

Today, it ranks 20th out of 144 coun-tries on the Global Competitiveness Index. Based on these compelling statistics, we can conclude that, while Nigeria got quite a few things wrong, Malaysia got quite a few things right in their forward march to develop-ment.

The Symptoms And Causes Of Ni-geria’s Challenges

Against the backdrop of Nigeria’s bleak and sorry economic and social statistics, we should not be entirely surprised by the existential threat posed to the unity of the country by various groups for reasons both real and imagined.

A dispassionate review of a few of the underlying causes of these griev-ances and restiveness provides some powerful insight. At the top of this list is what I call the problem of the elite. The elite in any nation should act as a custodians and preservers of the national conscience and conscious-ness. They should always seek to forge a consensus on what is best for the country and make their interests subservient to the overarching inter-ests of the nation, as enshrined in the constitution and codified in our laws and statute books. The elite thus ex-

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ist to solve the problems consistent with the progressive aspirations of a nation.

However for the most part, the elite in Nigeria do not exist to solve problems; rather they exist to cre-ate and perpetuate problems. In so doing,they advance their its interests and undermine the national interest — a classic case of “I am for myself and God can take care of the national interest.” Because the Nigerian elite have such unbridled control over resource allocation and the distribu-tion of political power and patronage, they make it a religion to ensure they vote themselves into elective office across the various tiers of govern-ment. This has been the chief causa-tive factor responsible for many of Nigeria’s problems for many decades. It follows that a country that is not governed in the national interest can-not but achieve mediocre results and show stunted growth.

The humongous cost of running government operations at all the 3 tiers leaves a miniscule for capital and development projects, which is essential for boosting national out-put and employment and raising the quality of life of the citizens. For majority of our citizens see a GDP growth of 6% or even 10% as a statis-tical abstraction because it bears no meaning or direct relation to them — thus, instead of experiencing shared prosperity and inclusiveness, all they see daily is grinding poverty and dis-ease and the erosion of their self-dig-nity and self-worth.

When the law and order environ-ment is dysfunctional and the ju-diciary is weak and compromised and public service delivery crippled, citizen’s attachment to their country becomes challenged. This has been going on for a long time and you will agree that, under these conditions, the social charter between the rul-ers and the governed gets broken. Because the people have completely lost confidence in the ability of their

rulers to cater for their welfare, eve-rybody is looking out for himself and, as a result, our social structures have completely broken down with our ethos and values gone out of the window.

This free for all environment has given rise to a call to arms by all kinds of disaffected people and agita-tors often aided and abetted by the elite. Kidnapping for ransom, which started in the Delta region, has sadly blossomed into a full scale national industry. Intra and inter community conflicts represented in many shapes and forms, including clashes over land and cattle rustling, have become the defining features of our social and economic landscape.

At the political level are those in the other extreme caught by the nostal-gia of securing the resurgence of the defunct state of Biafra from Nigeria. Superimposed on this structure are the far more dangerous and well-resourced movements in the Niger Delta represented by any number of coalition of militants and the North East represented by the sinister and evil Boko Haram, which mercifully is in retreat, thanks to the decisive and courageous leadership of President Buhari and the renewed dedication by our men and women in uniform.

The ultimate solution to mitigating all of these threats to our corporate existence fundamentally lies in meet-ing the everyday needs of people, so that they are free from want and can clearly see a bright future for themselves and their children. I re-ject the misguided notion that these problems will go away if Nigeria frag-ments into smaller pieces. The ills of the Nigerian elite are not restricted to any particular region, state, ethnic group or religion. Greed has no reli-gion, tribe or geographical boundary. Therefore, breaking up of the coun-try does not solve but multiplies and accentuates the problems because the advocates of fragmentation will now be involved in a dog fight over

a smaller and shrinking pie —a zero sum game.

The Pillars for building a new Nation It is for a good reason that Presi-

dent Buhari is staking much of his presidency on the need for systemic change through a major reorienta-tion of our ethos and values embod-ied in national discipline, anticorrup-tion and national security. This is a critical and fundamental goal. But for reasons argued elsewhere in this pa-per, these are symptoms of a dysfunc-tional system. The President who is a patriot to the core must have taken very seriously, where others were dis-missive, the classification of Nigeria about 10 years ago on the “High Alert’ list of Failed/Fragile States. Our rank-ing, which was 54 out of 76 countries in 2005, sharply deteriorated to 14 out of 175 countries in 2015. The first 13 countries include South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Paki-stan.

We have been living in denial for far too long.This is a wakeup call for us as a nation to redefine and shape our destiny. And it is not about applying band aid and tinkering with the sys-tem. It is about redesigning the sys-tem to meet our peculiar needs and realities and prepare us for the future. I propose a system of reengineering.

There is an overriding need for Con-stitutional reform. Our Constitution is modeled on the American Constitu-tion. Our experience of operating this form of constitutional democracy in fits and starts since 1979 would sug-gest a need for major modification. The current structure of governance and administration in Nigeria is un-wieldy, over bloated and frightening-ly expensive. A colossal proportion of the nation’s revenue earnings are devoted to servicing the cost of pub-lic administration. I propose that we pivot more towards the French Presi-dential system of government by em-barking on the amendments.

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LEARN SOMETHING NEW Learn how to play Chess

It’s never too late to learn how to play chess - the most popu-lar game in the world! If you are

totally new to the game or even want to learn all of the rules and strategies, read on!The origins of chess are not ex-

actly clear, though most believe it evolved from earlier chess-like games played in India almost two thousand years ago. The game of chess we know today has been around since the 15th century where it became popular in Eu-rope.

The Goal of ChessChess is a game played between

two opponents on opposite sides of a board containing 64 squares of alternating colors. Each player

has 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and 8 pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Check-mate happens when the king is in a position to be captured (in check) and cannot escape from capture.

Starting a GameAt the beginning of the game,

the chessboard is laid out so that each player has the white (or light) color square in the bottom right-hand side. The chess pieces are then arranged the same way each time. The second row (or rank) is filled with pawns. The rooks go in the corners, then the knights next to them, followed by the bishops and finally the queen, who always goes on her own matching color

(white queen on white, black queen on black) and the king on the remaining square.The player with the white piec-

es always moves first. Therefore, players generally decide who will get to be white by chance or luck, such as flipping a coin or having one player guess the color of the hidden pawn in the other player’s hand. White then makes a move, followed by black, then white again, then black and so on until the end of the game.

How the Pieces MoveEach of the 6 different kinds of

pieces moves differently. Pieces cannot move through other piec-es (though the knight can jump over other pieces) and can never



move onto a square with one of their own pieces. However, they can be moved to take the place of an opponent’s piece, which is then captured. Pieces are gener-ally moved into positions where they can capture other pieces (by landing on their square and then replacing them), defend their own pieces in case of capture or control important squares in the game.

The KingThe king is the most important

piece, but is one of the weak-est. The king can only move one square in any direction - up, down, to the sides and diagonally.

The QueenThe queen is the most powerful

piece. She can move in any one straight direction - forward, back-ward, sideways or diagonally - as far as possible as long as she does not move through any of her own pieces. And, like with all pieces, if the queen captures an oppo-nent’s piece her move is over. Notice how the white queen cap-tures the black queen and then the black king is forced to move.

The RookThe rook may move as far as it

wants, but only forward, back-ward and to the sides. The rooks are particularly powerful pieces when they are protecting each other and working together!

The BishopThe bishop may move as far as it

wants, but only diagonally. Each bishop starts on one color (light or dark) and must always stay on that color. Bishops work well together because they cover up each other’s weaknesses.

The Knight

Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces – go-ing two squares in one direction and then one more move at a 90 degree angle, just like the shape of an “L”. Knights are also the only pieces that can move over other pieces.

The PawnPawns are unusual because they

move and capture in different ways: they move forward, but capture diagonally. Pawns can only move forward one square at a time, except for their very first

move where they can move for-ward two squares. Pawns can only capture one square diagonally in front of them. They can never move or capture backwards. If there is another piece directly in front of a pawn he cannot move past or capture that piece.

PromotionPawns have another special abil-

ity and that is that if a pawn reach-es the other side of the board, it can become any other chess piece (called promotion). A pawn may be promoted to any piece. [NOTE:

A common misconception is that pawns may only be exchanged for a piece that has been captured. That is NOT true.] A pawn is usu-ally promoted to a queen. Only pawns may be promoted.En PassantThe last rule about pawns is

called “en passant,” which is French for “in passing”. If a pawn moves out two squares on its first move and by doing so lands to the side of an opponent’s pawn (effective-ly jumping past the other pawn’s ability to capture it), that other pawn has the option of capturing

the first pawn as it passes by. This special move must be done im-mediately after the first pawn has moved past, otherwise the option to capture it is no longer available.

CastlingOne other special rule is called

castling. This move allows you to do two important things all in one move: get your king to safety (hopefully), and get your rook out of the corner and into the game. On a player’s turn he may move his king two squares over to one side and then move the rook from

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that side’s corner to right next to the king on the opposite side.It must be that king’s very first

move.It must be that rook’s very first

move.There cannot be any pieces be-

tween the king and rook to move.The king may not be in check or

pass through check.Notice that when you castle

one direction the king is closer to the side of the board. That is called castling kingside. Castling to the other side, through where the queen sat, is called castling queenside. Regardless of which side, the king always moves only two squares when castling.Check & CheckmateAs stated before, the purpose of

the game is to checkmate the op-ponent’s king. This happens when the king is put into check and can-not get out of check. There are only three ways a king can get out of check: move out of the way (though he cannot castle!), block the check with another piece or capture the piece threatening the king. If a king cannot escape checkmate then the game is over. Customarily, the king is not cap-tured or removed from the board.The game is simply declared over.

DrawsOccasionally, chess games do

not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5 reasons why a chess game may end in a draw:The position reaches a stalemate

where it is one player’s turn to move, but his king is NOT in check and yet he does not have another legal move.The players may simply agree to

a draw and stop playing.There are not enough pieces on

the board to force a checkmate (example: a king and a bishop vs.a king).

A player declares a draw if the same exact position is repeated three times (though not necessar-ily three times in a row).Fifty consecutive moves have

been played where neither player has moved a pawn or captured a piece

Chess 960.Chess960 follows all the rules

of standard chess, except for the starting position of pieces on the back rank, which are placed ran-domly in one of 960 possible posi-tions. Castling is done just like in standard chess, with the King and Rook landing on their normal cas-tled squares (g1 and f1, or c1 and d1). 960 plays just like standard chess, but with more variety in the opening.

Some Tournament Rules

Many tournaments follow a set of common, similar rules. These rules do not necessarily apply to play at home or online

Touch-moveIf a player touches one of their

own pieces they must move that piece as long as it is a legal move. If a player touches an opponent’s piece, they must capture that piece. A player who wishes to touch a piece only to adjust it on the board must first announce the intention, usually by saying “ad-just”.

Introduction to Clocks and TimersMost tournaments use timers to

regulate the time spent on each game, not on each move. Each player gets the same amount of time to use for their entire game

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and can decide how to spend that time. Once a player makes a move they then touch a button or hit a lever to start the opponent’s clock. If a player runs out of time and the opponent calls the time, then the player who ran out of time loses the game (unless the opponent does not have enough pieces to checkmate, in which case it is a draw).Basic StrategyThere are four simple things that

every chess player should know:

#1 Protect your kingGet your king to the corner of the

board where he is usually safer. Don’t put off castling. You should usually castle as quickly as possi-ble. Remember, it doesn’t matter how close you are to checkmating your opponent if your own king is checkmated first!

#2 Don’t give pieces awayDon’t carelessly lose your pieces!

Each piece is valuable and you can’t win a game without pieces to checkmate. There is an easy system that most players use to keep track of the relative value of each chess piece:A pawn is worth 1.A knight is worth 3.A bishop is worth 3.A rook is worth 5.A queen is worth 9.The king is infinitely valuable 1.At the end of the game these

points don’t mean anything – it is simply a system you can use to make decisions while playing, helping you know when to cap-ture, exchange, or make other moves.

#3 Control the centerYou should try and control the

center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you control the center, you will have more room to move your pieces and will make it harder for your op-ponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example above white makes good moves to con-trol the center while black plays bad moves.

#4 Use all of your piecesIn the example above white got

all of his pieces in the game! Your pieces don’t do any good when they are sitting back on the first row. Try and develop all of your pieces so that you have more to use when you attack the king. Us-ing one or two pieces to attack will not work against any decent opponent.

Getting Better at ChessKnowing the rules and basic

strategies is only the beginning - there is so much to learn in chess that you can never learn it all in a lifetime! To improve you need to do three things:

#1 – PlayJust keep playing! Play as much

as possible. You should learn from each game – those you win and those you lose.#2 – StudyIf you really want to improve

quickly then pick up a recom-mended chess book. There are many resources on Chess.com to help you study and improve.

#3 - Have funDon’t get discouraged if you

don’t win all of your games right away. Everyone loses – even world champions. As long as you continue to have fun and learn from the games you lose then you can enjoy chess forever!

Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has produced an unimaginable number of personalities that

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