ABU at 50

ABU at 50: The Dream, the Vision, and the Tragedy

Aliyu Bala Aliyu

When New Orleans was overcome by the deluge of 2005 and the newspapers reported that Professor Niyi Osundare had lost precious manuscripts, literature and irredeemable valuables in that flood, I would not have appreciated the real impact of losing a cherished manuscript until it happened to me in December 2012. It is quite a terrible experience. I lost the original manuscript of this article in December 2012 just as it was nearing completion. At the time, I was also writing a poem titled “ABU @ 50”. But then, like the wind, it became history. I still can’t comprehend how it all happened – whether it was a mis-click, a mis-save, or both; or perhaps the devil himself got into my system, I cannot say! But to confess, this is a torturous rewrite I almost couldn’t bring myself to doing from ground zero. However, I present something I hope is close enough to my initial thoughts. Quite late though, but I hope it’s worth the write; and worth the read.

A golden jubilee is a great occasion to look forward to; and no doubt ABU did so with the expected reverie. For six weeks, starting from October 4, 2012, ABU had her head in the clouds with such expanded series of activities to mark the event. ABU’s golden Jubilee celebration officially came to a close on the 24^th of November 2012 with the special Convocation ceremony and presentation of honourary degrees to IBB and four other beneficiaries.

The dream and vision of ABU was eloquently captured on the occasion of the school’s first convocation ceremony in 1963 by its first chancellor- Sir Ahmadu Bello, after whom the University was named thus:

“The philosophy of Ahmadu Bello University is predicated upon the cardinal principle of imparting knowledge and learning to men and women of all races without any distinction on the grounds of race, religious or political beliefs etc”. Hence the objectives of ABU… are:

a) to provide regular and liberal courses of instruction in the humanities, sciences and other spheres of learning of a standard required and expected of a university of the highest standing;

b) to promote research and the advancement of science and learning;

c) to secure the diffusion of knowledge throughout Nigeria

Having been away from Zaria in pursuit of everything- NYSC, a job and a life, my mind did not completely leave her. My attachments are understandable. It could have been to anything, but this time it was to ABU. In the short space of five years I had been away, I could rest assured that whatever changes I wished would take place would only be marginal. I knew my ABU well enough and only dreamt that the reclamation could have been legendary; the rebirth revolutionary; and the flight into the future innovative, liberal, robust and dynamic. And sadly, it cuts across every aspect of our Nigerian life. The tragedy of our Nigerianness lies both in the paradox of our conservatism; unnecessary rigidity, and the near absence of a drive to make anything of ours world class. But beyond the praises and glorious tributes that graced the papers throughout the period, ABU and ABUSITES deserve to be told some home truths; and as an alumnus, I feel obligated to do so. We all deserve a good look in the mirror and to take the hard knocks in place with utmost grace.

My generation may not have come to ABU when the flames of her scholarship raged and roared across the African continent and beyond like the harmattan fires; when the incense of scholarship drew all to Zaria from far and near - north, west, south, east - but we sure felt the warmth of the fireplace. We saw the sparks in the distance and heard the echoes of scholars, students and comrades alike. It didn’t matter what colour their skin was. It didn’t matter by what name they called God. The pursuit of excellence was the goal. Those were the days when people from the surrounding towns and from far away rode buses and trains; mounted their motor cycles to come to ABU to listen to the great debates and electrifying discussions of the late Yususf Bala Usman and the likes - the firebrand intellectuals that made ABU the true centre of learning and locus of inquiry.

Those encounters nourished the souls of intellectuals and the lovers of intellectualism; inspired the younger generation and earned respect for her scholars and the school alike. One of such debates, a senior alumnus told me was the “Bala - Bangura Debate” so named after the legendary historian and activist Yusuf Bala Usman and Bala Bangura (a Camerounian lecturing in ABU then). The debate was eventually converted into a book afterwards. Those were the good old days we heard about. It is such a wonder why those debates cannot continue till date.

However, ABU like Nigeria reached the zenith of her distinguished scholarship as a centre of learning somewhere in between the 70s and the 80s. And like everything Nigerian as Nigeria herself, the glory was to be short-lived. Hence my generation came in and basked in the euphoria of her past glory. Certainly, ABU was not alone in this glorious fall. The premier universities all suffered similar fates. The military couldn’t stand intellectualism and subsequent democratic governments haven’t proven to have an elixir.

However, I would have thought that ABU with her vast human potentials and great name could have tapped into the resourcefulness of her students, staff, and of course alumni. With increasing paucity of funds which our unpatriotic elite have siphoned to develop other economies, or stashed in foreign accounts, or continually use in buying houses for mistresses in Abuja, south Africa and Dubai, ABU in my thinking would have looked in the direction of entrepreneurship with the kind of vigour that could set it on the path of financial liberation but it didn’t.

I had gone to see the Director of ABUCONS (ABU Consultancy Services) as I prepared to leave for NYSC and I thought I had a few ideas I shouldn’t allow to die with me. With a population of about 50,000 students and staff, I did not see why ABU should not have a bakery of its own to bake the best bread in the whole of Zaria and in fact Kaduna state. Also, ABUCONS back then made pretty good sachet water and it was such a darling of our campuses until it was run aground. But I had thought the sachet water could have evolved into a bottled water company that could give even eva a run for its money in terms of quality, branding and pricing. With virtually all Kaduna state governors as alumni of ABU, lobbying them would not be much of a herculean task. It’s been five years and those millions are yet to be made. As for the bread and confectionaries, the disaster and lack of vision is completely unfathomable!

The Lebanese, the Koreans and the Chinese came with their “Midas touch” then the ranka yadades and the Hajiya’s began to park their exotic cars in front of Tulips and Ostrich; and then their dream of hot, oven fresh bread became a reality- the dream they hadn’t the entrepreneurial nerve and perhaps acumen to stake! With the assortment and variety of wheat bread, the diabetics among the nouveau riche still stood an indulgent chance in the oven house. The countless trolleys, shelves and baskets of French sticks, baguettes, croissants, coconut bread, cheese bread, chocolate bread, sardine bread, raisin bread among others expanded the frontiers of consumer choice. But what exactly is the nuclear science in opening and running a modern bakery that we have all relied on the Asians and Arabs to come and teach us the promise of oven fresh bread? It didn’t matter that our big men had been travelling to the Middle East, Europe and the Americas for ages and had witnessed and marveled at the soothing goodness of modernity. Yet no one had the entrepreneurial spirit and the risk factor to set up even a tiny modern neighbourhood bakery in the entirety of Zaria! Not even ABU with an estimated 30,000 mouths ± !

If ABUCONS had set up a bakery in ABU or somewhere in her neighbuorhood, the department of Business Admin in conjunction with ABUCONS could have been able to handle that as a pet project with a catch therein - students could buy shares in the bakery based on a formula for issuing out on pro-rata bases, shares per unit(s) to interested students and staff (with preference of course given to students). This would encourage students to patronize their own stuff and over a period of four years, whatever value the shares might have accrued could either be cashed by the student as he/ she proceeds to NYSC or transferred to another person of his or her choice. Students and the university community would have been proud to buy oven fresh ECOMOG, Siamese, 2-Short, Step Up, Family loaf etc. In addition, part-time jobs / holiday jobs would open up for students in the bakery and bottling plant.

For people who have seen ABU souvenirs and seen souvenirs of other blue chip companies, telecoms giants, serious companies, and of universities abroad, the misery of ABU’s souvenirs is an embarrassing testimony to the dearth of creativity of whosoever is in charge of that enterprise. Which ABUSITE will not connect with great ball point pens, fountain pens, key holders, authentic baseball caps, track suits, head warmers, folders, umbrellas, stickers, flash lights, lapels, blazers, dashboard and household miniatures, danglers and countless others so long as they are authentic and world class? Perhaps the real tragedy here is the paradox of greatness as is with the paradox of plenty. If they can’t run it into a successful enterprise they should be able to free it from their clutches of conservatism and allow some private and interested alumni with a business mind and passion for ABU take it to the next level. The school can then take its cut.

What stops ABU from having its state of the art automobile diagnostics centre where both staff and students can take their cars to for professional diagnosis, and care? Alongside this could also be a state of the art car wash and all of the sundry paraphernalia better known as effizy in student’s parlance. Imagine the jobs that would be created along this line, the bar that would be raised; and other countless ideas that it will birth.

How does a school like ABU allow its Fm station to head for the woods when less endowed universities have carved a niche for themselves in this regard? UNILAG, established in the same year as ABU has taken its Fm initiative to great heights with collaborations from Alliance Française and the French embassy with broadcasts in French. What stops ABU from doing so and collaborating with the French embassy and the Arabian or Sudanese embassy to broadcast in french and arabic? With the chain of francophone and arab speaking countries surrounding Nigeria as a whole, and those bordering the north, the cultural and religious ties between some of us opens up countless opportunities for collaboration. Students of Mass communication would have an incubator at their beck and call and even primary and secondary school students from within and around Zaria could find their inspiration into the world of journalism from excursions to ABU Fm if ever it is resurrected.

How uncreative can a website be like ABU’s yet there is a department of computer science and cisco affiliation centre in the school. Private individuals parade far better websites than what ABU hosts and need I say it is such a national calamity that websites of government ministries, departments, agencies, parastatals are such pathetic gateways in this age of ICT. All it takes is to Google any serious university abroad and see what a website should look like and one is forced to ask the question “when shall the word world-class mean anything to us?”

Furthermore, how is it that ABU press is in such miserable straits unable t move with the times in the publishing industry? If University Press of UI could come and set up a branch in Zaria, what stops ABU from taking the leap and venturing into other territories? Unfortunately, in the last two years that I have attended the international book fair/exhibition in Unilag, ABU’s stand has been awfully scanty with books seemingly fit for the museum. Her stand was always sure to be empty on the first day, and surely before the exhibition/fair closed they were back in Zaria!

Somebody, somewhere, somehow, in ABU has to start to make people think in the line of volunteer work either as a campus initiative; and one that will grow to help the host community in various areas such as free medical outreach courtesy medical students, engineering projects around Zaria courtesy engineering students (minor / major as the case may be), free adult education / child intervention initiatives courtesy the department of education and countless others that great minds can think of. Sadly, years of education in foreign lands have not been able to stimulate some of these noble aspects that those societies have entrenched to create the desired blend and transfer for the benefit of our societies. The ripple effect of this would be that people could transfer the concept to their various localities for the benefit of all. Also, education fairs and exhibitions by departments /faculties seem absent in our clime. ABU may want to introduce something of the sort. Sponsorships and collaborations should not be a difficult one for her.

Perhaps the most confounding aspect of the jubilee celebration was the closure of it all that culminated in the special convocation conferring on IBB, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji (The mother of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and one Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Jaber al -Sabah honoris causae. As of TY Danjuma, Adamu Adamu of Daily Trust (Fri 8^th March, 2013) ended the discussion on him with his tribute “TY: On surpassing self” with his over 2billion naira donation to ABU albeit as at Nov 2012, TY had not made the humongous donation to ABU. But whether ABU gave him the honoris causa in November to fast track his donation of 2billion in February is matter for which history shall pass its verdict.

I have wondered endlessly what exactly it is that Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji had done for ABU or the education sector that made her cross the minds of the awards committee, and till date I have found none. She is the chairperson of Nigerian market women’s association; accepted; but how has that promoted the cause of girl child education in ABU or other northern communities? Which scholarship endowment of hers has promoted girl-child education in the ABU, the entire north or across Nigeria that qualified her for the honoris causa? How many market associations are known amongst northern women and how many of them did she help birth or mentor? What bridge was ABU trying to build by awarding her that degree?

ABU has over the years been very cautious in giving out her honourary doctorates and it made us feel special about it. We felt different from the cash and carry honouraries that was the stock in trade of other universities. For the chosen few ABU bestowed hers upon, it was seen as well deserved. However, it mustn’t go without mention that the tenure of Professor Nayaya saw perhaps the most controversial and ridiculous honoris causa ever bestowed (with the students protesting its award to President Ali Saibou of Niger Republic in 1986). The school was summarily shut down following the students’ protest and of course the University went ahead to present Ali Saibou the degree with a rented student crowd. IBB as head of state / president was visibly present.

Fifty years stood ABU out, and in marking her golden jubilee, she made such error of judgment in giving IBB her honoris causa. IBB’s SAP; and the attendant devaluation of the naira, was all too anti people. As the value of the naira plummeted, and disposable income shrank per household, Nigerians began their massive emigration to all parts of the planet in search of greener pastures and this marked the steady erasure of the Nigerian middle class, and ushered in the brain drain epidemic. Young lecturers, promising ones, and experienced ones alike left in their droves when they did not see the promise of a better Nigeria - some for good; others with their eyes on the clock. I am sure very few if any at all regret their action today.

It was in the heydays of IBB’s maradonic presidency that the fiery, no-holds-barred Jamaican Professor of Political Science, Patrick Wilmot, was deported. Education and scholarship witnessed a dip and unbridled decline. Subsequent administrations cared less to sincerely wedge the descent beyond cosmetics. The military bullets felled countless students and stifled ideas. The fear of secret service moles lurking on the campuses interred creativity and brought ideological discusses, criticism and debate to a pathetic shadowy mode. And most of the credit goes to the man who said he only engineered Nigeria but didn’t rule it.

It certainly would not have been out of a lack of people to confer honoris causa to that ABU committed this legendary faux pas. For even in the scarcity of great men and women to so honour, pockets of them still exist. If it were relative to education, Gani Fawehinmi (Senior Advocate of the Masses) had instituted a scholarship for indigent students in Nigerian universities irrespective of creed and tongue. Rochas Okorocha had himself shamed the northern elite with his free schools in Jos, Kano and Sokoto. Gani could have been so awarded post-humously and perhaps it would have been the first ever. With Rochas, even beyond his kindness to northern kids’ education, the gesture would have no matter how little, set a bridge between northern and eastern Nigeria. In next door Ghana, ABU would have found a worthy son of Africa in the person of Kofi Anan to add more colour and pedigree to her name or Nelson Mandela of South Africa. And perhaps in recognition of his passion for good governance in Africa, and thus putting his money where his mouth is, Sudanese business mogul, Mo Ibrahim could have come to mind. But we lost the great opportunity of a historic golden jubilee to that thing we call the Nigerian factor! And how I wished Sir Ahmadu Bello’s last surviving daughters were featured in the whole event. They could have been given even ten minutes (not an entire honoris causa) to say a thing or two about their loving father. What an honour that would have been for both Sardauna and his daughters too.

Why has ABU not knocked on Yayale Ahmed’s door- that distinguished civil servant, who rose through the ranks and did not just terminate his appointment at traditional terminus for career civil - Head of Service of the federation- but went on to become Secretary to the Government of the Federation- makes me wonder. That is an asset to the department of public administration from where he graduated. Why she cannot attract or establish adjuncts and tap form the immense wealth of both her alumni and other repositories of knowledge and practical experience like Amina Az-Zubair; Zainab Ujud Sherriff (who would be of immense benefit to the faculty of pharmaceutical science), ex ambassadors among others etc are still baffling. And how ironic that Unilag beat ABU and other universities in the entire north to introducing terrorism studies? But why ABU’s alumni that have been the movers and shakers of this country have failed to turn back and look at their alma mater may well be topic for another day.

On a melancholic note, the insurgency in the north has made ABU adopt a couple of bone-headed policies. Most nauseating of them is that phones and bags are not allowed in the senate! Is the senate now the Defence Headquarters? The security men and women as with their counterparts in black have taken harassment to an all new level. I observed as they frisked, harassed, and embarrassed students with joy. When it got to my turn and the security man rudely told me to go and drop my bag, I asked him “where?” he said he didn’t know but as far as he was concerned bags and phones are not allowed. I told him I had just come in from Lagos and would like to see the DVC but he stood his ground. Even though I knew the policy was beyond him, I was sure to cause a scene before I left. But in reality how did ABU come about such a ridiculous policy and not think there was a need to have a locker with keys somewhere within a safe perimeter for people to actually keep their valuables? If anybody wants to bomb the senate, he/ she wouldn’t carry the explosives in a laptop bag or in a ladies handbag. And what the heck is the point of not allowing phones in the senate building in the first place? And who tells them that the terrorist they are running away from must always come from outside? I hope the university authorities have invested so much energy in deploying CCTV cameras in strategic locations around the senate and the entire school.

While it may be safe to conclude that faculty of arts and social sciences of old were the axes upon which the world of ABU’s fire spun, everybody who passed through ABU felt a sense of attachement to her. And with this visit of mine, I visited the famous Umar Suleiman Hall to catch up with the memories. The inscription “The Domain of Progressive Socialist and Liberal Democrats” is still etched upon its defaced signpost. The cold war, Marxism, Leninism, socialism, Apartheid, Che Guevara, Frantz Fanon, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro, Kwame Nkrumah etc all found ample space in the consciousness, hearts, lips, nooks and crannies of ABU and ABUSITES. That was the call of the time to which both answered.

In conclusion, may not be able to do justice to the times of Ishaya Audu, pioneer VC (indigenous); Prof Ango Abdullahi, (perhaps the most popular of all VCs ABU has ever had); and Prof Abdullahi Mahdi / Prof Usman Shehu Abdullahi (the VCs of my time), but I would not trade my experience in ABU for anything. But as Sanusi Abubakar of Daily Trust (Tuesday 8^th January, 2013) asked in his article “ABU at 50: After the party, what next? ”: “This institution served the Nigeria of yesterday commendably but is it equipped and positioned to cope with, and positively influence, the Nigeria of tomorrow?”, I join him in asking same. Every person who passed through ABU has his own stories to tell. For me, it was all worth the struggle. Proud to be an ABUSITE for life. Aluta Continua, Victoria Acerta!!!