The Learner

  By Muhsin Ibrahim A few weeks ago, a lady I know told me she had found a husband. As a divorcee, she needed only essential things to move in with her man. I was very happy for her. But, two days ago, after reading her Ramadan Mubarak message, I asked about her new home. She revealed that the marriage had crumbled. Why, I wondered. She was sick, and the man refused to pay her medical bills. Not only that, he repeatedly taunted her. Finally, she has had enough and left him. She now uses traditional medication, which only worsens her condition. I learned that the medicines cost less than 10K, which she couldn't afford! Th ere is a viral story of that Kaduna lady whose husband left her with four young kids and now makes blocks to build her house by herself, which is, indeed, shocking. However, it's not an isolated case. I have just told you about a similar case above. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, more harrowing incidents will happen unless we work to solve the pr...

By Muhsin Ibrahim If Engr. Abba K. Yusuf wins this weekend's election, which I hope he does, he gets much work to do in Kano State . However, that is not the focus of this brief article. Instead, I want to write about the other critical work he needs to do: reorienting the Kwankwasiyya stalwarts. As I said the other day, our politics is fraught with immorality, thuggery, you name it. Believe it or not (and I know many among my friend s will not), Kwankwasiyya followers are infamous for using rude language against their opponents. I have been insulted for 'criticising' Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso , the founder and grand leader of the movement . No one has ever insulted me more than some of these folks. They spare no one! Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf Thus, Engr. Abba should initiate programs to sanitise his followers. The work is enormous, and it will take much effort. However, something needs to be done to reorient the promising followers of this auspicious political movement...

  By Muhsin Ibrahim Tunisia has been in a socio-political crisis for the past few years. The North African country was earlier praised as the success story of the famous Arab Spring, while the same failed in Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc. But, the recent development has dented the relative success recorded in the aftermath of the uprising. Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, a controversial figure, looked for who to blame for his country's troubles. Shockingly, he blames West African migrants. In other words, black people living, legally or otherwise, in his country. It sounds farfetched, but that is what happens. He accuses them of crimes and changing the (racial) demography of the country! Due to racism, many black Africans don't prefer to live in North Africa. A few thousand in that region are mostly descendants of slaves or come from the so-called Francophone West African countries. That "I speak your language" idea drives them there. Others pass through the area o...

  By Muhsin Ibrahim I am in my late 30s. However, I sometimes struggle to minimise my presence online. That is even though being online is part of my main job (thanks to digital ethnography) and my ‘side hustle’. Often, one or another thing on the internet will take your focus away, and before you know it, you waste quality time doing nothing important. According to reports, TikTok rolled out new screen-time limits for teens yesterday to help them reduce their addiction to the video-sharing platform. Under-18 users will get an alert when “they hit an hour of daily scrolling. To dismiss it, they’ll have to enter a passcode.” Unfortunately, this may not help much because kids know how to navigate these restrictions. For instance, they can fake their ages. TikTok is the new ‘evil’ in town, but social networking sites like Snapchat and Instagram have been doing no less damage over the years. Thus, rehabilitation centres in the US, Japan and other developed countries exist for add...