The Learner

When I got the Kano State Foreign Scholarship to study for my master’s degree at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in India in 2012, my first challenge came from the then-deputy vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK). The DVC, Prof. Yahuza Bello, understandably questioned the university's name, among other inquiries, and asked me to meet with Prof. Sa'id Babura and Dr. AB Baffa about this issue. Dr. Baffa and I examined the university's accreditation status and ranking, among other things. We confirmed that it was not only fully accredited but also ranked as the best private university in India at that time. Convinced, BUK released me on a fellowship. BUK later employed some of my friends with whom I studied at LPU. Many of us have PhDs from other universities today, while others are gainfully employed in Nigeria and abroad. Our degree certificates still bear LPU's name. These facts say much about the university's status. While I wish LPU had a more ...

By Muhsin Ibrahim Part One It was 2005 when I applied for admission into Bayero University, Kano (BUK).  In Nigeria, getting admission without knowing someone at the university is pretty hard . My late father was working there as an accountant, but remembering how my immediate older brother couldn’t secure admission a year before despite our father’s efforts, I did not bother to ask for his help. Our eldest brother (Yaya Babba), now late, was nonetheless a student. Knowing he was not an ‘ordinary’ student due to his age, I approached him for assistance. I was lucky Yaya Babba knew Malam Jamilu Ahmad Salim. I cannot say what his position at the University was then, but he could help, Yaya Babba assured me. My only fear was my SSCE result, which was neither WAEC nor NECO, the two conventional entry exams. I had NABTEB and was applying to the Faculty of Education. But on the other hand, my UTME/JAMB result was excellent. Yaya Babba met Malam Jamilu during a Hajj pilgrimage the...

On Connection Regrets: My Excruciating Experience   By Muhsin Ibrahim Khadija, nicknamed Kashe-Kala, who I ‘re-nicknamed’ KKK, was one of my dearest classmates during our undergrad at Bayero University, Kano. Honestly, KKK, a sickle cell patient, was pretty, posh, and from a wealthy family. Hence that sobriquet. So, admittedly, I believed she was out of my league. However, we became so close. Despite our closeness, we disagreed pretty often. About a year after graduation, I met the lady I later married. The day I told KKK about my newfound love, she jokingly bragged that I chose this girlfriend because she’s her namesake: Khadija. On hearing this, some friends thought she loved me. It’s not true; our relationship was platonic. I had visited KKK’s house countless times. I barely missed seeing her at the hospital. Her relatives know me. I can’t forget the day I was riding my motorbike to their house when I stopped by the roadside to answer her call. From nowhere, someone snatch...

By Abubakar Isah Baba The article  named above was written by Muhsin Ibrahim, and published in the 2019/2020 edition of KAKAKI: Journal of English and Literary Studies ; (11) 81 - 98.   The first time I watched the drama Dadin Kowa I felt at ease, for it is highly natural, exciting and yet unusual. The soap opera displays the quintessence of Hausa cultural mores; the fictional town of Dadin Kowa reveales the typical, densely populated urban area, mainly crowded with dirty, run-down housing, poverty and social disarray of the Hausa people. There you watch actors as if in reality, mingle with the stray of goats, sheep and chickens. All these are what make the soap opera attractive for it brings the truth before our eyes. Dadin Kowa is enriched with compelling and relevant topics that are within the present condition of its setting, such as insurgency, drug abuse, domestic violence, Almajirci , girl-child education, to name but a few. This is, perhaps, w...

Director :         Geoffrey Galadima Producer :       Rabiu Haruna Story:               Yakubu M. Kumo Language :      Hausa Year :               2014 Company :      Al-Rahuz Film Production, Kano Introduction Hausa film spectators are introduced to a new genre of science fiction by the filmmakers of Aduniya . The same is said in its earliest preview on Premium Times online newspaper in its September 4th, 2013 edition.  The same had also been mentioned like a litany in the film’s often-repeated adverts on the radio stations and in numerous other films. The boisterous voiceover boasts that viewers will, for the first time, see cars being blown up like never before, the actors in unique and more captivating roles, and, ab...