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 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 friends 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. It worries ...

By MA Iliasu The dilemma with Kano has always been about standards. So, naturally, Kano's advantages and disadvantages in socioeconomic assets have outgrown everyone's. The history of Hausa land and much of the Sahel will confirm that assertion. Kano's population was approximated in 2022 as the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos and sixth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ranking behind Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Oyo, and Imo. Kano is blessed with more than ten major markets across its rural and urban settlements, with Kantin Kwari and Dawanau serving as the largest textiles and food markets in West Africa, respectively. The state is enriched with the twentieth highest landmass in Nigeria, the biggest part of which is a prosperous arable land, with a favourable temperament that enables consistent rainfall and harmattan during rainy and harmattan seasons, on top of the twenty dams distributed across the rural economies of the state. Kano is one of the largest industrial...

I knew nobody in Cologne, Germany, when I came in late August 2017. Although that was the second time I travelled to a foreign country, the first time was completely different. I was with my wife and a friend, while other friends in Punjab, our destination, were waiting to receive us. Thus, there was no confusion whatsoever. However, at the Cologne airport, I felt adrift. I spoke with a kind friend living in another city, not far from Cologne. He tried his best to guide me on what to do, but I felt more tangled. Finally, unsure where to go, I dragged my bags to the exit. A frail-looking elderly man approached me, raising an A4-size paper with “Barka da zuwa, Malam Ibrahim” written on it. I didn’t know about his coming, and I wasn’t used to being addressed as “Ibrahim,” my surname. His smile and his “hi” halted my bewilderment. He spoke to me in faltering Hausa, adding to my surprise, and asked to hold one of the bags. I respect old age, so I declined. As he insisted, I let him.   ...

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com University of Cologne   The article was written for, and published by, the BBC Hausa service. Here is a link to a slightly different Hausa version published on their webpage:  Fina-finan Kannywood mafiya shahara a shekarar 2020. The year 2020 is unlike any other in recent history. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world. We now have lockdown in countries; we also have to keep social distancing, wear a facemask, among other protocols. The virus batters the entertainment industries from Los Angeles to Lagos, Mumbai to Mombasa, Cairo to Kano, forcing several cinemas to shut down. Thus, shooting and showing films had to stop. Nevertheless, that boosts TV and video on demand (VoD) content and opens a gate for new ‘genres’ of YouTube series and serials. In northern Nigeria, these include Kwana Casa’in , Gidan Badamasi , Labarina , Izzar So , A Duniya , Na Ladidi , among many others. Kannywood began the year auspiciously with a box-offi...

Gidan Badamasi : A Short Review of the Hausa Sitcom   Premiered in 2019, the defining criterion for the popular sitcom, Gidan Badamasi , is comedy. However, it tells much more such as several socio-moral lessons. That is not a surprise as Kannywood, the film industry whose members wrote, produced, directed and acted in Gidan Badamasi , are known for promoting such causes. An oft-repeated raison dêtre of Kannywood, some of its members argue, is to teach morality, promote Hausa culture and Islam, among other related goals. Whether or not they do that is debatable and, of course, outside the scope of this short review. The title, Gidan Badamasi [ Badamasi’s House ], implies where the drama takes place – the house of Alhaji Badamasi. He is a wealthy, wheelchair-bound businessman who had multiple marriages from which he got several children. As he ages, becomes more frail and sickly, he asks most of them – he doesn’t know all of them – to come for a crucial meeting. After their ar...

No film was released this Eid for obvious reasons, of course! Last year’s Eid saw the release of the Hausa film KARKI MANTA DA NI . This is my short review of the film.   The movie, Kar Ki Manta Da Ni  is an intense love story presented in the style of the Indian romantic drama films. This is not a surprise, looking at the career of the film’s director, Ali Nuhu, who is well known for making Indianized Hausa films. Like in one of the ‘whiz kid’ director’s previous flicks, particularly Ni Da Ke Mun Dace , the male lead of this film is a musician who sings, plays instruments and always carries a guitar on his back. This is a typical romantic hero portrayal in Indian cinema.   The storyline focuses on Nasir (Shamsu Dan’iya) and his love, Fatima (Maryam Booth). They are genuinely in love with each other, but as Nasir doesn’t have enough to get married, he loses her to a wealthy scion Isma’il (Umar M. Sharif). Consequently, Nasir resorts to drugs, turning his highly pr...

Director :         Falalu A. Dorayi Producer :       Isah A. Isah Language :       Hausa Year :               2018 Company :      TJ Multipurpose Concept Cast:              Isah A. Isah, Sadiq Sani Sadiq, Abba El-Mustapha, Amude Booth, Maryam CTV, Maryam Gidado, etc. At the time when most Kannywood films are either an overblown rehash of the industry's previous or impoverished replication of Indian movies, comes a determined film with a squarely original story from the same industry entitled Uwata ce . The film shows  quite  an extraordinary, scandalous saga between a mother and her grown-up children. Hajiya (Maryam CTV) is an older widow with two sons and two daughters all of whom are married, leaving her together with her stepson, a 22-year-old Salim...

Production :    Maishadda Investment Ltd. Producer:        Abubakar Bashir Maishadda Director :         Ali Nuhu Year:               2019 Cast :         Umar M. Shareef, Hassana Muhammad, Maryam Yahaya, Ali Nuhu, Yakubu Muhammad, Jamila Nagudu and others. Like most, nay all, films titled after a central character, HAFEEZ revolves around the life of a spoilt adult (acted by Umar M. Shareef). Also, the film has the mark of its “Wizkid” director, Ali Nuhu, all over, for it is apparently modelled after a boy-meets-girl, rich-boy vs poor-girl Bollywood paradigms. Moreover, it bears many more Indian filmic signatures such as five or six spectacular song and dance routines, among others. Perhaps the recent warning  by the MOPPAN President, Kabiru Maikaba, on banning romance film in Kannywood came out ...

Kwana Casa’in : A Short Review If posh locations, number of cast and crew members, sophisticated camera, etc. are enough indicators for the budget size of a production, then Kwana Casa’in [90 Days], produced by Arewa 24 channel, is doubtlessly an expensive soap opera. Directed by Salisu T. Balarabe, the drama is arguably the best of its kind in the Hausa language. Being funded by foreign, non-profit, non-political bodies, including the MacArthur Foundation, Kwana Casa’in stands out as a socio-political critique of our people and governments. It unmistakably aims to provoke reflection and introspection and to spark conversation and action within and outside the corridors of power. Is it able to achieve that? Set in a fictional town called Alfawa, the drama begins at the peak of governorship electioneering. The current governor, Bawa Maikada (acted by Sani Mu’azu), is highly corrupt and desperate to win re-election in spite of doing very little for the people. The health sec...

Director :         Ali Gumzak Producer :       Sani Mai Iyali Story:              Ibrahim Birniwa Year :               2018 Company :      Famli Investment Ltd. Cast :               Maryam Gidado, Ali Nuhu, Sadiq Sani Sadiq, Nuhu Abdullahi, Lawan Ahmad, Isah Feruzkhan, others. A couple of days ago, a UN report showed that men outnumber women in Nigeria. Several people, especially on social media, disputed the data, saying that women are way more than men. True or not, Ali Gumzak-directed film, Tangaran seems to have slightly corroborated the claim as three guys jostle to tie the knot with a beautiful damsel while she chases two others. Although not a focus of this review, this portrayal is arguably not the...

Production :    Maishadda Investment Ltd. Producer:        Abubakar Bashir Maishadda Director :         Ali Nuhu Year:              2018 Cast :               Maryam Yahaya, Umar M. Shareef, Baba Karkuzu, Musa Maisana’s, Alhassan Kwalle, Jamila Nagudu and others. I keep repeating to the level of monotony, perhaps, that 2018 is a different and challenging year for Kannywood filmmakers. The market is suffocated; some describe it as crashed, others say it is dead. Howsoever it really is, a few brave people still invest in it, producing quite costly films. The movie, Mariya (dir. Ali Nuhu) is a typical example. Moreover, the publicity it received, coupled with the popularity of its songs, heightened expectation in the minds of the audience. I am one of them. I waited...

Muhsin Ibrahim @Muhsin234 I posted a slightly different version of this article in two separate Facebook status updates lately.  I critique and criticise Kannywood. I, however, incidentally promote them that way. Many people, especially those who knew me years ago, find it hard to believe that I ‘defend’ immorality that is the synonym for Hausa film and its makers in the ordinary discussion circle. I laugh at this ‘reasoning’ and move on. No doubt the filmmakers are in the wrong in many ways. But they are not what most of us think. Moreover, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say. I understand the burden on Kannywood as an entertainment industry in an Islamicate society. However, their filmmakers should wake up to the reality that film cannot always be didactic and moralistic. While I don’t subscribe to the school of using art for art’s sake, film, as a reminder, is intrinsically an art, a source of amusement. A filmmaker can, though, gloss...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 As a special gesture to mark Nigeria ’s Independence Day, I wrote an article  in which I extolled the country on October  1 st,  2014. It was a rare piece, for I and many others have written several other articles decrying the decay in the country’s polity, insecurity, falling standard of education, depreciation of the naira, and various other unmentionable issues. Nonetheless, I painted Nigeria as great (as it supposed to be), and, somewhat, ‘denigrated’ my host country, India by comparing them. I now kind of believe I was wrong as a friend pointed it out to me then. I think he’s even more right than he thought he was. Last Sunday, the 22 nd of March, President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan commissioned a 2.5b naira flyover popularly called “Gadar Lado”, meaning Lado’s flyover, in Kano state. Bashir Garba Lado is the senator representing the state’s central senatorial zone. He was credited as the one who spearheaded the ...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 I wrote an article  about a year or so ago on the sweeping spate of dirty politics taking the centre stage of my state Kano , Nigeria . It solely focused on the two leading archrivals, the present governor of the state, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his predecessor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. Their politicking forays into the daily lives of Kano people. Often, loyalty or otherwise to one of them defines our identity. No matter how hard one tries to reconcile the two, he or she is bound to fail. They are practically seen as totally the opposite of the other like fire and water; loving both is believed to be incompatible. Whatever, I stand to defy this fallacy. It’s my humble belief that both did something for the state; both deserve some respect; both are humans, not demons; and neither performed to a T. A few days ago, a very good, elder friend of mine awkwardly described my behaviour of what he calls ‘proving people wrong’ as chil...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com @muhsin234 In a concluding remark of our long phone call, a Nigerian friend studying in Delhi told me about the Kano Grand Mosque bombs during the Jumu’at prayers. How come? I had lately made calls to the city and, as a tradition, I asked about Jumu’at prayers. None said a word on the blast. My mind was instantly boggled. A voice from within tried to calm me; it said that that was a rumour . It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be there. Not now; never. After all, the Grand Mosque was the safest niche the good people of Kano would escape to when the Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog) come in the end of the world. I used to think it that way in my childhood, but not without reason. The aura of belonging and the serenity one feels inside the mosque is beyond description. Many, if not all, that grew up in the Kano metro some 20 years ago or more know what I am talking about.         My mind ke...

Muhsin Ibrahim @Muhsin234 (Twitter) While serving the nation as corps members, there was nothing more on our minds than life after the assignment. The life was full of uncertainty and apprehension. The allowance, which was almost doubled during our stream, of N19,800 and the little stipend given by our various places of primary assignments (PPAs) would stop coming once we finish. Subhanallah! My confidant, Anas Musa, went and purchased job application forms for us at the Kano Senior Secondary School Management Board (KSSSMB). He filled him, but I was somewhat reluctant to do the same, for I was tipped off that I might be retained at my PPA or employed by a few other greener places. I finally did, and we submitted our applications. About a year passed, and nobody invited us for an interview, aptitude test or anything else. Immediately after the Service, I got an appointment with BUK and later Anas with the Federal University, Dutse. Months after, I got a call from one famous p...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com @muhsin234 (Twitter) “What is your name?” Muhammad. And all eyes would turn around. It often starts just like that, for to them, every Muslim is a potential threat, a terrorist. It is extremely awkward, if not annoying, to someone like me who was born and reared in an almost 99% Muslims community. Hitherto I didn’t know that being Muslim means that much and weighs that loads; some feel even reluctant to disclose their belief. Muslims living in multi-religious and non-Muslims majority societies today have a lot of stories to tell. The story is sometimes nasty in conservative, religiously touchy and volatile places like India , where I presently reside.  Although home to about 200 million Muslims, it was discovered in a recent survey that some  Muslims have to masquerade as Hindus for India jobs.  This happens due to the schism, and sometimes animosity, between them and other faithful, particularly the majority H...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 (Twitter) Sunday, 01 st June 2014, marks my maiden wedding anniversary. Unlike today, I was filled with happiness beyond expressing this day, last year. I was all the more excited that we were, pragmatically speaking, honeymooning outside Nigeria, starting in Cairo, where we would have an eighteen-hour transit, and India, where we still are, essentially though for studies. My euphoria was, nonetheless, shattered by two fears since we were airborne:  first, India was often described in the news as religiously a volatile country; and second, as being ‘infested’ with lusty rapists. I am Muslim and coming with a newly wed wife! Though after spending almost a year now, I discovered that although the religious schism of course exists and the rapists rather ravage, some stories are untrue, or just being exaggerated.  Yet, I was spirited in another way, for I was ‘escaping’ from the wrath of the infamous, dreaded Boko Haram (BH) unthin...