The Learner

Production :    Jammaje Productions Producer:        Abba El-Mustapha Director :         Falalu A. Dorayi Year:              2016 Cast :              Nuhu  Abdullahi, Hajara Jalingo, Abba El-Mustapha, Zainab Booth,   Sani Mu’azu, Umar Malumfashi and others God bless the dichotomy between the rich and the poor, or as the socialists call it: the gap between the lower, the bourgeoisie and the upper classes. If it did not exist, the arts would, perhaps, have to invent one for stories to have conflict, upon which many films, novels, dramas, etc. rely on to intrigue us. This has been the trend since the Victorian Age, or before, with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist down to Femi Osofisan’s Marxist-influenced plays, and so on and so forth. Class consciousnes...

Director :         Iliyasu Abdulmumini Tantiri Producer :       Naziru Dan Hajiya Story:               Iliyasu Abdulmumini Tantiri Language :      Hausa Year :               2016 Company :      Kumo Production Introduction The Hijra (migration/exodus) of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions from Makkah to Madinah is an epoch in the history of Islam. It is featured notably in the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Although the Prophet was born and raised in Makkah and had preached there for many years, persecution forced him and the few who believed him to migrate. The Islamic Hijri calendar began at that time. The choice of the title for the film cannot be unconnected to the Prophet’s Hijra. The bond between c...

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 This is a compilation of the 2 posts I made on Facebook on December 3 rd , 2016, on two related and burning national issues. Enjoy: On the Deaths of Corps Members There was a furore in the news on Friday (02/12/2016) that a female corps member, Ifedolapo Oladepo, died in the Kano orientation camp. No doubt, her death is unfortunate and very heartbreaking, especially for her loved ones, but how the story was/is told left me dumbfounded and shocked. The whole saga was territorialised, regionalised, and localised as if the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme was a state business. Thus, Kano is blamed. It’s, after all, Nigeria, and the North is almost always portrayed in a bad light. To some southerners, nothing comes out of this ‘Almajiri-populated’ enclave. My suspicion was corroborated by the reaction ‘generated’ by yet another death of another female corps member identified as Miss Elechi Chiyerum.  This occurred not in the No...

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 This is a Herculean job. I have read and listened to several political commentators saying that Donald Trump’s triumph is a logic-defying, demystifying puzzle and a record-breaking event in the political history of not only the US but the world in general. For those not very familiar with this character, Trump is a bigot, a racist, a protectionist, a misogynist, an Islamaphobic, and, above all, a very ignorant billionaire businessman. That is why, perhaps, almost all pre-election opinion polls indicated that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, would win, yet he did. A particularly disgruntled analyst, Tom Freeman, has gone to extremes in his quest to understand the meaning of Trump’s victory.  He wrote an article that contains only one word throughout:  F**k .  The writer couldn’t be more descriptive and rational, for this is just it. Yet, curses, yells, despair, etc., cannot change the reality that Trump is the president-elect of the worl...

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 I was at the renowned Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for a 7-day internship in Radio and TV Production from 25th September to 1st October 2016. As a budding writer, critic, and public commentator, I have seen and observed many things sufficient to write a book on. I have already chronicled some of these on my Facebook page. This article consists of at least two such status updates. Here you go. On Self-Reliance There is a centre under the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts of the University called the Centre of Excellence. A lady sells snacks, soda and other fast foodstuffs at the entrance. She dresses well, smiles at her customers and other passers-by who care to say hi. I often did that, and she friendlily responded. However, I doubt if anyone among us, both the staff and the students, had ever bought anything from her, and that was where most of the internship lectures were conducted, as it houses the non-broadcast TV studio f...

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com “Muhsin”, Shamsiyya (not a real name) called my attention. I answered and listened. “Come and marry me”, she finished, retorting to my allegation that she was still unmarried, not because she lacked suitors but because she was too picky. Later, I pondered on our lengthy conversation and realised I was wrong. Many men fear successful women like her. She comes from a wealthy family, holds two degrees, and works for an international organisation. She also confided that she could not stretch the cultural perception and norms to seriously ask anyone to marry her. She would instead 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 Impossible, delivering a lecture in our freshman year at the university. One day, he spent many minutes of his period admonishing the ladies in the class on relationship and marriage issues. As usua...

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 The trending entrepreneurial business in Kano used to be the so-called Computer Learning Centres a few years back. There is, nonetheless, a remarkable shift today toward the so-called English Academy, English Learning Centre, or other variants. I am not entirely against the idea, but I am not happy with the vogue for some solid reasons. If you can remember, at the noon time of computer centres in the state, many a time a student would obtain a certificate, a diploma, or even an advanced diploma in computer without knowing, or knowing very little about, how to use simple applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, and other elementary computer applications. The business was hijacked and stalled by quacks.  The quacks plunged and polluted computer learning centres to make one thing: quick money. In no time, many people realised they had been primarily, if indirectly, duped. They stopped their patronage. Nowadays, several people are self-taught compu...