Alhaji Umar Yunusa Mohammed is an academician of repute and
an astute politician, in this interview he shares his opinion on tropical
issues that affect education and the Kurama people in general. (this interview
was done before the leadership crisis in the Kaduna State House of Assembly)
AM: Good morning sir, we will
like to know more about you, how you started in life and the challenges you
faced growing up?
Ans: My
name is Umar Yunusa Mohammed representing Lere east constituency. I was born in
1946 in Toro Bauchi state, where my father was a teacher. My father died in
1951 when I was about 5-6 years, while my mother died in 1952, and I have been
an orphan since then. I couldn’t go to school until 1957 when I was eleven
years old, I enrolled into Bissallah primary school where I had my junior
primary education from primary one to four in 1960, and I wrote the common
entrance into the senior primary school and passed the examination and I went
to Soba senior primary school in 1961.
I was able to sit for my senior
secondary school certificate exams in 1968 and passed my W.A.S.S.C, this gave
me the opportunity to be admitted for the higher national certificate, but due
to the situation at home, I did not advance for the higher national
certificate. And I opted to work and it was very easy then to secure a job with
secondary school certificate, and I was employed in the Nigeria Railway
Cooperation. After just four months, late Mallam Musa Gullah thought I should
be in the government not in a private company, I was then employed as the
Produce Inspector.
But I had my vision and my
thoughts for the future, and my thoughts being that the produce inspection
board will not continue to be lucrative forever, so I decided to sit for the
common entrance exams into the Federal College of Education, then it was known
as the Advance Teachers College. I sat for such exams three times and passed,
but I didn’t go because of the situation at home, but the third time I decided
to go, in 1971, I went to the Advance Teachers College Zaria, and in 1974 I
graduated and I started teaching in Kufena College. I was posted to Kufena
College where I started, and two years later I decided I wanted to pursue a
degree but not in Nigeria, and I thought also that I should go for a course
which is not available in Nigerian universities.
I applied to five universities in America and
the first one that offered me admission was the university of Wisconsin,
Whitewater and I went in January 1976. While there, my performance indicated
that I am a product of masters’ degree, the school then advised that I can run
for a master’s degree which I crashed for one year while still pursuing my
first degree. I made an attempt to register
for school of management as my second masters degree, while doing my
second masters degree, I applied for Ph.d and the university of Athens (Georgia
U.S.A) offered me admission but while I was on my second degree I was called
back by the state government.
I didn’t do the N.Y.S.C in the
normal way because I was a staff on in-service, so I was posted back to the
ministry of Education Kaduna, I was made a coordinator. I was also a member of
various associations for the disabled, and I became the president for the
association nationally, until I was appointed the principal of Barewa College,
Zaria. Later I became the secretary of Kaduna state scholarship board; I grew
up in the ministry until I became a principal education officer, when I was
posted to Anchau as deputy zonal director in 1983. Later on again, I was asked
to go to Barewa College as vice principal, before I was later posted back to
Anchau this time around as a zonal director.
I came back to the headquarters,
and I was posted to the administrative cadre as a deputy director II; after
some years I was again posted back to the school system as a principal. I was
again elevated as director in the revenue board, later on I was made the
director of personnel in the board of internal revenue.
I then attempted to go into
politics as an independent candidate because then there was the zero party
system, I contested and won the election but it was maneuvered against me and l
returned to the board of revenue. I was then posted to the rehabilitation
board; I was made coordinating director, I stayed there for six months before I
was made director. Afterwards, I was made a permanent secretary automatically
and I was posted to the Ministry of Agriculture. After six months, I was posted
to the government house as permanent secretary from 2000 to 2004 when I
retired.
I retired on the 15th
of May 2004 and on the 16th of May 2004 we celebrated my membership
of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I decided to change the way the party is ran
in Lere local government, because then the party was dominated by illiterates,
it was only one person who had a degree the chairman; while the secretary, the
members of the House of Assembly including the one I replaced were all
illiterates (the person I replaced was a semi illiterate because the highest he
attended was junior secondary school).
AM: You would agree with us sir
that the political terrain in Nigeria is too complex, can you kindly tell us
some of the challenges you have faced and still facing since you ventured into
politics?
Ans: Politics is all about
interest that is number one, I don’t see politics as a profession, anybody who
sits and decides that he is a politician and that is what he will do in order
to make a living is wasting his time. To me politics is all about the
development of various facets of survival like education, agriculture e.t.c,
but we have a problem in this country, people look at politics as a place of
making money and as such they would not allow you even to do the work.
What is the work of the
legislator; law making, amending laws and abrogating laws. But these aspects
are not seen as the primary assignment of the legislator, instead the
legislator is seen as someone who is making money, and people running all
around you not allowing you to do your job but asking for money. In fact some
of them even if lets say you want to build a well for them; they will not
bother to compromise if you are ready to give them part of the money meant for
the project.
AM: sir don’t you think it is the
failure of governance?
Ans: We have a typical example in
Lere when a highly foresighted chairman looked at the youths in the area as
people that can look after themselves and he created what is known as “back to
land program” as a form of empowerment for them, but when the proceeds of the back
to land actually came the whole of that money was squandered by them, rather
than empowering themselves they spend it hopelessly.
Agreed government is failing, but the people
are also contributing in the failure of government. Sometimes it is not entirely
the failure of government, another typical example is the poverty alleviation
program I did where some people were given cars, motorcycles, grinding machines
e.t.c most of them sold them, it was meant to help them build themselves and
their families.
AM: As a member representing Lere
east in the State House of Assembly, how have you impacted on the lives of the
people that gave you the mandate?
I first of all realized that part
of the yearnings of my people is additional
classrooms, assembly halls in some secondary schools; we negotiated with
the government that constituency projects are going to be given, part of the
arrangement with the government is that twelve classrooms that is four blocks
each containing three classrooms be cited in each constituency. That we
succeeded and when we succeeded I knew communities that have been crying for
this kind of projects, one of them is Federe, Anguwan Bawa, Dan- Alhaji (with
one of the oldest secondary school) and Maigamo.
We made sure that this additional
classrooms are constructed there, they are all within my constituency, the
other issue is rural health, there are some places today that if today a woman
is going to deliver and it rained they cannot come out because there is no road
like in Wawan Rafi and Lagga.
These are the kind of things we
are doing, and as you know one of the most important and urgent need of the
human being is water, and one of the biggest problem of the country is water
and for this reason we solicited for the sinking of boreholes in each
constituency and that was granted, we cited this in places where they don’t
have water.
AM: As a seasoned educationist
(chairman House committee on Education) and administrator, what is your opinion
about the falling standard of education, and what is the way forward?
Ans: It is true there is fallen
standard of education, but we know the problems that brought about the fallen
standard, in the course of our investigation we realized that there are three
major areas where the problem lies: one, inadequate infrastructural provision,
two, inadequate and unprofessional personnel, three, inability of government to
take drastic measures concerning this issues. I use to say you can make
provision for infrastructure, admit the students, you can have structures,
chairs, but if there are no personnel will the children teach themselves.
Currently there is deficit of
personnel, in the primary sector there
are about 1,721,000 pupils, if you go by
the infrastructure that are suppose to be provided, that is lets say seats, of
the over one million only 34,000 have seats. In the primary schools today we
have 39,000 teachers; of that number about 42% of them are unqualified. In
order for the educational system to take the right channel, a new approach must
be followed, we have 527 secondary schools in the state and you require
additional 4,571 teachers, with these what do you expect of the final year
students, we have made the compilation now, it is the duty of government to act.
AM: You had a mentor in the
person of Late Mallam Musa Gullah and being an educationist like him, how can
you say you have contributed to education in Kurama land?
Ans: In the early seventies
Mallam Musa Gulla and Mallam Dan’Azumi Kudaru decided that we should come up
with community based effort and we added two classrooms in Kudaru, and we added
two classrooms in Yarkasuwa, and another two classrooms were built in Kaku all
through community effort. Much later we struggled for a teachers college ,
which I participated from the beginning to its actualization, the school was
suppose to be located in Yarkasuwa but politics came in, somebody from the
House of Assembly said it should go to Kayarda, another person from Gure said
it should go to Gure. So they voted and the person saying it should go to Gure
won. Because of the team of elders from Kurama, which I made the statistic
available to them, that this is the statistics of primary schools we have
around which made it more acceptable to have a secondary school because it is a
centre.
We have continued to assist in various ways
educationally, in those days when I was in the Ministry of Education
headquarters I didn’t have my leaves for myself, I use the periods of my leave
running around looking for admission for our youths, on weekends I come only to
distribute the admission letters, that was part of the contribution I have
always made when I was at that early stage of my career in education, but today
it is the issue of consolidating on the gains.
AM: As a political figure, how
have you expanded the political space for more Kurama people to contribute
their quota to nation building through political participation?
Ans: I have realized that the
Kurama elites are kind of docile politically, they lack the pushful nature in
involving themselves in politics and I realized that unless we begin to show
ourselves in political activities before we can be recognized as people who are
active, hence we can share in the dividends of democracy. If we look at the manner in which
we present ourselves in politics and we compare ourselves with our colleagues
in the local government; that is the Hausas, you find out that an average
illiterate from our colleagues in the local government is more politically
aware than an educated Kurama man.
I have called the major stakeholders
to educate them, unless we are actually participating and showing ourselves in
the political arena before we can be recognized as participating members. But
once we continue to pull ourselves away from politics, honestly we are not
getting anywhere, it is not until when there is a position that is being sorted
out that you will come out with a very high qualification saying that you are
qualified and want this position. When politically you are not associating
yourself with the political class, we are in the period of politics, every
thing that is being determined by the government is politically determined.
It doesn’t matter if that is where you will learn, so this is what
I have been doing to ensure that by the time we are not in position anymore we
will have no fear because we will have Kurama people that are firmly rooted in
the politics of our local government, Kaduna state and Nigeria in general.
AM: We grew up and we can’t
really say this is the traditional attire of the Kurama people, it’s like the
Kurama identity has been largely lost to cultural pluralism, and what do you
think can be done to preserve our identity?
Ans: as far as the attire or
identity is concerned; if you go by history and the genesis of where the Kurama
people happened to come from, I will tell you that we don’t have any special
attire that we use except for occasions that I remember for occasions like
farming, UBARU is what the Kurama man will tie. It is made out of animal skin,
while going to farm, it is the one they tie when going for social outings like
marriage festivals. But the Kurama people have always been known with cloths,
then it was hand made GWADO, a hand knitted fabric, they can make a gown with
it, a trouser and long shirt for men.
AM: We know that there are
agitations for state creation and the Kurama people are in-between Gurara state
and Zazzau (New Kaduna State), where should the Kurama people follow?
Ans: Honestly, people have
various opinions depending on their reasoning, I have my own opinion as far as
state creation is concern, there are those that believe going to Gurara gives
us opportunities to be reckoned with if we identify ourselves with some people,
base on cultural and may be to some extend religious similarities. But if you
go back to history, historically we are not like them, even our mode of
dressing we are not like them; that is one, if you give it a religious
connotation yes, many of us are like them and we mingle with them okay.
But if you go back to economic
gains, which of course, you know economic and political power are very
important and if you don’t have economic power, you cannot have political
power. As far as I am concern for economic gains the Kurama man will be more
exposed to gaining this dividends in the new Kaduna State (not Zazzau).
You would agree with me that
there are a lot of unemployed Kurama youths, many of them are graduates, now if we go there as far as my thinking is concerned we are going to endanger
ourselves as far as employment chances are concerned. But if we are here (New
Kaduna State), honestly, we shall be struggling for the same thing and if we
are to be given a quota, because a local government is going to be created by
what we are hearing and what we have seen. If we have a local government and we
have a quota of whatever is coming definitely we are going to have a better
placing in the New Kaduna State.
AM: Is state creation the
solution to the problem of the ordinary man at the grass root, because some are
of the school of thought that it is an elitist agenda?
Ans: It is not the ultimate but
it solves most of the problems, look at states like Niger, Bauchi and Bayelsa,
they are very small states when they were created initially, but today because
they are states they have grown infrastructural wise, job wise they have their
quotas. Even though we know there are problems these days with some states with
respect to payment of salaries, but then lets all be together and share what we
have equally.
To correct you on the issue of
creation of states being seen as an elitist design, it is a political design,
the whole process of state creation is a political process, because the chiefs
that we have are not very strong in that aspect. It is the duty of politicians,
many of the chiefs will be saying it is better we are there, but if your
representatives, councilors, local government chairman, members of both the
Federal and State Assemblies, senator; they are the ones that can influence
state creation.
AM: Thank you sir for your time.
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