Telling The Recent Bayero University, Kano Story
30 January 2017By Maikudi Abubakar
Zukogi
If the story of this vibrant and promising university will necessarily be tied
to how it stands in the world university ranking, it is doubtful if it would
ever get told. Bayero University, Kano will simply serve as the first course
mixed gravel and cement holding the intimidating pillars of world Ivy League
universities that annually make the list of Times Higher Education Supplement
world university ranking. This emerging and unassuming university isnt likely
to put up any encouraging showing in the African universities ranking either.
So if your interest is to look for a university with a promise like the
northern star and you are going to have to rely on this somewhat academic
rankings, you are more than likely going to miss out on what above every
possessor of knowledge, there is one more learned, which is what the motto of
Bayero University, Kano is, has to offer. And, the university, in the way in
which it is presently constituted, has a lot to offer in terms of variety and
quality of certificates at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Indeed, Bayero University, Kano has come of age and we need to tell the story
of this rising giant south of the Sahara.
The importance of stories and their telling is self evident. We are who we are
as a result of the time tested art of storytelling. Our identity as a nation,
as a people and as institution is a product of a story or stories. Although
our original identity, in the course of time, may be negotiated by a number of
factors, the truth about our becoming cannot be completely obliterated.
Therefore, either as a people, or institution, we must learn to tell our own
stories to the world. We must take control of the means by which people
perceive and represent us. To be able to do this, we must learn to tell and
retell our own stories. The universal proverb ''until the lion learns to tell
his own story, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter''
accurately describes the reason why telling ones own story amounts to giving
a true picture of who one is, what he does and represents. In other words,
stories narrate information about us, either as individuals, as a people, as
institution and as a nation. In fact, this proverb of the lion taking control
of his own story has since become a widely exploited metaphor for
deconstructing colonial discourses and the basis for reinterpreting them. The
story thus far is simply saying that we are what we are because of the stories
we tell. We are a people and a nation because of the narrations woven around
and about us. Consequently, our survival is tied to our ability to tell our
own stories over and over again. People, institutions and nations die from the
moment they are unable to tell and sustain stories about themselves. It is for
this reason that I set out to tell the recent Bayero University, Kano story.
Bayero University, Kano, for those who care to know, was named after the late
Emir Abdullahi Bayero, famously referred to as Sarki Alhaji, the tenth Emir of
Kano and great grandfather to the current Emir, Muhammad Sanusi II. The
university had a glorious outing as a college of the glorious Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, which was the largest university south of the Sahara, until
1977 when it joined Lagos, Benin, Jos, Sokoto and Maiduguri to form the league
of the second generation universities created by the Federal Government. The
university had the greatest fortune of being cited in Kano, a city which
prides itself as the 'belly of the elephant and 'which has more resources
than you may think of giving her. The people of Zaria, in particular, would
not want to hear any of this boisterousness. Zaria always would argue that not
only did it give Kano a university; it also taught her what it feels like to
be civilised and the etiquette of functioning as a university town. I will
live this age old superiority tussle between these two sister cities to the
cultural anthropologists to resolve.
The university, quite unlike its supposedly boisterous host city, is a modest,
moderate and unassuming institution. It had no reason not to be so, if only to
be faithful to its motto: 'above every possessor of knowledge, there is one
more learned. This is not only a motto but also the guiding philosophy of the
university. It is this that has made the university to always keep its head
low even while others are losing theirs, recording remarkable successes in
academics, research and administration close to four decades since its
creation. Bayero University, Kano started on a strong footing being the only
university nursed and weaned by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. It
metamorphosed from being a university college under its then Principal, Dr
Mahmud Tukur into a full-fledged university in 1977. At the time of its take
off in 1977, the university had almost the same quality of staff that you can
find on the main campuses of its mother university. Therefore, it had less
start up problems, and so it simply hit the ground running with its array of
expatriate and indigenous academic staff whose credentials bear the logo of
premier universities across the world. In spite of this, however, the
university still kept a modest but progressive pace behind its foster mother
and was graduating brilliant and promising graduates who have distinguished
themselves in different areas and positions across different strata of the
country. Most achievements and successes of the university were recorded under
the giant shadow of its seemingly larger-than-life foster mother and not until
in the late eighties and early nineties that the university begin to feature
prominently on the national limelight. This was attributable to two reasons.
First, ABU had by this time ran its initial first full circle and was, by this
time, engulfed in crises ranging from leadership to ideological and a
potpourri of discontents which agitated in the minds of staff and students,
leading to heated tensions and closures until the appointment of General
Mamman Kontagora (rtd) as Sole Administrator by the military government of
General Sani Abacha. Second, Bayero University began to receive serious media
and government attention due to its being host to Presidents of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS) in the persons of Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega and
Comrade Nasiru Kura. Today, the university is proud to have given ASUU two
solid Presidents, in the persons of Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega and Dr
Nasir Isa Fagge. These two activist academics are critical to the struggles
and successes of ASUU. While Jega strengthened the unions ideological basis
and tools of struggles, Nasiru consolidated its gains as well expanded its
horizon as a solid union for the university academic staff. Thus, these
coupled with its improved teaching, infrastructure, and stable calendar gave
Bayero University, Kano the enviable advantage to once and for all dislodge
ABU as the preferred destination for undergraduate and postgraduate education.
What is more, except for ASUU strikes, the university being a frontline ASUU
friendly institution, it is rarely affected by disruptions of the academic
calendar. The success story narrated so far would not have been possible
without the solid foundation laid by successive Vice Chancellors beginning
with Professor JOC Ezeilo, Professor IH Umar, Professor Dandatti Abdulkadir
and Professor Sani Zahradeen. They have helped individually to reposition the
university on a footing that has led to the attainment of many feats today.
Meanwhile, the plot of the recent Bayero University, Kano story is
encapsulated in the bumper harvest recorded recently by the university. This
recent harvest may not be unconnected with the opening up of the universitys
space and the incomparable progress and expansion with regards to new
programmes, facilities and staff development carried out by the quartet of
late Professor Musa Abdullahi, Professors Attahiru Jega, Abubakar Rasheed and
Muhammad Yahuza Bello, the incumbent Vice Chancellor over a period spanning
seventeen years beginning from 1999. Without doubt, these years were the
golden years of the university, the years which saw the university recording
great successes in research and quality assurance leading to a significant
rating in the regular National University Commission (NUC) accreditation
exercises. It was the late Professor Musa Abdullahi of blessed memory who
kick-started the process of repositioning the university on the path of growth
and regeneration. He established the Faculty of Agriculture, reorganised the
Faculty of Medicine and strengthened both pre-clinical and clinical programmes,
and embarked on aggressive academic staff development. After him came
Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, whose entrance was hinged on a pedestal of
high expectations. He did his best to meet some of those expectations in an
environment of close scrutiny from his academic constituency. He gave the
university the best accreditation result that saw it being ranked first in the
country. Professor Jega couldnt conclude his tenure as Vice Chancellor as he
was literally poached to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
several months to the end of his tenure. He distinguished himself by
conducting one of the best elections in our recent history that ushered in the
current APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari. His departure as Vice
Chancellor paved the way for Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, who concluded
the remaining months and was overwhelmingly elected as the new Vice
Chancellor. Professor Rasheed was the most outstanding of the quartet. He came
well prepared for the job with a carefully articulated manifesto. It was a
sheer coincidence that he served as the Vice Chancellor of the university at a
time Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the doyen of the Kwankwasiyya movement was
Governor of Kano. And so while Kwankwaso was working across the state,
Professor Rasheed was also working across the university. And it seemed like
they were locked in some pre-planned competition to outdo each other in
infrastructural development. While bridges and roads were springing up in the
state, hostels, laboratories, theatres and new faculties were equally
springing up across the university. The competition between these two to leave
behind a legacy of achievements was so palpable that the only one feature that
separated them was that while works at the state bore the Kwankwasiyya
imprint, works at the university didnt. For the university, unlike the state,
the Rasheediyya imprint, if one would be excused the use of the term, was
ingrained not on projects but in the mind. Thus, during the five years that he
served as the Vice Chancellor, he gave the university a new face and along
with it an irrepressible image of a true ivory tower that can withstand
competition from within and without. During this period, the university added
Faculties of Allied Medical Sciences, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Computer Science
and Information Technology, Communication and Media Studies and a massive
infrastructural development that included roads, street lighting and
landscaping, theatres, staff offices and research centres. These signature
achievements have earned Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed the unofficial title
of the builder of modern Bayero University, Kano. Consequently, his
achievements served as reference point to other universities, and by acts of
commission, he was touted as someone capable of giving the Nigerian
universities a new vision and a cutting edge direction that will enable them
to compete globally. And so, as I write this, Professor Rasheed now oversee
the Nigerian universities as the new Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission (NUC). By sheer coincidence, he is the second member
of the university to occupy the prestigious position, and both of them from
the English Department. The first person was Professor Munzali Jibril, former
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies and the Postgraduate School
who served as the Executive Secretary from 1996 to 2001. Professor Rasheeds
departure saw the emergence of the incumbent Vice Chancellor, Professor
Muhammadu Yahuza Bello, a tested university administrator. He came into office
with a mountain of experience, having served twice as Deputy Vice Chancellor,
Academics and Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Project
Monitoring Unit of the university. By all standards, he is well suited for the
job but the greatest challenge for him remains to consolidate on the towering
achievements of the past for which luckily he was a part of.
It is heart warming therefore to tell that the universitys years of service
and contribution to the growth and manpower development of the country was
recently acknowledged in manifold. And as they of the farmer, after careful
planting and patient nurturing of crops always comes the harvest time. And it
was indeed a bumper harvest for the university and a fitting reward for
effective leadership, meticulous planning and consultation. The university
currently boasts of key appointments in the Federal government with education
ministry taking the large chunk. The first of course is Professor Abubakar
Adamu Rasheed, whose landmark achievements in Bayero university and
contribution to university education generally earned him the position of the
Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission. He is followed by
Dr Abdullahi Baffa, the incomparable, restless academic and ASUU strategist
who was handed the exalted post as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary
Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). After these two, the university currently also
boasts of five active Vice Chancellors, two federal and three states.
Professor Fatima Batulu Mukhtar, VC, Federal University, Dutse; Professor
Abdallah Uba Adamu, VC, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); Professor
Mustapha Ahmad Isah, Northwest University, Kano; Professor Shehu Mohammed, VC,
Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), and Professor Muhammad Sani
Abdulkadir, VC, Kogi State University, Anyigba. Other key agencies for which
the universitys ambassadors held forte include the National Teachers
Institute (NTI), Kaduna headed by Pofessor Garba Dahuwa Azare, a seasoned
university administrator; National Commission for Mass Literacy Education
headed by Professor Abba Haladu, and the National Communications Commission
headed by Professor Umar Garba Danbatta.
This is no mean achievement for Bayero University, Kano. It is a forceful
indication that the university has indeed come of age. It is a thing of pride
for the university to be so recognised and its ambassadors to be called upon
to serve the government in different capacities in one particular time. Not
only the founding fathers but every alumnus will be proud to be associated
with the recent successes recorded by the university. This is the recent
Bayero University, Kano story.
Mahmud Zukogi, is an academic member of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic
Studies of the university.
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