I had the privilege of serving our “great” country Nigeria through the NYSC scheme. I was posted to Kano State for my part in the process of developing and opening new vistas in Nigeria. I served in Kano State between March, 2005 and February, 2006. I have lived in the north for the most part of my life but my experiences during the service year changed my perspective about the ruling class – forever.

When, after our orientation camp in Ungogo, I was posted to a secondary school I was not too enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a chalk carrying teacher. The Vice Principal of my destination secondary school- I will mention the name - was a great hostess. She took pains to explain how I could benefit from the teaching experience. She offered to be of assistance in case I encountered any problems. I decided to take the posting in good faith and hence the beginning of a very interesting journey.

It is a shame how often we see in center spreads achievements of governments in Northern Nigeria. Money is spent in this unnecessary business of propaganda while the ‘talakawa’, out of blind loyalty continue to be deprived of the basic necessities of everyday life.

I was expected to teach Social Studies across the three sets of the Junior Secondary School. To my utter disbelief 85% (I am trying to paint a good picture) of my students labour communicate in English. I was surprised that JS 3 students could not name one governor outside Kano and Jigawa states!

I tried to bring them on board by incorporating English language into my Social Studies classes. This proved an onerous task because most teacher–student communication was done in Hausa.

These students will never be put through the rigours of debating. They will never be involved in essay competitions where ideas for the future are hatched. On a larger scale, how many of these children end up in Universities? Bear in mind that these they ARE the youth and the future of this great country lies in their hands! You may think it is not as bad as I make it but ask a typical southerner of his views on the generality of the north.

I was privileged to have attended a job interview in Lagos and because I stated that I am a northerner (I am from Kogi State) one gentleman from Edo State labeled me a FANATIC! Of course I became interested in his reason or reasons for labeling me such. He claimed that all he ever hears about the north is religious riots which bring about bloodshed and destruction of lives and property. We all know this is not true.

This blanket treatment of the north by this gentleman goes to show how enormous a task the north faces. But where do you put the blame? Is it the ruling elite? By this I mean politicians and traditional rulers. Or should the blame be put squarely at the doorstep of the followers, the ‘talakawas’?

I bear no grudges against any particular ethnic nationality or religion in Nigeria. What motivates me is the desire to see a united and developed Nigeria.

The press is quick to publicize such negative stories as they affect the north but do not take pains to expose the genesis of such problems.

I think there is a low level of exposure among the ‘talakawa’ as regards their rights and duties owed them by their governments. It is not enough to encourage someone to seek understanding of the Holy Qur`an. Didn`t  the Prophet (PBUH)  encourage the pursuit of knowledge generally? In this age of technological advancement and easy access to information it is surprising to know how little these people know.

I have lived in the north long enough and I have a lot of posers that demand answers.

• Are the ‘talakawa’ a lazy lot?
• Do the leaders hide behind the cloak of Islam and plunder the resources of their states?
• Is there a blind loyalty?
• Are the masses gullible?
• What is the role of traditional rulers in ensuring good governance?
• Why is there a high level of illiteracy in the North?
• What steps have the educated elites (not Politicians) taken to address this anomaly?

 This writer aims to understand essence of the ‘talakawa’ and has made reference to Kano state but believes same can be said of the wider north.

Robot  Villager

# 1 I was a really surprised by the level of under development in Kano when I was therefor my N...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 26.10.2006 14:31

Austin  Villager

# 2 Wow, I thought some people said that nigerian university graduates can neither read nor write English language. Sorry gentleman I can't answer any of your question, but please accept my compliment for your well constructed essay, you might not know the full implication of what you have just done, but you just put some unreasonable critics wrong. Posted by Austin| 26.10.2006 15:56

Mark Lar  Villager

# 3 Mallam Zayyad Muhammad, eat your heart out. This young man has just proven what I have said all along; kwulikwuli and gworo do not and should not stop Hausas from being able to put across their points in English. Hush ye detractors! What? What? That Shehu Raji is not a real mallam as he is from Kebi State? That he is omo Oduduwa? Just move over, ojare! Posted by Mark Lar| 26.10.2006 16:25

jogego  JJC

# 4 This is nothing new. I served in Monguno,Borno State in the early 90s, 1991 to 1992 to be precise. My experience while tutoring Chemistry would probably be worse that yours. I remember vividly, announcing in the class room that the JAMB forms were out and asking who would be seating for the exams. Not a single girl in the class had any idea what JAMB was. In any case when you have SS3 students who cant even spell or write their names down correctly, what is the incentive to seat for any exams? The stark contrast to the South is there for all to see. The Library, Laboratories and all other facilities were provided and also well equiped. The town of Monguno then, was not even connected to the National grid of NEPA yet, large equipment for woodwork and metalwork were all available in the school. This were stuff that even some Universities in the south do not even have access to. And yet despite the fact that school was free, and the students were actually being given incentives to go to school, the rate of illiteracy is so high that it will continue to be a drag on the Nigerian polity. Not to sound pessimistic, but in another 20 years, if you go back, it would most likely be the same. Posted by jogego| 26.10.2006 16:59

Exxcuzme  Villager

# 5 As for the degenerate education system in the North, it is not only the North that has bad education system but the whole of Nigeria. Since the Shagari Admin and the incessant closing of schools sent Ghanaians teachers in the 80s packing thereafter by successive administration, our educational system has been decaying. Some will argue that the degenerate of our schools were done on purpose by the dictators to forestall protests by students since they are the only group that were able to oppose the government of the day. Most of our policy officials have their children schooling outside Nigerian; hence, they don't care about what happens to the poor folks including the talakawas. The attitude of our big folks is like that of the America government that wants all the wealth and feel good giving crumbs in the form of assistance to the rest of the world she is exploiting in the first place. So the issue is not of the North alone but from all indication from different people, it seems poverty in prevalent in the North more than the rest of Nigeria. Until we find someone that can carry the whole of Nigeria together we will continue to be suspicious of each other. Until Nigeria is safe enough for people to explore different parts of Nigeria at leisure, we will continue to be ignorant about our land. Until we have 24hrs independent news channel like CNN in Nigeria to give us LIVE instant happenings in various part of Nigeria; we will not know the truth about happenings in different part of the country. Imagine someone living in Nigeria telling me those religious riots we here about were fake or propaganda by southern newspapers? Posted by Exxcuzme| 26.10.2006 17:16

Namio  Villager

# 6 Common now, there are many scholars from the North in both Western and Eastern studies. I had a guy called Bala as my senior in secondary school many years ago. When he spoke, we marvel. He was also a member of the debating team. There was also a foreign rep from Nigeria who was so good, we wondered why people like him were not rulers. People who are not smart make up for it by licking godfathers' boots to climb up. As they also do in the South. So kwulikwuli originated from the North? Posted by Namio| 26.10.2006 17:38

No Smoking  Villager

# 7 Being one who travelled far and wide across Nigeria and Africa, I must reiterate that the large masses of Northern Nigeria are not illiterate in the full sense of the word. They only chose to ignore Western education. They embraced Arabic and Koranic Studies in addition to the widespread adoption of the Hausa language. The guy calling for a broadcast service like the CNN may not be aware that Hausa listeners are well served by foreign stations broadcasting in Hausa. BBC still does it. Russia did some years ago. Not to mention the ubiquitous RKTV. Many years ago, I found a kolanut-selling mallam in a village near the Fertilizer Company, Onne, outside Port Harcourt. Yes, he had his transistor radio by his side, tuned to RKTV. The people are neither ignorant nor illiterate. They have only permitted themselves to be misled into shunning Western education, despite all the funds that have been sunk into programs such as the Nomadic Education. Posted by No Smoking| 26.10.2006 18:29

MrOneNaija  Villager

# 8 A FRAUDULENT PIECE!!! It is apparent that the author of this disjointed, disappointing and scanty spin is out for mischief. For someone who claims to have spent much of his life in the North and would have us believe so by way of a contrived set-up - the narration of his supposed NYSC experience in a secondary school - it is amazing that what the reader is fed is the usual half-baked stereotyping of a whole region. It is obvious that Shehu Raji is using the imagery of the so-called talakawa in a provocative, if perverse way - a pretext for him to indulge in a rehash of the intellectually lazy manichean rhetoric around such stereotypes as the northerner as a religious fanatic; as educationally and economically backward; etc., all that with a rich dose of feigned distance and objectivity. This is a fraudulent piece pandering to base emotions while pretending to seek after knowledge. This is déjà vu. We have been here before as demonstrated by the thread "Can the Igbos govern Nigeria?". Posted by MrOneNaija| 26.10.2006 19:59

codewit  JJC

# 9 We are to blame for the high illiteracy rate in Nigeria. We've been forced to believe that good command of the queens language showcases how educated we are. To me, english should be used for what its meant for, 'communication' between disparate ethic groups. We can still teach our students sociolology, chemistry and mathematics with our native languages. English should be a course and not a means to teach/understand those courses. Can we conclude that a Japaness physicist is illitrate because he can only communicate in his native language? Of course not. Its a well known fact that a person think more rationally in his/her natural language. The solution might seem difficult yet, attainable - develop our natural languages towards basic teaching in our schools and the talakawas will find a cure for cancer. Posted by codewit| 26.10.2006 21:30

Oghre  Villager

# 10 The north has a longer way to go in terms of education compared to the rest of Nigeria; their leaders directly benefit from the situation, an uneducated and brainwashed citizenry are the best tools for religious riots and political client age and social patronage. On mediocrity, the northern elite already declared their inadequacies in the art of governance and yet power was handed to them, resulting in years of misrule and an almost breakdown of the state of the nation. Why did we ever hand over power to those who admitted to their immaturity in the art of government? That is an official installation of mediocrity in Nigeria. I will say it again, the north should be sliced off and shared between Chad and Niger Republic. Posted by Oghre| 27.10.2006 04:10

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