-He is now a university graduate and staff of Sokoto State University
Nafi’u, Nafson, as his friends and coursemates fondly call him, is an indigene of the Sabon Birni area of Sokoto South Local Government Council in the Sokoto metropolis. He was born on 1st January, 1995, into a very large extended family, whose population is estimated to be more than one thousand.
The family is very decent and vastly knowledgeable in Islamic education, to the extent that a child may memorize the holy Quran by heart at the tender age of 10 or less.
However, they frowned at Western education, they resisted any attempt to enroll their children in school, in the name of acquiring western education. To say the least, they don’t even believe in taking their sick ones to the hospital.
How did the young Nafiu break the glass ceiling?
Nafi’u is our sororal nephew ( a son of our elder sister). Although our family believes in pursuing western education, we also saw the wisdom in not interfering in the Nafiu’s family affairs by forcing them to change their mindsets. however, we did our best in cajoling them into welcoming western education into their family sphere, but the effort was fruitless.
One day, Nafiu approached one of our elder brothers, by the name, Mu’azu Rilwan Lamido, that he wanted to be enrolled in a Primary School, the latter exclaimed, you must be kidding! The former replied, ” da gaske ni ke yi kawu”. That is how Rilwan Muazu Lamido got him admitted into the school.
The young Nafiu used to dress in plain or ordinary clothes from their house, then come to our family house and put on his school uniform, and went to school. He maintained that strategy till he got to SS III. When he was about to write his final year exams (NECO &WAEC), one of his father’s friends sighted him in a school uniform and reported him to his father in the midst of people in a manner that provoked!
Such an incident posed a serious challenge to him and reported the matter to his mother’s family, who handled the issue with kid gloves. Such intervention saved him.
As God will have it, Nafi’u finished his secondary school with flying colors, allowing him to further his education. To make himself self-reliant, he engaged in tailoring and fashion designs, and also enrolled in Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, where he bagged (if you will permit me), an NCE (Islamic Studies/Hausa). His choice of such a combination is not unconnected with the anticipated challenges from his family.
After the successful completion of his NCE program, he was employed as a casual cleaner by Sokoto State University, Sokoto. Nafi’u as a young man, who doesn’t play with any opportunity that avails itself to him, decided to fill out a D.E form to utilize his proximity to the University, as luck will have it he was admitted (200 level) to undergo a B. A. Degree in Hausa Language.
With the approval of the Sokoto State Government to employ all casual staff (cleaners, gardeners, and security cadres), Nafiu, having fulfilled all the requirements, was employed and posted to the Postgraduate School of the University, as Clerk, and later on, redeployed to the Office of the Registrar, where he is now working.
Against all odds, Nafiu wrote his (last) final year exam, on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, leading to the award of a B.A Degree in the Hausa Language.
The rest is now history that will become a victory, in sha Allah.
