Alkasim Abdulkadir
12 July 2008
interview
Bala Muhammad is simply a journalist, broadcaster, teacher and communication consultant. He was Deputy Chief Press Secretary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in 2000, and later a World Bank Communication Advisor based at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Abuja. Before the Villa job, he had worked at the BBC World Service in London, in both the Hausa Service and English to Africa. Apart from the BBC, Bala had been a correspondent for the Hausa Service of Radio Deutschewelle (Voice of Germany) first in Cairo, Egypt, then in Kano, Nigeria, and later in Durban, South Africa. But essentially he has been Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communications of Bayero University, Kano, from where he had graduated with a BA in the 1980s.
He had his postgraduate studies first at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, on a competitive African Graduate Fellowship, and later at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. His other qualifications include a Post-Graduate Certificate in Telecommunications Reform from the University of Westminster, London, as well as an Advanced Public Relations Management Certificate of the London Corporate Training Institute.
Now columnist (Saturday Column) on the Weekly Trust, he had also written for the now-defunct Lagos-based Diet newspaper, where he penned a weekly column, Vintage Musings in the mid-1990s. He was also a regular contributor on the Guardian of Lagos, the Kaduna-based New Nigerian, and the Kano-based Triumph. Internationally, he had written for Cairo's Al-Ahram Weekly and the London-based Impact newsmagazine, among many others. He has also published several academic articles for reputable journals. Bala speaks Hausa, English and Arabic, plus a petite comprehension of French. He is widely travelled. This interview with Alkasim Abdulkadir, reveals the homourist's love for literature and the influences that shape his current undertakings. Excerpts.
Bookshelf: Kindly share with us some of your most memorable moments in the UK during your work with the BBC. Several people I know have always wondered why you left the service of the BBC (and its perks) to come to Nigeria at that material time.
Dr. Bala Muhammad: To answer the second question first. When former President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999, he made it a point to initiate reverse brain-drain; that is, to entice Nigerians working in the Diaspora to return home to help develop the country. On one of his visits to London just before his Inauguration on May 29, 1999, President Obasanjo addressed us Nigerians working in the UK and promised he was going to change Nigeria for the better; including steady power supply within six months; enhanced security; etc, and that we should all come home to help him do it. Many of us agreed with him. It was the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Alhaji Sule Lamido (now Governor of Jigawa State), that took it upon himself to return me home as Press Secretary for Vice President Atiku Abubakar in January 2000. Memorable moments in the UK? Very many. First, BBC World Service at Bush House housed perhaps the most extensive international community after the UN system. BBC was broadcasting in forty two languages at that time. One got to meet the quiet Vietnamese, the easy-going Slovenians, the African melting pot at Focus on Africa. The London cultural scene was dynamic. And I was introduced to Chinese food, finger-licking good!
Bookshelf: You are known to have a passionate interest in literature, how did it come about?
Bala Muhammad: Had the singular opportunity of having an older brother who loved books (still does) and encouraged reading. I also had a friend whose father's library was substantive. I think I hit the ground reading, right from primary school. The Kano State Library also helped immensely. During my primary school days, I spent all my spare time there. I read almost all the books in the Children's Section, and always looked forward to reading books and periodicals in the grown-up section. But I always feared the library people would know I was a primary school kid and drive me away. One Friday, I wore a really long riga and surreptitiously sat in the Adult Section. I looked around; no one minded me. From then, I got addicted to Reader's Digest, Look and Learn, and newspapers. As for classical literature, I actually stumbled upon it. The School for Arabic Studies (SAS), my post-primary school, did not offer English Literature, but it provided such a wonderful learning environment. There were excellent English teachers who encouraged wide reading; there was an extensive library. And then there was the school's Drama and Debating Society. I rose to become 'Chief Debater' and 'Chief Quiz Answerer'. Didn't do so well in Drama, though. I vividly remember my best debate back in 1977 with a Girl's school in Kano. The young ladies thought that, coming from a School for Arabic Studies, we could not speak English. Kai! We showed them!
Bookshelf: How was it then with your literary and creative contemporaries at the Bayero University Kano in the early eighties?
Bala Muhammad: At Bayero, our time saw a vibrant literary activity. A group of friends such as Ibrahim Sheme (Editor, Leadership), Bala Yahaya (lecturer, Kaduna State Polytechnic); Bello Mu'azu (PRO, Nasarawa State SUBEB); Badamasi Musa (formerly of the Trust) and I established the Bayero Literary Society (BLS) which published a regular newsletter called The Parakeet. It was a very popular piece of University fare while it lasted. The Bayero Beacon, official Mass Communications Department newspaper, was also there. So were many other publications. The reading culture was superb. Of course the economy we thrived under was pre-SAP. SAP killed all that. SAP. Sad.
Bookshelf: What is your assessment of the reading culture in Nigeria?
Bala Muhammad: I still believe people want to read; the problem is the economy. People have to make a choice between buying books and buying food, and you know what people would choose. So thank God for second-hand books.
Bookshelf: What books do you read sir, and who are your favourite authors?
Bala Muhammad: I have outgrown novels, bestsellers and not-so-bestsellers. But during my time, I did read all of the major Western novelists. But I also read all the Islamic and Western classical philosophers. If you haven't read Al-Ghazali's Mishkat al Anwar (The Niche for Lights), better go get it. Now that my time is so scarce, I make do with books that give me information and education. This week I am reading Beyond Coincidence and Gems and Jewels. I am also reading A Royal Duty by the butler of late Princess Diana, loaned to me by a reading friend. I also never miss the Reader's Digest, as it is a good short-cut to several books. The Economist is also a magazine I do not miss. So, of course, are the Nigerian dailies, especially the Trust, the Triumph and Leadership. It is sad that, because of time constraint, I sometimes get to read all my newspapers over the weekend. Thank God for online editions.
Bookshelf: How well would you say the Nigerian writer has travelled in terms of quality of content and general output?
Bala Muhammad: The Nigerian writer is one of the best in the world, either in English or in Hausa, the languages I am comfortable in. Not for nothing many Nigerians have won several international recognitions over the years. There is still quality out there, but the economy is not helping matters. The universities should also do more.
Bookshelf: Did you consciously set out to make humour a hallmark of your writings, especially the Saturday Column? Because I have read some very memorable pieces on the back pages of the Weekly Trust that made me laugh on end like the one you wrote on your experience of being ridden in official convoy blaring sirens, and the other very interesting one also being the one that you wrote on your son's French homework?
Bala Muhammad: Well, humour is the elixir of life. They say, you know, laughter is the best medicine. I have always loved humour. My students in the university loved the humorous pep I added to my lectures, making them lively and non-boring. I learnt that light-hearted banter does get your message across. When Media Trust Chairman Kabiru Yusuf invited me to take up the Saturday Column on Weekly Trust, he had joked about the serious matter of the seven padlocks on my door I had discussed in an earlier write-up. I generally want try to deliver heavy messages in a light-hearted way.
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