Yes All Women in My Community

If I have the power to change the Hausa community, the first thing I will command is for all women to break the stereotypical limitations on their path and be themselves. Yes, majority of girls in my community, at least from the ones I know, have the common problem of dancing to the tune of the society which is usually in conflict with what they actually deserve. It is nevertheless the same case with boys, but the stereotypes, being patriarchal, hardly affect boys in a negative way. To highlight just one of the issues, let me explain what I observed about the behavior of our girls in colleges and universities.

Our girls grow up with the belief that going to the university is some kind of retention before getting married so they spend more of their time there on courtship than on academics. An average Hausa girl would have more than two male friends (who are somewhere in between boyfriends and normal friends) while in her teens. In fact, they compete in having the highest number of male friends. A girl is considered unattractive and of lower class among her peers when she has none. That in itself is a big challenge to her academic performance. The setting is like this: our girls compete among themselves on possessing ostentatious items such as clothes, electronic gadgets, and cosmetics which are hardly attainable with the money from their parents alone. They, therefore, depend on such friends to buy these things for them. Fortunately for the girls, the society also raised boys with the idea that they are in charge of taking care of ladies they are in a relationship with. It doesn’t matter if the boys are being supported by their parents themselves (which is often the case) or not. They get a monthly grant from their parents, rest assured that boys in a relationship (s) will spend at least one-third of it on their female friends.

As one would expect, the boys who spend on ladies would expect something in return. The least and the most detrimental is keeping the boys company or speaking to them on the phone whenever they so wish. Some of my friends think I am missing the point when I argue that speaking with a girl on phone for the whole night or some part of the night while in school is irrational and purposeless. As we are in school, I would rather spend the time with her studying than denying myself sleep only to speak on mundane things.

Now, where am I heading to? Remember the majority of the girls (the campus hot chicks) have multiple male friends, which means allotting time for every guy who in most cases is from different faculties, meaning the meeting is never for studies. If male friend X calls asking for a date, she has to remember to give him time she hasn’t given friends W, Y, and Z. That happens all the time, all the week, all semesters. I forgot to mention that there are usually outside boyfriends or suitors (the sugar daddies) with whom she must also deal with. She ended up with little or no time for studies.

When you try to advise a girl to loosen up on friendships and concentrate more on academics, she tells you that she has to do it in order to find someone to marry after graduation (or even before, who cares?).  To her, marriage courtship is like contract bidding: you consider multiple tenders and then choose the best one at the end. It would have been better if the bidding system, in this case, is chosen to be a closed one so that the bidding time is kept to a minimum. That is regrettably not the case. It is public tendering: all parties are invited and the almighty client has time to screen them all. After all, girls’ parents have counseled them that it is not good to reject any person who declares his love to you.

What their parents failed to tell them is that being financially dependent on someone opens the road to exploitation. It is human nature to feel indebted to people we receive from sometimes without even being conscious about it. A friend of mine, Rango, narrated to me a drama he witnessed when he accompanied his friend to see a lady at their school dormitory. The friend wanted to take the girl out but she happened to have a test the following morning. She was begging him to allow her to attend a tutorial class that night because she hadn’t prepared sufficiently for the test but he didn’t want to listen. Rango had to intervene before the girl was allowed to attend the class. She thanked him for the intervention as she wouldn’t have had any choice but to go out with the guy.

Stories of that nature are very common in our community. Worst that could happen, which does happen, is for the girl in such a relationship to be lured into sex against her will or even be raped. These are kind of rape cases which are rarely reported. Although there are many other factors that contribute to raped women’s silence, I believe being less dependent would reduce the rapist’s chances and give the raped more courage to take necessary action.

Most men don’t want to marry self-reliant women because they are a threat to their patriarchal dominance. The best way to deal with such men is for all women to be educated and be self-reliant so that they can also exercise their full right on choosing partners and how to live with them. Forget about men’s ego, just build your self-esteem and let them know that you can do it on your own.

If male students in school can do part-time jobs or take loans to support themselves, then why not you? Trust me you have all it takes so don’t allow anyone to tell you otherwise. You just need to break the stereotypical chain around your ankles and wrists and be yourself. If anyone should take credit for your progress apart from yourself, let it be your parents. In that way, men would have no choice but to allow you be the person you want to be.

Written by Sadah

What looked like poverty, was really GREEN

A colleague on an online Coursera course on Energy and Environment posted this and I want to share it with you.

“Growing up in the inner city and honestly not having very much caused some mental distress. My family really didn’t have much and as a kid I focused quite a bit on what we didn’t have. Which, let’s be honest, is very easy to do when others around you clearly have more. Some of the things that I now see as awesome, at the time were just horrible!!!
They include:

Riding the bus because we didn’t have a car
Hanging clothes on a clothes line to dry
Walking to the neighborhood store
Walking to school
Walking EVERY WHERE
Picking pecans from the backyard to sale

I’m sure there are a few other things I could mention as well. One of the major problems? Those things (in the States) that denote success and wealth are amongst the very things holding us back from progressing as a society. They include the big house (often many miles from work and activities), large SUV, huge energy sucking appliances, etc.

What I didn’t see as a child was how wonderful it was for all the women in my neighborhood to get together on Saturday mornings at the vegetable truck and get their fresh produce as they traded other goods from their own gardens. In my community in those days, there were no expensive gym memberships because it was a part of our lives…EVERYDAY.

As much as we’ve progressed, I miss those days of old when I thought I had nothing, but in reality, I was living a wonderful life”

Reflection: My experience on a Nigerian highway

I was with Engr. Beki of the Federal Road Department for another road monitoring exercise along Kaduna-Abuja Road on a serene summer day.  She and her driver were in the front seats while I and her younger brother, Rango, needing a ride to Abuja were at the back seats. Every engineer in the department who has been assigned a road is expected to report on its condition biweekly (fortnightly) in case repairs are needed, an experience I had while working as an intern for six months under the supervision of Beki.

Most of the abnormalities observed during the outing involved traffic signs which were either uprooted or defaced with posters (of politicians). This has been the department’s challenge for a long time and begs the question why people don’t respect things which are public. I was told the poles are removed because they are made of aluminum which blacksmiths use to make utensils. I believe a stake would be sold by the miscreants at a price probably less than tenth of what it costs the department to install which resulted in the management resorting to using steel stakes despite its relatively higher cost. Ninety percent of the traffic signs are rendered useless by placed posters making the effort to safeguard the road almost futile and further putting peoples’ lives at risk. I wish the government would start prosecuting the politicians whose posters are found on such places then they would surely find a way of calling their supporters to order.

Halfway into our journey to Abuja and having not observed prominent potholes, I commended Beki on the good work she has been doing and also told her that the road is amongst the safest in the zone despite its high traffic volume but she surprisingly had a different view.

“What do you mean by becoming the safest? Being free from potholes? I think you know little about what is going-on on this road. People were complaining that accidents rate was high because of poor road condition but now that we have restored it to good condition, the rate of accidents has paradoxically only proliferated,” she said, with sheer disappointment in her face.

“Because they have got a smoother road surface now, drivers turn the road into a racetrack,” she added.

Right she was because I could remember witnessing some accidents a few months ago while I was still an intern working on the road. The accidents were mainly due to reckless speeding and we often happen to be the first people at the accident scenes to offer first aid to survivors if any, pending the arrival of road safety personnel or police. In most cases, the survivors tell us that they were travelling at a ridiculously high speed before the accident.

Not long after we finished talking about the accident rates, we encountered a fatal one and the driver died before we arrived at the scene. There were a few people who had stopped before us trying to offer help in one way or the other. The victims were two, the dead driver and another person who was still unconscious and all efforts to revive him being carried out. Our driver recognized the car as the rear part was not severely damaged. The front, which hit a massive tree off the road, was smashed beyond recognition.  He said the car overtook ours us about 15 minutes back at an extreme speed. Another speed racer!

We were told police were on their way to the scene. Engineer Beki saw the ID of the driver with someone and she was surprised to find out the driver was a civil engineer working with a private company. Although she was apparently touched by the accident, she was infuriated by the fact that an engineer who knows very well the reasons for setting speed limits would drive recklessly.

“If someone who sets the rules don’t abide by them, then what do we expect of the common people?” She lamented.

We went back to our car almost immediately as there was nothing much we could do and drove off.

I figured Rango didn’t understand the linkage between a civil engineer and traffic rules as he thought they are only responsible for designing buildings. In addition, he did not know the reasons behind fixing speed limits and asked me to expatiate.

“Those who design buildings, and by design here I mean structural specifications, are called structural engineers. There are also civil engineers who are trained to design roads and traffic and they are called highway and traffic engineers. In Nigerian universities however, civil engineers are trained to do all these tasks at undergraduate level. Basically, you would expect every civil engineer to know the significance of traffic rules.

“There are various factors which govern the choice of speed limit. Engineers consider things like the location of a road section, the road, vehicle, driver, and weather conditions for example to determine the safe speed at which a car would remain under driver’s control under any emergency. If they say drivers should not exceed a speed of 100 kilometers per hour along a particular section, it means that from the time a driver would spot a potential obstacle on the road, he could be able to bring the car to stand-still without hitting the object provided he’s not exceeded that speed. It may also be because of the shape of the road at that section. A car may spin out of control at a bend if it exceeds the design speed.” I explained, with that feeling of authority speaking about my profession.

It is really sad that our law enforcement agents are not able to strictly impose traffic rules on our roads. The irony of it is that people feel harassed when forced to obey rules while abiding by them is for their own safety. When it comes to obeying rules, I devised my own maxim, “go by the book and the world will be your oyster.”

Written by Sadah

MY PROFESSION AND HUMANITY: TOWARD A BETTER KATSINA YOUTH

Introduction

Before I go into the discussion, let me first and foremost make clarification upon which profession we are talking about here, for, profession is all encompassing, regardless of which institution the professional in question attends. It is in mind as we all know that profession is not limited to the academic courses we studied in our various institutions of learning, but also include other crafts as nail cutting, tailoring, blacksmithing, driving, car washing and water vending, among others. These are all professions, and those who engage in them are as well professionals in their own capacity as, say, Nail Cutters. But since our audience constitutes of students and the paper is targeted at them, it would be important to limit ourselves to the academic professions we are trained upon from our various schools. This will make the best of sense because even if we go outside the scope to include the Nail Cutters it will not benefit them per se, for not only the fact that the audience are students but also the context is designed to enlighten students primarily on the need to put our actions together toward having a better Katsina society, and if the Nail Cutters are themselves however students, we can frame another topic for another day to include them, but for this now, we shall focus on the academic professions only. May Allah help us.

There is no profession that has no direct bearing with human life, each is a must for a humanity to fine-tune its direction toward having a better society, and absence of one can however causes the humanity to lose its sense of direction with perhaps inevitable colossal amount of consequences. One profession reinforces another, therefore none can stand on its own to bring the meaningful development it was designed for. If this is true, can we then, at this juncture say, we need all the professions for us to achieve the overall development we so desire? If the answer to this one million naira question is positive, as we shall see in the end of this discussion, then when we say profession in this paper, we are not only referring to a single profession like Microbiology or Pharmacy but all the academic professions you ever known.

All professions are from one source

Before the 19th century industrial revolution in Europe, knowledge used to be monolithic, and the scholars who championed the cause were described as being Philosophers who are usually versatile in all fields of human endeavors. This is why you find their names mentioned in all the academic disciplines we study today- being it medicine, Agriculture, Political Science, Sociology, and likes. That is also why there is unending argument among scholars as to whether some courses in Art, like History, should rather belong to science. The root to such argument is simple- the founders of such courses are renaissance scholars whose knowledge cut across all fields of study. During this period, there was no single academic discipline as Economics, Pharmacy, Medicine, Political Science or Sociology as it is the case today, but the ability of the philosophers to equally comment on all fields of knowledge, creates the impression that all knowledge is from one source, and that source was no other than a “Historical Pot”. As nature has it, the pot’s life span terminates, as Industrial Revolution occurred, and issues demanding wider research begin to emerge. This development led to the emergence of many academic disciplines in both natural and social sciences as stated earlier.

So from the above analysis, do we therefore agree that it was only a circumstance that separated the different courses, and had there been no such circumstance, we would have to be faced, in this generation, with only one option; to either accept the fact that we will read vastly to become all-inclusive-professionals or abandon it all and live a life of darkness thereby becoming just a burden to the society without even a nail cutting skill to contribute to the development of the humanity? If we all agree this is true, can we also safely say that human intellect is declining especially in Africa, and in Africa, Nigeria, and in Nigeria, Northern part of it, and in the Northern part, Katsina, and in Katsina, among the Youth? If yes, then why?

Harmonizing all professions towards a better humanity

All disciplines aim to achieve one common objective at the end of the day- to make world a better place for humanity- but how that common objective can collectively be achieved depends largely on how appropriate we put all the disciplines into use- if, for example, the need to remake Katsina to be the Dubai of West Africa that it was centuries ago arises, the first thing to do is to task those in art like History to go as far back as to reviewing the ancient History of Katsina from  the beginning to the time it started manifesting signs of declining, up to its present state, to uncover the causes of its greatness and the challenges that led to its present predicament, and to also bring to surface the picture of what the future potential is if nothing has or has not been done. From there, those in Social Sciences pick, and recommend the way forward and from the concluded work of the social scientists, those in management like public administrators make positive policies towards a better world.

Along this vein, if medical personals gather together and identify Candidiasis to be the major medical problem with women and call on government to act quickly or there will be serious trouble with Katsina women, government will respond in time. Sociologists can add voice to the call by relating to government the social consequences of the disease. Meanwhile, we cannot expect doctors, after having discovering cure for HIV, to however go further as to address the menace of stigma against the victims. In this instance, Historians, sociologists and other related professionals should be engaged to enlighten the public against the danger of stigmatization- being more dangerous, in this case, than the disease itself to the life of the victims. More so, would a judge not depend on ‘Paternity Test’ result, to rule over a controversial case where a father denies his biological child? Come to think of it if urban and regional planners are to plan a new Katsina town without incorporating the social urban ideas of urban Historians/Geographers, whose ideas will cover the social aspect of the urbanization? Would there not be social consequences, as we have been seeing now, in the long run, if the city has finally been built and human live in it without social aspect of urbanization being taken care of?

Conclusion

Since it was a ‘MONOLITHIC KNOWLEDGE’ that set the renaissance generation on course, and perhaps was what kindle the subsequent generation’s way to greatness, it is left to us this generation to either make a wise choice by putting together all our today’s fragmented courses of study into a rather ‘MONOLITHIC ACTION’ that will not only liberate us from the life of darkness we youth seem to be living, but as well enable us to make Katsina a better place for all as it had been centuries ago, or because of lack of awareness continue to consider our various professions as just a means of acquiring a ‘White Color Job’ and leave the society on its own to keep on dying, a slow death. Until we put all our professions into proper perspective such as to be so practical to guarantee a better humanity, we will however continue to live a life of darkness and thereby contribute nothing to the overall development of humanity.

Written by Abdullahi Rabi’u

A paper delivered at an annual congress of Katsina Education Charity Club on Eidul Fitr day, 8th August, 2013

Katsina: Time for Pragmatism On Poverty Issues

I was stunned watching the BBC’s Hardtalk interview programme in which Governor Ibrahim Shema denied the alarming poverty rate in Katsina state. It is not surprising, though, for Nigerian politicians to deny statistical evidence that portray unfavourable picture of their constituencies, but I did not expect that attitude from Shema whom I have always respected for his pro-civic policies. Huge amounts of resources are being spent on human development in Katsina; however, no significant change has been achieved because the resources are not being utilised prudently.

The methods used by the survey agency to come up with the recent poverty figures that placed Sokoto and Katsina at the top with poverty rates of about 80 and 75 percents respectively might not be completely unbiased, but even if it were mere speculation, these high figures call for alarm for the policy makers of these states. Let the governors carry out their own survey if they truly care for the people they govern. I may well be right if I assumed that the politicians are comfortable with the situation because it is what keeps them in power. The masses would continue to be docile like sheep during elections, as long as illiteracy and poverty remain rife.

A 75 percent poverty rate simply means that among every four persons in Katsina, three are poor. Based on the criteria used, those three out of four people live below 1 US dollar (160NGN) a day. Anyone who visits our villages would affirm the veracity of those figures. I believe it may even be more than that in Katsina state. One of the major reasons for the dilemma is the incessant high population growth rate in our northern states, which our leaders are reluctant to tackle. If the people cannot be stopped from irrational procreation, then stop encouraging them to marry more wives than they can comfortably take care of.

Governor Ibrahim Shema has done well in transforming the mindset of Katsina people, which somehow and unfortunately, seems to have made his government unpopular. Sticking to his pro-civic policies under tough situations of sheer intolerance of criticism, to me, is indeed courageous. He believes in the philosophy of teaching people how to fish instead of giving them the fish every time. It is unfortunate that the poor people he wants liberated prefer being given the fish every day. But is his strategy working?

The empowerment programmes being implemented in the state are not far from the fish-giving. This is what usually happens: People hang on to an empowerment program because they know there would be incentives in form of business capital in the end. They don’t care if they understand the agricultural or vocational skills they are taught. They collect the lump sum meant for starting a business only to use it as a dowry for a second or third wife they long cherished at a time when their current families are in great deal of destitution. The same thing happens when school teachers are given agricultural loans or when female students in colleges of education receive cash under UN Girls’ Education Project scholarship. My sister once told me that most of the girls doing the NCE programme were in school because their parents had no resources to marry them off. When they received the scholarship money, then that would mark the end of their studies – back home for marriage. Counterproductive, isn’t it?

What is the way forward then? I would suggest that the government and other stakeholders focus on creating job opportunities through building of industries like the Katsina Paint Company established earlier. Irrigation and livestock farming is another relevant area, since we have the enabling environment. The affluent people from the state should be encouraged to invest in these sectors.

It is time we stood up and faced reality. Our religious and traditional leaders must be pragmatic. We cannot continue with a method that has continuously been taking us backward. We must stop treating marriage and childbearing with untoward sacredness it does not deserve. Social and economic prosperity should be our major concern, and we have to work together to achieve that.

Written by Sadah.

 

Article first published in Dailytrust newspaper of 27 June 2013.

Also online on Blueprint

http://blueprintng.com/new/2013/07/01/shema-should-restrategise-against-poverty/

Certificates and Success: Our narrow perception

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”- Jim Rohn

Formal education undoubtedly plays a great role in grooming students towards a successful future career but the present school system where everything is based on competition to achieve high grades is often counterproductive. The definition of our schools is very clear; race for the top positions otherwise your toil is rendered futile. The stigma is even worse if you failed to make it to the university. “Socially, people who don’t go to college are often regarded as weirdos.” Said John Carney in his Business Insider Article on successful drop outs.

When I talk about school degree not being the only way to success, I am not devaluating it. There are indeed people whose expertise could only be learned at the university. The problem is when everyone ignores other possibilities and narrows down his success route to school alone. That is the world we are living in now, with graduates staying idle for ages waiting for employment because they have a degree certificate. The point here is to induce a shift from that dogma; to let people understand that they can achieve success provided they have the ability. “The only way to overcome the college bias will be the widespread perception that many of our society’s most successful people do not have a college degree and don’t care about those who do”, asserted John Carney, who was referring to America’s numerous millionaires.

“From birth, we were taught that life is a race; run fast or you will be trampled.” Farhan Qureshi, one of the protagonists in the Bollywood movie, “3 Idiots”, said. According to him, the race started since one was conceived in his mother’s womb during which the spermatozoon destined to be him had to contest in a race with millions of other sperm cells. To make things more spirited, one’s parents had long decided what their son or daughter would be in the future. This, in many occasions becomes the child’s predisposed kismet.

Sometimes we see things not working in our own way but we still hold on. The drive is seldom our own heart which would naturally inspire us to try something different: Something our body is capable of. But we will keep reminding ourselves the expectation people have on us and we are ready to go to any length in order not to disappoint them. What we do forget is, when we indeed fail, no one would often be there to help us get up again.

Some writers and singers can be very hypocritical that taking everything they say seriously without comparing it with their real life is often detrimental. They could preach something while in reality they quite live its opposite. Keke Palmer for example said in one of her songs that, “There is nothing you cannot do when you believe in yourself.” Because of her success one may blindly assume that this young successful singer chose her career out of the blue and because she believed in herself, she was able to shine. Looking under the hood, one will discover that Palmer was born in a vaudevillian family and has pronounced her preference of English language to Mathematics during early school time. It is clear then what her career would probably be.

Similarly, Daniel Coyle’s approbation of deep practice in his book, “The Talent Code” is to a very great extent misleading. He advocates sole dependency of achieving talent on deep practice. He dismissed the contribution of natural talent and environment to becoming an expert and tried to convince the reader that success is around the corner in as much as he keeps trying. Here again I will ask, did Coyle choose writing profession out of the blue and became expert in it through deep practice? Though I was not able to find out what motivated him into journalism, but his life has been in the profession since after college.

It is important to mention few among these people who didn’t wait for a certificate to build their own careers but rather broke away along the way to try out what they believed they were good at. Nevertheless their success didn’t come without strings attached. They had something to start with and that is the bottom line. William Bill Gates and his childhood friend, Paul Allen are one such big example. They saw an opportunity to garner reputation for themselves when Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Company issued a demonstration of their new computer. At that time, Gates was in his sophomore year at Harvard University while Paul had already dropped out from Washington State University. Gates initially deferred his studies but he was never to return to Harvard again. Together they started their company, Microsoft, same year they made that breakthrough with MITS. The secret here is that, this duo discovered what they were good at while in school and decided to give it a try out of the educational system.

Another inspiring success story of a university dropout is that of Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle Corporation, the world’s second-largest software company. He is a two-time drop out from university of Illinois and the University of Chicago but never made it to graduation. Together with two other partners, Ellison initiated a company called Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with a capital of only $2,000. It was the company that was later renamed to Oracle.

As I have mentioned earlier, dropping out from school is not an option per se. It is worthy of consideration when someone has discovered in himself a talent that could land him to a great career path. Robert Zimmer asserted that, it has become commonplace to see young people who, drawing inspiration from billionaire entrepreneurs, consider dropping out of college as a fast track to business success. According to him, in order to be in the league, one should have similar exceptional skills already developed even before going to college. Such skills include: The ability to educate oneself, get a bank loan, and manage one’s time and money efficiently. Family and acquaintances may play a big role in supporting people with such desires.

Going back to the message conveyed in 3 Idiots, it was clear that Farhan had no iota of passion in engineering but he was left with no option aside pursuing the choice made by his parents. He was such a passionate and talented photographer who was even planning to contact an expert in the profession in order to chase that career but had to keep it to himself, for, his parents’ decision was final. He underwent the school for four good years with nothing to write home about. It was his close friend who rescued him after discovering a letter he wrote meant to be posted to his admired photographer. His friend secretly posted the letter for him and convinced him to open up his mind to his parent. That is how he was able to leave engineering to live the life he had long cherished.

I will finally like to remind ourselves what Maya Angelou once said “success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” Grades we achieved in school are just some approximate way of measuring educational performance whose best place is merely some perishable papers. Instead of waiting for employers who offer jobs based on grades, why not use our ingenuity to create the opportunities ourselves. We shall not forget that the major architect of our success is us. The writing would only be on the wall for us when we cease to recognize our abilities.

Written by Sadah

The Mystical Phone Call

Rango and I didn’t get complete Raka’ats of Magrib prayer. While we were making up, somebody was addressing the people inside the mosque. I didn’t hear any word except the commotion that followed. When we finished, people were coming out, many of them in bewilderment.

“Yes, immediately you receive the call, that would be the end of your life.” Somebody was saying.

The person by my side, when I asked him what was the matter, summarized it all.

“The speaker was warning brothers about a recent development in the country. No one should answer call from the number 09141. It is believed to be a secret cult group in action. They will call you with that number, immediately you answer, that will be the end of you! About 10 people have so far died in Jigawa state.”

I lost words to say and my heart skipped a bit.

As we were going out, Rango showed me a message he received earlier from a friend. The message was warning him not to accept any call from the number 09141. I was imagining how could a person be killed through phone. Witchcraft? Cultism? Coincidence? I inclined to the last but then I remembered the 10 people reported dead!

“This is nothing more than a hearsay. Has anyone seen someone who died from the phone call in reality? The news is only heard in text messages, why should I believe it?” I heard someone saying.

He had just answered my question.

“Rango, only God kills, so don’t believe in any of that” I told him.

His phone was still with me when he asked me to direct him to restroom to ease himself. Before he came back, I edited my contact in his phone and changed the name with 09141! That was how it started.

We trekked together to the school’s main-gate, refuting the rumor on our way. In my mind, I was telling myself that I will verify whether this guy believes in the crap or not.

After about an hour, I knew my friend must have been through with his Iftar (he fasted). I made the first call.

Booooom.. booooom……booooom… booooom……………….. the phone was ringing. I was delighted that he was afraid to answer then suddenly it connected. I pushed the phone to my ear and listened. 2 seconds, and it went off. “That is one” I murmured.

I called for the second time, no answer. I laughed and dropped the phone. I knew he will call me. Almost immediately he did through my globacom line. I forced myself not to laugh on the phone.

“It called me Sada….” He started, terribly confused.

“What…. what called you?” I cut him, trying to sound indifferent.

“That number!. I swear it called me and I mistakenly picked up at the first time. You see, I was leaving Daula restaurant when they called. The phone was in my pocket so I couldn’t pick up on time. When I brought it out, afraid that it might cut, I accepted the call, then I saw the number almost immediately. I terminated the call instantly. They called again, but I refused to pick up.” He narrated.

“Subhanallah, I pray this thing is not serious.”

“Yes it is! You know the bizarre thing that happened? There was a thunderous spark of high tension electric wires just ahead of me and everybody  was scared. It coincided with the time I was answering the call. If I hadn’t stopped to answer it, the spark would have been on my head.” He continued.

Deep from inside, I was appreciating the turning up of things. I manage to pacify him mockingly, “Rango nothing will happen in God’s name. No one can do you what God has not wished. I don’t believe it so you shouldn’t either. It is just bullshit.”

“Yes Allah is above them! It is all lie.” He managed to pretend.

I was feeling the guiltiness of what I was doing, but I just couldn’t end the action. I have to give my friend a farewell memoir (we were few weeks to graduation at the time).

I called him with the number about six more times but he refused answer. I knew I had him were I wanted.

When I went out to perform ablution for Isha’ prayer, I called him again with my globacom. This time I told him that the number had just called me too but I refused to answer. I told him the drama is becoming interesting. He agreed but negatively. I told him also that I will switch off my phone and advised him to do the same.

He agreed . Being him alone in the house was what scared him the most. He said he wont sleep at home that night. The number was still calling him at that moment according to him..

It should have stopped there. But after praying, I thought of the heart-breaker! I decided to take it to the highest level. I composed the following message and sent to him..

“Brother, the owner of this line called you last. We just found him unconscious outside room58 Akinzuwa hostel. We are taking him to the Sick-Bay, if you know any of his friends in ABU Zaria please notify them”

Yes this brought it to the climax.

After about 30 minutes a friend called me. He sounded petrified and he was surprised to hear my voice clearly.

“Where are you? And what is happening?”

I couldn’t hold the laughter. I knew he must had been told by Rango that I was in the hospital. I told him it was all prank.

He was very annoyed.

“Sada, this is beyond prank. It is not in anyway a joke. I was watching a champion’s league match when Rango called me that you are seriously sick. Do you know how many people I called. I even called Ummah (his mom) to tell her what was happening and she was also horrified. I wont forgive you for this.” He didn’t wait for my reply and he ended the call.

To my ignorance, he, Rango and two other people were at the sickbay at the time.

I later apologized for my expensive prank. It took long before Rango and the other friends forgave me.

Written by Sada Haruna.

A Gift from Heaven

Girrr…girrr…girr…

I watched my cell phone ring for the second time before I answered my neighbor’s call.

“This is a call from Heaven!” Bero uttered with a twisted hoarse voice. I knew he was in the mood for his usual tease.

“My friend, do you even have idea how Heaven looks like?”  I retorted cynically.

“You have been chosen to be a bearer of the bounties in the Heaven,” he continued in the twisted voice.

I wasn’t in the mood for any humor so I giggled and told him to cut the crap. Perhaps I was busy on my computer when he called and itching to return to my work.

He switched to his natural voice. The actual reason for the call was to ask me whether I had enough credit in my phone so that I could transfer 1000Ksh airtime to him. He needed the credit badly but couldn’t go out to buy recharge card because it was raining heavily. I told him there was, so he came over to my room.

He came holding a SIM certificate for he didn’t know his phone number by heart. After calling the number to me, I requested for the transfer.I recited back the number before confirming the transfer so as not to make mistake. He went back to his room to wait for the airtime delivery.

He came back to my room after about 10 minutes to tell me that he hadn’t received the credit yet. I showed him the confirmation message on my phone. In fact I was surprised why the airtime hadn’t been delivered.

“Are you sure the number you gave me is your line?” I asked him

“My friend, I have only one SIM card, so this must be the certificate.” He assured me.

We agreed there had to be some technical problem from Safaricom network. He had to be patient and wait for the delivery. I sent another 50Ksh to see if it would deliver but to no avail. He went back to his room and promised to notify me immediately the airtime enters his mobile account.

I called Bero after almost an hour to ask if he had received the airtime. I had just transferred 200 airtime to someone else which delivered instantly. I was certain then that the network was fine. Bero’s hadn’t still delivered!

“The number you gave me is not that of the SIM in your cellphone.” I was positive there was something wrong.

And indeed there was.

He discovered another SIM certificate after perusing his study-desk. It didn’t take him long to remember that his friend, Rango, came to his room with a SIM certificate few days back. He told me that on phone. Both transfers were to Rango’s phone number. He resolved to contact him so that he could transfer back the airtime.

***

Rango’s phone was switched off. Bero decided to leave him until the next morning but then he saw him online on Facebook. Voila! They chatted as follows.

Bero: Hi Dude.

Rango:  O my friend how are you. I am really enjoying myself

Bero:  What kind of enjoyment? Don’t tell me you are at a hotel shacking up with some innocent dame.

Rango: O no that’s my problem with you. Your mind is always on that thing. God Has sent one thousand and fifty KSH airtime to me from Heaven this night.

Bero: O hell! That’s my airtime my friend. I asked Sada to transfer airtime to my phone but he mistakenly sent it to your number.

Rango: Don’t joke with me dude. I was browsing then my data got finished. No sooner have I decided to sleep than I received  the message. 1000ksh! What do you expect me to do? I bought data bundle right away. Another 50KSH came in again. God has seen my despair.

Bero: Are you telling me you have spent all the money?

Rango: Absolutely. I am enjoying man. I switched off my phone so that no one would call me to tell me it was a mistake. God is really great! And you want to tell me otherwise!

When Bero narrated that to me I laughed until my stomach started aching. For me it all fits in.

“It is absolutely a gift from Heaven. Do you remember where you claimed to be calling from when you first called me this night?” I asked rhetorically.

Rango was right.

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