By Hashim Muhammad Suleiman, PhD
Negation of Western education among our people is not a new thing. Though, it has historical and cultural nuances, it still exists till date. The negation exists in different forms; some mild while some are crude and to the borderline of criminality. While growing up, there was a very popular dirge that was used to negate Western education. While going to school early in the morning as a child, it wasn’t uncommon to pass your peers, those not going to school, clapping and singing to your painful ears. The song is still etched into my memory. They sang: “ɗan makarantar bokoko, ba karatu ba sallah, sai yawan zagin malam.” Literarily meaning, “Oh yeah student of Western (sic) school, oh you who neither read nor pray (salat) but is always insulting Malam (his teachers).”
That may be then but the negation is now silhouetted in below radar nuances. Till date, going to market to buy things from people that know Kai ɗan boko ne, is an economic suicidal mission. They always sell things at higher price to you with the believe that “ai ɗan boko ne, ma’aikacin gwamnati, banza yake ce.” (He is literate and a civil servant, he’s getting unnecessary and undue money). Should you complain that the goods are expensive, they already have a prepared answer to you. They’ll rhetorically ask you; “har da kuma ma’aikatan gwamnati?” Including you civil servants? That’s the ones that even try to use civility to sugarcoat their negation of you and of Western education.
Then, there are the crude ones. The ones that openly show their hatred to you simply because you’re literate in western education. You’ll hear them crudely ascertaining that “karatun boko, karatun banza ne tunda ba a neman Aljanna da shi.” That, Western education is nonsense because it’ll not take you to paradise. Also, others believe by virtue of obtaining Western education, you’re Hell fire bound. Let me use only two anecdotes to buttress this. Some years back, while still in my UG days, my late elder brother helped his friend who was kicked out of a neighbour’s house for consistently failing to settle his over due rents. My late brother gave him a room and parlour to stay in our family house. Whenever I went home for weekends, that man had a habit of shouting to my ears: “duk inda kaga ɗan boko, to ɗan iska ne, macuci ne.” Anywhere you see someone literate in western education, he is wayward and will always cheat you. The man had many children, bright and cute. The wife always tried to send them to school but the man would outrightly stop them. The eldest of his children, a very bright young chap then, always wanted to go to school but the father refused. Instead, he forced the chap into selling earrings, rings and necklaces. Whenever I wanted to answer that man, my late brother would stop me. Until one day another of my elder brothers who was working in Ibadan, Umar Igabi Abdulmummini came for end of year visit. Shamelessly, I saw that hater of Western education begging him for money. I laughed and waited for Yaya Umar to take his leave before I took my revenge. I looked at that man until our eyes met before I told him to never use that money given to him. I told him that the money was a proceed of Haram since it was from the salary of a company worker who earned the money through boko which was Haram to the man.
Also, some few years back, I was in the mechanic garage for some few repairs when I met one huge Alhaji narrating to the mechanic and his peers never to marry nor allow their female children to go to the university. According to him, in their first year of university education, girls are taught how to catwalk and seduce men. That there’s no way you’ll get a virgin who’s acquiring western education. According to him, “ko a nan jami’ar Ahmadu Bello, irin lalata yammatan da ake yi sai Allah.” Of course, I didn’t let him go free. I gave it back to him in more than equal measures.
Now, what’s the crux of this article? It is about negation of Western education among some of our people. BBC Hausa has just reported about a man who’s mastered Advance Learner’s Dictionary. Go to the page and see negation. Go there and understand that we still live with extremes that are just waiting for right time to explode.
Indeed, healthy negation of alien culture is needed by indigenous societies to maintain their cultural nuances. However, is Western education still an alien culture to people that can’t live without Android, telecommunications, Facebook, Twitter, POS, banking ICTs, television and sheddah brocades imported from the West and China? Is Western education still an alien culture to people addicted to Honda, taliya, Toyota, JingChen, chinos and Kchibo radio sets?
Whatever is it, I observe and laugh at our selective amnesia.
