Nigeria: I can’t see light at the end of the tunnel – Prof Umar

Prof. Ibrahim Khalil Umar, who is in his mid 80s, is a former vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK). He was the first Nigerian to teach Physics in that university, where he rose to become a professor and the third vice chancellor between 1979 and 1986. He was also the sole administrator of the University of Technology, Minna. Outside the university system, he has been associated with energy policy in Nigeria and internationally. He served as the director-general of the Energy Commission of Nigeria and represented the country at the International Atomic Agency. He was also the chairman of that body. In this interview, the chairman of the Kano Elders Forum gave us an insight into his life and his involvement in education, the energy sector and the community, as well as other interesting and important issues.

You rose through the academic ladder to become a professor of Physics, how would you describe your early education? 

In those days, we had what was called elementary school as the starting point; and from there you would go to a middle school. I started at Bichi Elementary School and moved to Kano Middle School. From there I went to Barewa College, then the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology. There were three of such colleges in Nigeria at that time: one in Zaria, one in Ife and one in Nsukka.

These were the ones that later became universities. The one in Zaria became the Ahmadu Bello University, where I stayed and did my degree. 

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• Nigeria: I can’t see light at the end of the tunnel – Prof Umar

What informed your interest in Mathematics and Physics, which many young people think are very difficult subjects?  

It is true that many students see Mathematics and Physics as difficult subjects, but I suppose it depends on individuals.  I can say that with the kind of teachers we had at Barewa College, it was possible to excel in whatever field. I found those subjects very interesting and did very well, so I decided to continue in that field. 

You studied abroad – did your master’s in the United States, PhD in the United Kingdom, then started teaching in Bayero as one of the early Nigerian lecturers. At that time, of course the teaching members of staff were largely expatriates. How difficult was it for you to fit into that kind of structure? 

It wasn’t difficult to fit in, but it is true that majority of the teaching staff then were expatriates. I was quite at home with other colleagues, mainly from Britain and India. We had a number of lecturers from India and the UK, and some of them were in Nigeria for many years and felt at home with us. 

You quickly became a professor, then vice chancellor. A lot of time, some academics find administration a bit strange or difficult; how did you become a vice chancellor early in your academic career? 

I became a vice chancellor early due to some circumstances at that time. When there were some revolutionary changes in the university system by the then military head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, he tried to play with the position of vice chancellor in the universities, trying to push people from one place to another. That action indirectly created a vacancy in Bayero University as there were only few northerners in that position. 

Were you already a professor at that time? 

No. In fact, I became a professor after I became vice chancellor.  The Council had to pick one person to fill that position. That was how I became a vice chancellor at that stage. Of course I had served as a deputy vice chancellor up to that time.

As a young academic, was it difficult for you to find yourself as the overall leader of the university?

It was difficult in a sense, but mainly because we were short of indigenous staff.  My concern was to have indigenous teaching staff because there were only few qualified Nigerians; majority of the staff were expatriates. 

I had to think of what to do to save the situation. We placed a lot of emphasis on training; hence we quickly trained a number of young graduates. Some of them went to the UK and the US to qualify, get their PhDs and come back.  That was the most difficult part of it. 

But dealing with other administrative problems was not all that difficult because already, we were dealing with mature and experienced lecturers.  

What about pressures from the town? There’s always this distinction between gown and town? As the first Kano indigene in that position, was there pressure from the town on you? 

In few cases, there were, but it was not difficult to deal with them because at that time, even the town considered the university as a separate place of sorts; and people there were independent. So it was easy to deal with the pressure from there. It was saying no to some people who came with requests that was not acceptable. 

But was it easy for you to say no, being an indigene of the locality? 

In many cases, it was easy to say no. I didn’t bother, but there were few cases concerning the kind of people who made the requests. But although I had to say no, I had to say it in a way to avoid nasty situations. But we had to say no. 

In your experience as an administrator of a major institution, is saying no to requests a challenge for many administrators in Nigeria. Is it a problem that has led us to some of the situations we are in? 

That’s true. No doubt, there are many situations in which saying no was necessary but difficult. And I know there were situations with some people we couldn’t say no, and the end result was certainly not nice for the community. 

In your mid 40s you were already a vice chancellor; what did you do after your tenure? 

After my tenure as vice chancellor, I returned to my teaching position. But not long after that, I was asked to establish the Energy Commission of Nigeria.

Was it in Lagos?

It was in Lagos. It was much later that we moved to Abuja. Establishing the commission required some time before I eventually returned to my teaching position in Bayero University. 

What was the purpose of the commission? We don’t hear much about it?

The commission was set up to guide the government on how to run the energy sector in such a way that the country would develop its energy resources to serve the needs of the people. 

It was the energy commission that introduced the policy for the country to determine what to do, which direction to go etc. A lot of research in the energy sector was expected to be carried out. As a result of that, there were a number of energy research centres set up in the country in the universities particularly.

For example, at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, we have a nuclear energy research centre. And at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we have the solar energy, renewable energy research centre. There’s also a similar one at the Sam Mbakwe University. The nuclear research centre was also duplicated at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Later on, Zaria got an atomic research reactor to carry out the useful application of nuclear energy in the health sector, etc. 

So you are the first energy policy chief in Nigeria in a sense. Curiously, we have all these centres, professors and grand plans but no energy. The reality is that energy has eluded the country. What is your take?

The commission was not set up to provide energy for communities.

Was it only for policy and framework?

The research had to make sure that things were done properly. The commission had no control over the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), so we couldn’t tell them what to do.  

But it had the policy of what to do, what to aim to achieve, and to make sure that such energy is available in Nigeria, but it was up to bodies like the NEPA, which sort of produced the energy and transmitted to communities.

From your vantage point as an energy policy initiator and professor that understands the sector, where did we go wrong, such that we are still struggling with the basic energy that would run the economy?

It is like the situation in other sectors of the society. On paper we can say you can do this and that, but when it comes to actually carrying out the programme, we have difficulties. It is not only in the energy sector, this is something that unfortunately pervades our society as a whole.

It is a pity; and that is why we are referred to as a developing country.

Do you see any chance of Nigeria also developing the capacity of using atomic energy?

First of all, it is our policy to use nuclear energy for social development. What people usually get upset about is the fact that nuclear energy is something destructive, but it has many useful uses. Already, we have a lot of that going on in the country. For example, what people don’t know is that a simple x-ray they go for in hospital is a useful and peaceful application of nuclear energy. So you have it in the health sector. 

One of the things we helped the Energy Commission to develop is a place where you can deal with cancer patients. Nuclear energy is used to detect and treat cancer. 

Other areas that were developed using nuclear energy, which people don’t know, are agriculture, water resources, medicine. There are many applications of nuclear energy.

Have you really exploited the potentials of atomic energy in Nigeria?

Well, we are making some progress. Certainly, we can achieve much more; it depends on our determination. Sometimes the problem is financial provision for this sector, especially for our research centres. Sometimes people expect to get things cheap.

I remember talking to one of the people in the Ministry of Animal Resources about the problem of tsetse fly because it was found out that in a certain part of the country (it must have been in Nasarawa State, Lafia area), there was a system in which you could eliminate the population of the fly. The application was done much earlier and it was proved to be successful.

But you need to spend a little money to cover a large area and stop invasion from outside. We couldn’t carry on because there was no more fund.

The federal government could not give the money?

The budgeting system was such that the money available for this sector was very small. I was talking to one of the workers about why they couldn’t secure enough resources to make sure we continued this project and he complained that it was too expensive. 

They would continue the system of spraying chemical everywhere, but that one will never solve the problem permanently. If you provide the fund required you would eliminate the problem. And that is what we need. But some people don’t understand, and they probably feel that spending much money is wasteful, but the thing is that it would have solved the problem permanently if we did it.

As a very senior professor, what do you think is the problem with education? Why do we have so many out-of-school children, especially here in the North? There are so many kids roaming the streets? Why have we not been able to solve the problem of education?

The education sector has vast problems. If we take the question of population growth, that is a very serious situation. We don’t have the resources to provide enough schools to cater for every child because our economic situation is such that most people can’t afford to pay sufficient tax for the government to build the number of schools required and provide lessons for every child. 

For the needs of schoolchildren, you talk of textbooks, study materials, teaching materials and all that, and you cannot expect the current net revenue status of the government to provide for every child. Where they are able to do this kind of thing is where there is some control on the population growth. 

If the economy develops at the same rate as the population, we could think of providing school lessons for every child, but it is not so. It is unfortunate.

Majority of our people cannot provide sufficient resources to enable the government build all the schools we need for all the children we produce. It is either the economy has to grow enough to provide resources or we have to control the population of children. 

You had a brush with politics between 1978 and 1979 as a member of the constitution drafting committee, which gave birth to the Second Republic. Have you had any more engagement politically? 

No, not directly. After the constitution assembly I went back to my university position.  However, at one stage there was a group of people who tried to draft me to contest election, not because I showed interest but they decided.

Was it in Kano or nationally?

It was for the governorship of Kano State, but it didn’t work.

Why; did you refuse to be drafted?

I didn’t refuse. I do not play the role our politicians play to get the ordinary people take you seriously, so it didn’t work.

Was it the problem of money? 

That was part of it because you would need money to provide for this and that. But I think the main issue was with those who considered themselves as kingmakers – whether I would be available for them – because it was obvious that I was not going to sort of obey their instructions and do what they thought needed to be done.

Do you think the problem in the politics of the country is the recruitment process, where the best people are not available or cannot contest?

Certainly, that is part of the problem. There were a number of times where people would say, look, unless people like you join politics we cannot solve the problem we are facing, we cannot clean the system, and all that. The Nigerian problem is that the system is so corrupt that you cannot change it overnight. You need to sort of get the entire population to accept that there is the need for this change and they are willing to sacrifice to make sure that the changes are done.

Unfortunately, many of the ordinary voters don’t know the value of their votes.  There are people who can easily sell their votes for a little amount of money and those who can even go to fight for a candidate because of what somebody will give them, which leads to what is killing the system.

So, unless majority of our population are enlightened enough to know the value of their votes or to decide that they would sacrifice to make sure they have the right kind of people elected, it will take a long time before we see the required changes.

It sounds you have given up on any chance of improvement of the current situation, is that true?

Certainly and unfortunately, I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. When you deal with people you understand that we are not appreciating the problem. And that is due to lack of sufficient education on the part of the people; otherwise it is difficult to see how our people behave in such a stupid way concerning what is good for their welfare. It is most unfortunate

As the chairman of the Kano Elders Forum, what role are you able to play to help improve the situation in Kano?

It is not easy to deal with that problem; it depends on how politicians and the government consider and value the advice of the elders. 

We had a committee that tried to resolve the problem. We had a meeting with Ganduje and Kwankwaso a number of times. We had suggestions about agreement and possible peaceful coexistence, but in the end it didn’t work because they were not prepared to accept our pleadings and take our advice. 

Why are you not really involved, either at the state or national level? Are you consulted about the problems of the country?

Unfortunately, no.

What do you do in retirement?

I am involved in a number of non-governmental organisations. Sometimes I tell myself that maybe I take too much on myself. A number of groups do sometimes come to us for participation, but I will tell you that my main time is for activities of religious organisations. I have full schedule everyday with these organisations. I feel I am as busy as when I was a fulltime employee, as far as religious time is concerned.

Are you involved in preaching?

I don’t preach, but we organise the preaching and the system where people are selected to listen to the preacher.

Do you have hobbies or something you do for relaxation, such as farming?

I don’t do farming. Initially, when I was preparing to retire, I thought I would go into that, but I was told that to be able to do a little bit of farming you need to make yourself available every time. And the system where people depend on others to look after their farms doesn’t work well with me because you would probably be cheated a lot and you would not gain anything. So knowing that I would not make myself available every time on the farm, I forgot about that.

So, things like religious activities and organisations that deal with such issues are probably what take most of my time.

Do you have any habit that would help improve your health, such as exercises or things like that?

I exercise every day if the doctor tells me to do that. If he tells me to walk for so many hours and rest, I do that.

Within the house?

No, I go outside, but not too far. When I was in Lagos, what I used to do was go to the national stadium and jog, but here, what I do is walk around the area considering the hours the doctor said I should do it.

What about your food? Are there restrictions you observe?

That also is on the advice of doctors. I had to cut down on carbohydrates and sugar and eat a lot of protein. I am advised not to take too much meat, so I go for vegetables etc.

Do you have friends you socialise with outside your religious activities?

It is difficult to talk of friends outside religious activities because all my friends are of the same religion with me. I don’t have friends outside that circle.

What about family life?

I have a family.

Have you married many times; do you have many children? If so, what lessons can we draw from that?

I have only one wife and we had four children, but one of them died. The other three are still alive. I don’t intend to have more wives.

Which high moments of your life would you recall in your career and community activities – things you think people would remember you for a long time?

I don’t know, but people still comment about my tenure as vice chancellor. When we have activities and they invite us, they praise us for how we sort of established a tradition in Bayero University that made it quite different. They also express pleasure about the way we produced them as graduates. That has always made me feel good. It must be true that the system we set up was really appreciated

Let me say that I accept that people appreciate what we have done, but as we are moving on, what I am most happy about and consider great achievement is our organisation in Kano.

Which organisation?

It is for Islamic adult education in rural areas. That is because of our concern that majority of the people, especially in rural areas, don’t know how to perform their religious activities correctly. In some cases, some of them don’t even perform ablution correctly.

So we decided that we must set up a system where we teach these people the correct ways to do these things. We go to local government areas and arrange for classes in each village. We want each village head to organise a group of people, and we engage part time teachers and draw up a syllabus for them to make sure they teach the people over a period of time, how to perform ablution properly, read the fatiha and few verses enough to make sure they pray as required. You would be surprised at the sort of people we meet, who don’t have knowledge of these things.

Since we started this, we have covered 15 local governments out of 44. We are on the 16th local government. That is what I am mostly proud of because I feel I am doing something worthwhile.

How did you get the money to do it? Are there funding challenges?

We approached some people and explained what we are doing to them and said we needed money to pay teachers and buy equipment and books we teach with. And so far, since we started, which is now 10 years, we have not encountered difficulties. 

We approach people individuals, not by public appeal. That is how we fund the system.

And because we are actually retired people, none of us is rich enough to support it alone, so we approach people we know are sort of able to give this kind of assistance.

All of us go through challenges in life. When you look back, are there things you feel you would have done differently in the challenges you encountered?

I don’t know. I think my religious upbringing has kept me. I never thought of any challenge as something impossible. I knew that what God decided I was going to through in life would come to me, so I accepted any of such challenges and didn’t feel it should disturb my life.

By Kabiru A. Yusuf