For years, the 40, 000 or so people who live in Burji village of Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State have been without a school for neither Islamic nor western education.
The only structure that was used as a school by the inhabitants, who are mostly farmers and traders, was a dilapidated structure that is no longer useable.
This has caused hundreds of school-age children to go without education and have given rise to the proliferation of hawking and early marriages.
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Disturbed by this situation of his people, a son of the community, Alhaji Badamasi Shu’aibu Burji, through his foundation, decided to build a 20-classroom school that enrols indigent children, provide free books, free uniforms and free food to all pupils.
At present, over 5,200 students are being catered for on full scholarship in the school.
Born with no silver spoon, Burji opted to establish a charity foundation in his name, which before it built the school, sensitized people of the need to enrol their children in school.
The school, fully equipped with teachers and teaching facilities, operates without any charges.
Burji said he desires to change the deteriorating education situation in the village.
“I came from a very big, extended family with only two people who have attended secondary school.
“This was always my worry,” he said. “I hate seeing children of school age littering the village streets, doing nothing, while they were supposed to be in school like their equals in other communities.”
Every time Burji saw children playing in the streets or running errands when they should be in school, it brought memories of the only two people in his large family who have had secondary education.
“It then dawned on me that even though I am not the richest personality in the village, I owe it a duty to myself to save these children’s future,” he said.
Badamasi Burji works are being carried out through his Foundation, which was established in 2015.
It started with sponsorship and establishment of special Islamic and Western primary and secondary schools in the area.
The students study in a conducive environment with well-furnished classrooms.
From this school, 109 students, 98 girls and 11 boys have been sponsored to different junior secondary schools.
Now moves are being made to establish a study centre of the National Open University in the area.
The foundation has also trained the teachers in a teacher training programme and also the National Centre for Disease Control procedures, with regards to health and hygiene.
Girl-Child Empowerment programme was also initiated with the aim of training young girls in various skills with a view to making them self-sufficient.
This, the foundation believes, will curtail rural to urban migration and give the village a chance to create jobs, opportunities and to generally improve the socio-economic development of the area.
The women had already been trained in different kinds of businesses, which include soap making, pomade, menthol, toiletries and many more.
A second batch of the empowerment programme will soon kick-off.
The foundation is also embarking on a tree-planting campaign in line with climate change.
But who is this man who has turned the life of this village around?
Alh. Badamasi Buruji was born on November 15, 1968, in Burji village.
He is a publisher, entrepreneur, writer, journalist and a generous philanthropist.
He attended Burji Central Primary School from 1973 to 1980 before proceeding to Government Technical College, Wudil from 1980 to 1985.
He worked with Forestry Division in Birniwa, now in Jigawa State, for a while.
After working for the Forestry Division, he finally relocated to Kano metropolis where he joined his uncle, Alhaji Salisu Hamza Kadawa, to be part of his industrial chemical business (Nasibi Pest Control Enterprise). He served as a sales manager.
Not long after, he got back to school to study Mass Communication at Bayero University, Kano, after which Burji attended the Institute of Alazhar (ALIYU IBN ABI Talib Kano, from 1986 to 1987 ) for religious study.
He worked with Danfodio Islamiyya School as a teacher and personal assistant to the school’s proprietor, Malam Mahmud Aliyu Mahmud from 1987 to1999.
After that, he ventured into the world of business and entrepreneurship by joining Nagari General Enterprise, a leading gas and electric gas cooker distributor in Kano.
He served as a chief accountant.
His stellar performance propelled him to the position of the managing director.
The momentum the company gathered under Burji helped it expand to the extent that more branches were opened in different places in Kano.
The company soon expanded to trade in cosmetics, goods, services, and bookshops.
Burji, as he is popularly referred to, is an author of many books both fictional and prose; he is also the publisher of Concern magazine and one-time chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Kano branch.
