That is the catchy title of the memoirs of the rich and varied life of a public officer from Kano whose remarkable life history covered services from his base in Kano to Kaduna and the Federal Mortgage Bank, Lagos. The destiny bit is undeniably from the perspective of his spiritual belief that whatever he achieved in life must have been with the blessings from the Almighty.
Readers of the book would find aplenty the hands of fate in the great favours bestowed on Kassim Bichi. He recalled: ‘giving me six high-profile public offices within a period spanning 27 years (1980-2007) without applying, lobbying, asking or requesting for them from anybody but Him.’ He, of course, is referring to his appointments as Kano State Director of Budget, twice as the governor’s special adviser, a commissioner, managing director of a regional institute and finally the managing director of a federal institution.
Though, as he admitted, he wrote the book ostensibly for the benefit of his progeny, with a great deal of family photo mementoes and biodata history, yet I found it rich in recounting the tumultuous happenings of the 1970s through the millennium years, not only in Kano but also the federation at large.
Kassim Bichi’s destiny was rooted in Bichi, a thriving town in what was known as Kano Province. That’s where he was born in 1949 and raised. His grandfather, who hailed from Kano City settled in Bichi, engaging in commodity trading. He gave an affectionate account of his early life in Bichi, his bustling family life, and the primary schools he attended until he moved from the comfort of his home to Birnin Kudu for secondary school education.
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Things moved smoothly for Kassim Bichi, a brilliant student who effortlessly passed his exams with flying colours. By 1970 he was an undergraduate student of Economics at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. He had a full student life engaging in all the curricular and extracurricular activities of the university. He was the Speaker of the ABU SUG when General Yakubu Gowon’s regime announced its intention to introduce the NYSC scheme in 1973 and was in the thick of the upheavals that followed.
I was a second-year SBS student at ABU then, and recall the riots by university students on all the campuses in the country. There was a huge uproar in ABU and students marched from Samaru to Zaria to express their rejection of the scheme. At a time when the ABU SUG impeached the student union president Isa Mohammed Argungu for independently supporting the scheme, Kassim Bichi assumed the presidency until calm returned to the campus and arrangements were made to elect another president.
Despite these misgivings, Kassim Bichi joined the pioneer set of the NYSC and was posted to the East Central State. He had many positives to write about his exposure to the people there. On the whole, he had a good time in the Okigwe orientation camp and the subsequent deployment to teach at Uli High School, Uli-Ihiala.
Post-NYSC he returned to Kano to begin a career in the civil service. Along with his colleague, Shamsuddeen Usman, they were posted to the Military Governor’s Office as Planning Officers. Like any young man, leaving the university it was also time for Kassim Bichi to marry and get into the rigmarole of settling down to start a family.
Soon, the 2nd Republic beckoned, where he was destined to play a pivotal role in the state government. Mohammed Abubakar Rimi had won the 1979 gubernatorial election in Kano and was poised to bring sweeping reforms to change how things were done in government. Kassim Bichi was one of those Governor Rimi marked out to help him accomplish his agenda.
He joined the government as the Director of Budget and was in due course upgraded to the position of the commissioner of finance. It was the crowning glory of his short career in the Kano State Government. Serving in the government in that period was tough as Governor Rimi was buffeted by internal strictures in their party, the PRP, as well as by the behemoth NPN federal administration. Mercifully the end came via a military coup at the end of December 1983. Kassim Bichi endured the indignities of detention along with most political office holders of the time by the new military bosses.
Out of detention, the hand of fate played when he was appointed the Managing Director of the Kaduna-based NNIL – the investment arm of the NNDC owned by the 19 northern states. After eight years in NNIL, the hand of fate played again when Kassim Bichi was head-hunted for the position of Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank. This was the high point of his public service career. He had good outings in the FMB where he rejuvenated the National Housing Fund and moved the head office from Lagos to Abuja. Sadly, he was shabbily removed in 2003 even though the federal government had given him a national honour that same year.
I noticed that Kassim Bichi has an elephantine memory and never forgot good gestures by the people he met in the journey of life. He made mention of all of them and detailed the good done to him. Similarly, those who wronged him had also their just deserts.
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