Prof. Aminu Dorayi from Kano was a science teacher and professor of Chemistry for many years in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was also a top public servant in Kano and on several national assignments, including at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Kuru. In his private life, as you will read, he has led a life of great adventure.
Let me start by asking you about your early life in Kano.
According to the Gregorian calendar, I was born on November 16, 1942, so I will be 81 in a couple of days (from the day of this interview). However, my community was calculating on lunar calendar, and as some people may know, there is a difference between the lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar. So, after 30 years or so, you gain or lose one year, that is why they claim that I am 84.
You don’t accept the claim?
I am a mathematician, so really I come from a rigid system. Anyway, I am dated as 84 years old by my community in Kano, Dorayi, but in the Gregorian calendar, in two days time I will be 81.
I started education in Shahuci Primary School, and incidentally, the name Aminu Dorayi was given to me at the school. When I was taken for interview for admission, probably around 1950, they asked me my name and I said Aminu. They asked where I came from and I said from House No 7 in Dorayi quarters. They wrote my name down as Aminu Dorayi; and this name has stuck around for nearly 80 years.
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At that time, there were only four senior primary schools in the whole of Kano and Jigawa. I went to one of them; it was from there that people were selected to go to Barewa College, Kaduna College, provincial secondary schools and teachers’ colleges.
I read somewhere in your book that when it came to the time to go to senior primary you were denied because your parent didn’t offer a ‘gift.’ So even in the 1950s this problem of corruption was in our system?
You see, what happened at that time, if I recall well, was that my father and his three wives, including my mother, went to the hajj of 1954, which was around July/August. During their absence one of my teachers in the primary school asked for a gift.
Was this normal; some kind of a traditional gift?
Well, I don’t know because from what I understood, many pupils’ parents gave – some gave ‘buhun gero’( bag of millet), ‘buhun dawa’ ( bag of corn), some even a cow.
So it was a big gift.
Yes, but for me, both my father and mother were in Saudi Arabia attending hajj. Also, perhaps for my father to sponsor three wives to Saudi Arabia in the 1950s, he was assumed to be very wealthy.
There was expectation?
Yes. I thought I was in the top three every time, so I had no problem. I said my parents were away and they asked if I had anybody that could do it. Suddenly, I found myself not being admitted. By that time, my father had died in Saudi Arabia and my mother came back.
That same hajj?
Yes, but my grandmother was still around, so I went and told her, crying.
So, she was the one who rescued you?
That’s right. You know there was a bit of informality; it was never specified, it was never described, but it would be good if you gave. I know some people who were one year below me, who were not the best in those years; they were admitted.
So, eventually the gift was paid on your behalf by your grandmother and you went to the senior primary school?
That’s right, but you know it wasn’t a big deal. Yes, it looked like a corrupt practice to require something be given before doing your job but it wasn’t taken seriously and it wasn’t documented. And it wasn’t money. I think it was a bit complex.
After the senior primary, why did you go to a technical college instead of a normal secondary school?
You see, I had always been inclined to mathematics and sciences. As you saw from my book, in 1955 the late Mohammadu Sanusi, Emir of Kano, came to the graduation of the primary school and he handed me the gift of the best student in Mathematics. This was at the primary level.
The Northern Nigerian Government set up a secondary technical school in Kaduna. They wanted engineers and scientists who would in future become engineers and doctors from northern Nigeria. They went round northern Nigeria to get the best students, and because of my inclination in mathematics and sciences, I was among those picked and taken to secondary technical.
You almost became a professional footballer, and one of your game teachers thought you had a chance to be a footballer, even in England; is that correct?
You are right.
What stopped that plan?
Well, first of all, I thank God for many gifts, including the one I thought I was being denied something at an earlier age. I was a very good football player; in fact, some of my friends who were professors and vice chancellors said the only thing I knew very well, without struggling, was playing football.
Even more than Chemistry?
Yes. To buttress this point, at the independence ceremony of Nigeria in 1960, I happened to be among the Nigerian junior team selected by the then NFA to play against Ghana. I played in front of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Gamal Abdul Nasser , Kwame Nkrumah and so on.
Was that in Lagos?
Yes, the national stadium at Surulere. It was Onikan, a small stadium, King George V Stadium at that time. Because of that ability the British games master saw in me, he got me a place in Ipswich Town to go and play there.
Ipswich, England?
Yes, near London; but then, another British teacher who taught us Chemistry told me privately, “Look if you go to play football, maybe five, ten years you are finished; but if you go and study Chemistry you will be up to 60 or more years and you will still have a job. It was based on that; and I was very interested in Chemistry, that I put down the offer of going to Ipswich.
You also almost went to the army but for the objection of your mother?
I was very interested. I was in the same group with Buhari, Shehu Yar’adua; the same cadet group. They came from different schools in northern Nigeria, but we all got admitted to the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) at that time.
You actually enrolled and started?
Yes. Well, what happened was that I showed interest and was taken. I was with Sani Abacha in the same group and classroom. It happened that Nigeria became apprehensive that Ghana had started an air force. They said Ghana would come and conquer us. This was around 1961/1962.
So they suddenly decided to start a Nigerian Air Force. We were in the army selection with the late Brigadier Mai Malari. He was the one selecting people to go into that school. Suddenly, a delegation came, that the government had decided to set up an air force and they needed a certain category of people.
This was from the Army to the Air Force?
Yes, they selected six or seven of us, including the first Chief of Air Staff, Yisa Doko, to go to Air Force. My mother didn’t want me to join the Army. When I was offered a place in the Air Force, I went to tell her that I listened to her and I was going to fly airplanes.
Did you persuade her?
She didn’t need persuasion, she was aware of all the flights and the pilots and so on. She went to Mecca with my father. When I told her I was going to be flying aircraft she was quite comfortable. I went there and they brought Germans to do the final selection. At that time I wasn’t wearing glasses, they took us round and flew us. We didn’t know it was target practice. It was later that I understood. When we came down, they said my eyesight was less than perfect. So I was dropped and told to go back to the Army where I already had a place. I said how could I approach my mother with this thing again? So instead I went to do HSC to study Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
So you absconded from the Army?
Well, it was not quite such, but something was arranged to allow me finish my A-level and become a military engineer.
My position was kept, that I would return to the Army Engineering Corps after my A-level and they would send me for a degree. So I am not quite sure I absconded, but something was arranged.
You never went back to the Army, instead you went to the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), which was then very new, to read Chemistry?
Well, it was very fascinating. For us at that age, we were very privileged to be at the ABU. I think the university was started in 1963 from the old Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology.
You were in the third set?
Or fourth; I think they started the Nigerian College in 1962. By 1965 I was a student in ABU, first year. Ahmadu Bello came to the convocation to award the first degrees, but these were for people who were there before us.
I recall how he was standing up and saying that the purpose of the convocation was not to award just the degrees; it was about character. What would you do with the degree when you finished. Enormous opportunities and responsibilities were lying ahead for the graduates.
At one point you were the president of the student union; how were you able to combine science courses with the politics of unionism?
I had been in student unionism a lot longer than in the ABU. When Kano State was created, we served in the Kano State Students Association; I was the chairman or president.
When I went to the university was during crisis and I was identified by my colleagues and friends as somebody who could steer the boat, so I was elected the president of the student union.
Even when I went to the US, I was the president of the Nigerian Student Association of the University of Oregon. I was the president of the African Student Association in the West Coast of America. I had a lot of flair for unionism.
How come you didn’t go into full blown politics?
When I was appointed, our professor of chemistry called me and said, “Look my boy, it is not customary for people in science to go into student unionism, you will fail because you will not get time to do your practical, and if you don’t do your practical you will not even be allowed to sit for in the exam.” He even told me that I hadn’t got many marks to spare from my part one results. I was already elected the president of the student union but he told me go and resign.
I said no; it was beneath my dignity. It blew his mind when I said it was beneath my dignity. If the discussion had happened before the election, I would have stepped down.
I had to work out a way of making sure that I did everything over and above the required limitations. I passed my second year exams and went into the third year. They were amazed that I managed both.
There was an advantage the presidency of student union brought as you were invited to the US on a visit and that paved the way for your subsequent graduate studies; is that true?
Yes. I think one thing leads to another. As the president of the student union in 1966/1967, America wanted to get into Nigeria, so they organised a programme they called Youth Leadership, where they would take potential leaders of Africa from all over the continent and bring them to the US for a month and orient them, indoctrinate them and all that.
They wanted me to be there and any two of the executive members. That was how I got in. But because I had this wider ambition of postgraduate studies, I found time in between to visit the universities and look for admission.
Oregon gave me teaching assistantship because they thought I could teach Chemistry or Mathematics at the undergraduate level. So, student unionism enabled me to go to the US and find a place in a university.
I was focused along these lines. I did everything possible to minimise my stay there. I got my master’s degree in about 18 months. I got my PhD two and a half years after. But I was working every day. During Nigeria’s independence day or that of America, whatever, I was always in the lab and in the library.
Yet you had the chance to also have fun. You also bought an old car and crossed the Nevada Desert, one of the tourist attractions of the US?
Normally, around Christmas to New Year you could take two weeks off as the undergraduate courses were all closed down and everybody went home.
I bought a Volkswagen Beetle at 600 dollars or so, which I used in coming to lectures etc. After servicing properly with the company called German Auto Service, they were very proud that I could use that old car to go across the Nevada Desert.
Why did you choose the Nevada Desert?
It is the nearest to Oregon. You would go to Portland, San Francisco, down to Los Angeles and cross over to Nevada. I enjoyed it. I compared it to Sahara Desert; it was a lot of fun.
There were gas stations, rest points and cafeterias spotted along the way. And on communication, if you were in any trouble you could phone.
This ties up with my next question on your trip across the Sahara. By then you were a PhD holder and family man, so it looked like a big risk to take. Why did you decide to do that?
There is no doubt that it was a big risk, but like many things, when you do them, you don’t recognise the risk. While planning it and doing it, it didn’t seem risky. I contacted the automobile association and bought a new car – a brand new Peugeot 504 from the manufacturers at 2000 pounds, which was about N3,000 at the time.
Did you have a companion along?
Yes, I had one Yahaya Nashi from Kaduna State, who was also adventurous. But you see, one of the rules in the Army and Navy, there is only one commander. If you have got a vessel, there is one commander, one captain who takes full responsibility.
What was the most interesting thing you saw on that journey from England, across France, Spain, Morocco, Niger, coming down to Kano?
Three isolated things fascinated me, probably not in sequence. One thing was that when we arrived at one village, it started to rain, and children of 9, 10, 11 years were crying.
This was in the desert?
Yes. They were running home because they didn’t know anything like rain, so they thought the end of the world had come. It hadn’t rained for 14 years. It was the elders that had to counsel them that it was natural.
Another one was a desert market with camels, which met every six months because it took some months to go home and some months to come back. It happened that when we passed that place, it was the market month. I had never seen 1,000 camels in one place and the way the people were greeting and embracing one other etc. It was very interesting.
Another thing I saw, which fascinated me, was that we stopped, I can’t remember why, and I saw something. It was not quite a snake, it was like “kulba.” I don’t know what it is in English.
Some kind of lizard?
Throughout the journey we hadn’t seen any life whatsoever – no plants, no trees, no animals, no people – so when I saw that lizard or whatever, I wondered how it got there. It went back into the sand and disappeared. I still remember that.
Another great adventure of yours was going around the world in an aircraft, this time with your wife. It must be very expensive to do that; how was it?
It wasn’t expensive. When we were in school, right from primary, we were reading about Marco Polo adventurers like Mungo Park, even Ibn Batuta. They fascinated me. I thought they were really special people.
So, you wanted to go round the world?
Yes. And you know that even the concept of the world being round was debated extensively at that period or before then.
So, I said that by going in one direction continuously and finding yourself back at the starting point, it would be very convincing that the world was round, as it were.
So, I checked out airlines. At that time they were offering very reasonable fares with about 10 stops or so for you to go round the world. Our first was London-Delhi, then we went to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Korea. Then across the Pacific to Hawaii, and from Hawaii you cross over to San Francisco, and from San Francisco you go to Chicago. You are free to spend any number of days.
So, how long did you spend altogether doing this?
Probably 23 days, but the account in the book is more accurate; I can’t remember.
What do you remember about that journey; which stop did you like most?
It was not so much the stops but the overall fascination you saw in different creatures and people. The Indians are different from the Hong Kong (Chinese), and Hong Kong is different from Japan and Korea.
One of the things that established in my mind was the difference between people. We are all basically human, but we are also different, so that established itself in my mind and also actually gave me satisfaction that we are all humans.
Are you still tempted to venture out?
Adventure, as you know, is a very physical activity. At this age, when your physical ability declines, it is not easy to do that. Number one, I have seen enough of it; number two, I am weak; when you go to an airport, let’s say Dubai, there are long queues for the immigration. I mean you can’t manage it. Also, like I said, when you have done it, you have done enough. I still think about adventures, but I know that my physical body cannot take it.
So you don’t travel anymore?
I still travel. My wife and I go to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, to our children.
You have children there?
Yes. We go to Cairo for medical treatment every six months.
You still do that?
We still do that. For example, in sha Allah, early February we will go. And we now stay longer than before. We can stay for one month and so on. Really, you know things have changed and you have to accept the changes.
You were a commissioner in Kano in several ministries – trade, education, finance. How was the experience away from the academia in government?
It was quite straightforward. You would go there and do a job. I told them that if I were on a leave of absence, if I found my stay not delivering the goods or not being heard, I would go back and teach. Under those conditions, everything went well.
You are now a retired professor and it seems to me that you are very comfortable; am I correct?
I can tell you that with gratitude to God, I am not in any distress at all. I will not go into the details but there is no doubt that these are the best moments of my life.
Even in your 80s?
I mean that everything is okay. A number of factors contributed to this. Number one, you have to make sacrifice at an early age to save for the future. I became a landlord before the age of 10, collecting rents of 10shillings a month, and some with a small room of 5 shillings. I will go there and write and record, so I learnt to receive income and manage it for repairs for other issues.
In your book you mentioned how you were influenced by Mallam Aminu Kano, how some of your colleagues from secondary school included radicals like Yusuf Bala Usman, but it is noticeable you didn’t go into radical politics, what happened?
Bala Usman and I were in secondary school together, so it didn’t start from the university. I was their head. I was bringing in communist literature from Poland.
I didn’t go into politics, partly because when I was commissioner in Kano I put so much effort that I almost lost touch with my family. Your wellbeing in the world is to bring up your family. I saw that going into political arena wasn’t going to give the chance to raise my children the way I wanted.
You didn’t have the urge to go into politics to improve things like Mallam Aminu and Bala Usman?
It is true that I can blame myself for not giving back to the society or taking my time to improve the society. I remained at improving myself, I accept that, but you can’t do everything.
You raised a very good family – all your children are graduates, some working abroad – how did you achieve that?
I needed all my children to study up to the university level, male or female. I felt that as a lecturer I was teaching other people’s daughters and my daughters would not be denied that same thing. I also insisted that they should be science-biased, but it didn’t always work. I also insisted that the minimum education qualification in my house should be a master’s degree.
Also part of what I implied earlier, I no longer had to support anybody. Also, I didn’t need them to support me, so let them look after their families.
I know you have one wife, and you sometimes joke that if it were possible to have half a wife you would have done that, why?
People who try to manage many wives don’t know that by having less they may be better off. I am not saying that it is wrong to do it, but I am not interested, and I hope that God would forgive me for having only one wife. Normally, I go to bed 8 o’clock in the evening at most. I wake up at 4:30am every day. After my prayer I am on the internet, sometimes two or three hours.
Sitting is supposed not to be good for the elderly, do you do physical activities?
Yes, a little bit of going up and down, a little bit of going to the restroom. There are few movements here and there, but I am no longer really active. I am very healthy for my age. Day before yesterday doctors were telling me that I didn’t need any additional medication.
I thank God for the health and opportunity he gave me to looked after myself and my family. I can afford to go to Cairo and see consultants.
When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 18 years ago, it was through a normal checkup. So they did some radiation once a day for one month. I used to go back every year, and after 16 years they said the PSA was beginning to rise, so they resumed some treatment, tablet or injection every quarter.
All the resources for this God has provided for me. I don’t need to beg anybody to pay for me. It is not drastic, it is not like heart surgery that will require millions of naira.
God has given me good health to contend with minor ailments. But you have to be careful, eat correctly, rest correctly and rest your mind, and make sure that what doesn’t concern you does not concern you.
In fact, my mind has a way of shutting on certain things. People may come, family may come, telling me about some problems. I am listening to them, but really, it is not going beyond my ears. I don’t want to get involved. I am doing well, I am happy, I am healthy, I don’t want them to drag me into something else.
