BM Dzukogi @60: A mentee’s message of gratitude to a literary colossus
By Paul Liam
I was a secondary school student at the Government Day Secondary School, Bosso Road, Minna when my path first crossed with Baba Mohammed Dzukogi better known as BM Dzukogi or Uncle Baba as his mentees and students call him. An astute teacher, educator, writer, art administrator, and molder of young people, he was part of the ANA Niger team that facilitated a creative writing workshop at my school. Before that encounter, I had never heard of him or his works. Still, that singular encounter changed my life as I resolved to establish a personal relationship with him. So, I wrote him a letter requesting him to be my mentor, which I took to him personally at the Hilltop Model School, Maitumbi, where he was then a teacher. He accepted my request and thus our literary relationship began in earnest. I was a struggling young boy from the Police Barracks with very little hope of realizing my dreams of becoming a writer and registering my existence in the annals of history.
The circumstances of my life were unpleasant and shrouded in uncertainty. Writing was my only escape from the dystopian web surrounding my existence. However, when Dzukogi came into my life I began to experience a shift in orientation and develop a concrete sense of purpose. For example, when he learned of my social challenges, he recommended me to his former colleague at the Hilltop Model School who was at the time a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and who operated a furniture factory along David Mark Road, Minna. I resumed there as a furniture boy saddled with menial tasks like sandpapering furniture and tasks deemed commensurate with my skills. In exchange, I was entitled to food and stipends. Dzukogi’s recommendation highlighted an important lesson: the need to be meaningfully engaged and earn a living. He was teaching me the invaluable lesson of life and the dignity of labour. Although I didn’t continue my engagement at the furniture factory, years later I would advise myself to learn another trade and ended up as a tiller. After completing my apprenticeship as a tiller, I had the rare opportunity of tilling parts of Dzukogi’s home, a privileged opportunity. Engaging me to tile his house demonstrated his belief in my empowerment and development. He knew from experience that writing alone was not enough to assuage my material hunger, hence I needed something concrete to live on.
Between working as a tiler and developing my writing skills, Dzukogi engaged me as one of the mentors at the Hill-Top Creative Art Foundation where we mentored school children in the art of creative writing while honing our craft. In our first meeting with him, he had enjoined us to be exemplary models to the children under our mentorship, saying that we become better when we teach others. Thus, we worked as volunteers at the Art Centre, where I distinguished myself by discharging my tasks creditably and was entrusted with even bigger responsibilities such as the Public Relations Officer of the Centre, Coordinator of the monthly Teen Authors Guest programme, and coordinator of a children’s art programme on Crystal FM, produced by the brilliant broadcaster Bilkisu Abarth, among other programmes that I was actively involved in. These experiences laid the foundation for my career advancement. But that was not all, Dzukogi, as the Head of Research and Documentation Unit of Niger State Government House, first engaged me and others as interns and later as Special and Personal Assistants on Research and Documentation, thus becoming the youngest political appointees reporting at Government House, Minna. Many of his colleagues didn’t understand why he would surround himself with young boys and girls who were in their early twenties. He knew what he was doing and stood by us, guiding us through the processes so that we might learn life’s skills that would become assets in our adult lives.
BM Dzukogi
When the Niger State Book and Other Intellectual Property Development Agency was established with Dzukogi as the pioneer Director General, he appointed me as the Head of Interpreter, a highly sought-after journal of Government House responsible for reporting and analyzing major functions of the government. I became the first young person to be appointed the head of a unit in the agency. This was because Dzukogi trusted my efficiency and promise. I enjoyed unhindered access to him and privileges my peers had no access to. He never missed an opportunity to stress his resolve to empower young people with promise even against his offspring. For him, it was about quality, prudence, and the desire for growth. He often opined, “I will support anyone willing to develop and better his or herself.” For him, it was not about tribe, religion, or family ties, it was about rewarding exceptional commitment to excellence and growth. A corps member who served at the agency once remarked that she noticed I carried myself as though my father owned the agency and that I was involved in virtually everything. This notion was due largely to the overwhelming trust that Dzukogi reposed in me which required me to be present at most meetings where I often acted as secretary, taking minutes and handling stuff. It was normal for anyone to draw such a conclusion about my aura at the agency. I was privileged above others, I must admit, but it was not unearned, I should add.
Fast forward to my schooling days at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, where Dzukogi had also returned at the end of the Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu administration; we continued our relationship. Dzukogi, the tireless art promoter initiated an art programme on the university’s radio station, which we co-anchored initially before he left it to me to manage. He was about creating opportunities for young creatives and putting them in charge of running it. Dzukogi would use his privileges to open doors for younger people and leave them to navigate the processes, teaching them vital lessons about running systems. I benefited significantly from this unique style of leadership that entrusted me with leading things on my own. Thus, in my later pursuits, I became encumbered when I found myself in a situation where I had to be micromanaged or where I had to micromanage people. I learned under him to be self-driven and e on top of my game. Dzukogi introduced me to then the Managing Editor of Newsline newspaper, Mr. Ndaman Abubakar who allowed me to run a literary column and report art and entertainment stories for the paper. I remember how elated I felt when my feature report on the maiden edition of the Abubakar Gimba national conference at the IBBUL made it to the newspaper’s cover story. I enjoyed unalloyed mentorship and support from Mr. Abubakar during this period. Those were the years of sturdy learning and growth all propelled by the belief of one man who kept his commitment to serve as my mentor for life.
On the literary front, Dzukogi it was who introduced me to ANA Niger weekly meetings and engineered my attendance at the ANA international convention in Owerri in 2007. My teacher and mentor, Jibrin Bala sponsored the trip while Dzukogi supported my upkeep. He also sponsored the publication of my two poetry collections in 2012 and 2014 respectively. He bought me my first laptop and a bike which greatly enabled me to write and attend literary events freely around Minna as opposed to the early days when I used to trek to attend ANA weekly meetings and other literary events. He also recommended me for the Ebedi International Writers Residency, where I initiated the founding of the Ebedi Review in 2014 published by Dr. Wale Okediran. Thus, my literary trajectory and career have been tied to the benevolence of Dzukogi through the years, despite our sometimes shaky relationship. He could have chosen not to pay attention to me or my development; he could have chosen to privilege others over me no matter how promising I was; he could have chosen to ostracize me when he felt I was going astray but he chose altruism, and preferred to give a Tiv boy from Benue State a shot at a meaningful life. It is to his detribalized and selfless sacrifices for my advancement that I owe him and his legacy unalloyed gratitude. Like all human beings, he is imperfect but his imperfections are inconsequential in the face of his profound impact on the lives of young people and the Nigerian literary ecosystem. Even if he did not achieve anything else, he has certainly achieved a lot through his immeasurable impact on my life. I owe him an ocean of gratitude.
Uncle BM Dzukogi, on this august occasion of your 60th life on earth, I am delighted to join your family, friends, and coterie of mentees to celebrate your uncommon vision and contributions to the development of humanity through the instrumentality of literature, art, and education. Your legacy of selflessness, resilience, and regeneration will forever be dear to our hearts. I make this tribute in recognition of your uncommon commitment to my development and those of others and the general society. So, on behalf of my generation of mentees comprising Terfa Danjuma, Yarima Muhammed, Maryam Shuaibu, Halima Aliyu, Abel Onafurume, Saddiq Dzukogi, and the generations after us, I wish you healthier, prosperous and fulfilling years. May all your sacrifices never go unrewarded by God Almighty.
Congratulations and happy 60th birthday, Sir!
