February 6, 2025
Colloquium

‘The likes of Dzukogi are often unsung in Nigeria, a nation so deeply sunk into philistinism’

anote
  • January 23, 2025
  • 13 min read
‘The likes of Dzukogi are often unsung in Nigeria, a nation so deeply sunk into philistinism’

By Paul Liam

THE leadership deficit in Nigeria is not restricted to politics and governance; it cuts across all spheres of national life. People have become more self-centred, and care only about their pecuniary needs, thus neglecting the impact of their greed on the collective psyche of society. It is this failure of leadership that has for years pricked the conscience of one of Nigeria’s notable writers and literary philosophers, Baba Mohammed Dzukogi (fondly known as BM Dzukogi). His literary journey in the last three decades has been centred on the philosophy of regeneration as the pathway to redeeming a lost society. Dzukogi’s idea of regeneration is driven by the desire to correct the ills occasioned by failed leadership through the agency of critical, morally upright and empowered youth whose development must be prioritized.

This vision led him to institute a mentorship programme through the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation which he founded in 2004, as the vehicle for driving his advocacy of preparing young people for future leadership roles using literature and creative writing as practical tools. Consequently, Dzukogi has mentored a coterie of young people in the art of creative writing many of which have gone on to become notable writers and authors. He has also published several of them, and turning them into authors at a young age.

It was for his altruism and commitment to the development of young people, literature and society that writers, students and political leaders converged at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre in Minna on January 14, 2025, to honour his legacy of uncommon dedication to the common good of humanity when he turned the prime age of 60 last week. The national colloquium was attended by the Executive Governor of Niger State, His Excellency, Mohammed Umar Bago, his deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba, Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abubakar Usman Gawu, Head of Service, Engr. Abubakar Salisu, Chief of Staff, Hon. Usman Abdullahi Batamangi, commissioners, special advisers and other political appointees. The event was chaired by the Pro-Chancellor of Abdulkadir Kure University, Professor Mohammed Kuta Yahaya, with a keynote delivered by one of Africa’s leading scholars, critics, professor of African Literature and Environmental Humanities and Director of the Centre for Arts and Indigenous Studies at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBUL), Lapai, Sule Emmanuel Egya (E.E Sule) and the founder and sponsor of the Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival, Alhaji Bala Abdullahi Kwatu.

While delivering the opening remarks, Professor Kuta lauded Dzukogi’s contributions to literary development in Niger State and Nigeria, citing his profound love and commitment to the growth of teen authors and literature. He stated that Dzukogi had been in the wilderness for a long time, alluding to the failure of the previous government to acknowledge Dzukogi’s enormous contributions to the betterment of society, adding that it was time for him to leave the wilderness, given the support accorded him by the current administration. Speaking afterwards, Governor Bago praised Dzukogi’s commitment to the development of literature and mentorship in Niger State while also stressing the imperative of literature, reading and books to the development of society. He also highlighted the initiatives taken by his administration to revamp education in the state and promote literacy and learning through the remodeling and refurbishment of schools.

Img 20250123 Wa0001

BM Dzukogi’s wife, Mallama Khadijat Abdullahi Sakiwa (left); Dzukogi in a warm handshake with Niger State Governor, Umar Bago with Professor Muhammed Kuta Yahaya admiring the author’s new books… in Minna PHOTO: HIASFEST

Governor Bago further stated that his administration is committed to renovating over 200 schools in 2025 and will give education supper priority. He also decried the alarming rate of out-of-school-children in northern Nigeria and called for a review of the school syllabus in the region. He also called for the adoption of Hausa as the new language of instruction if it will lead to more enrollment of children in schools. He said that the English language should instead be taught as a subject. The governor also declared his administration’s support for Dzukogi’s mentorship and literary development initiatives, saying he said has written his name in gold.

Also, Alhaji Kwatu commended Dzukogi’s industriousness and dedication to the development of teen authors and literature in Nigeria. He eulogized Dzukogi’s selflessness and passion for young people and pledged to continue to support his work and made a handsome donation to support the father of Nigerian teen authors. However, the keynote address titled ‘BM Dzukogi As An Archive: Literature, Activism and Mentorship’ delivered by Prof. Sule was the highlight of the event. In his characteristic brilliance, Prof. Sule animated the soul of Dzukogi’s literary oeuvre in what many described as one of the most critical deconstructions of Dzukogi’s writings, philosophy and life. He began by extoling Dzukogi’s extraordinary commitment to the advancement of literature, teen authors and society, opining that Dzukogi is undercelebrated for his phenomenal contributions to the world of letters, especially because he hails from northern Nigeria where little recognition is given to exemplary men and women of letters.

According to him, “Dzukogi as a philosopher and a man of culture, who is often unsung in Nigeria, a nation so deeply sunk into philistinism. It makes it worse that Dzukogi is from northern Nigeria, a region of politicians, business people and religionists unkind to Western intellectualism, creativity and critical thinking. In the context of northern Nigeria, Dzukogi is an aberration or enigma, not understood by many. He, however, manages to make sense of the region’s conservatism as the region makes sense of him, since his goal is not to really radically upset that conservatism but to bring up creative minds from it.”

He then went on to engage Dzukogi’s text more directly. He partitioned his presentation into four subthemes mainly ‘Dzukogi the Writer and Philosopher’, ‘Dzukogi the Mentor and Visionary’, ‘Dzukogi the Activist and Strategist’ and ‘Dzukogi as an Archive.’ In the first categorization, Prof. Sule examined Dzukogi’s philosophical pontification as a writer distraught with the social malady that has afflicted his society which he seeks to correct through his writings. He performed an incisive analysis of some selected works of the author, stating that Dzukogi is “A practical man by all standards, he bends his writing to respond to the most pragmatic issues he faces in his society. Dzukogi is, therefore, a man that aggressively transcends the symbolic realm to the practical world.”

In the second part of his presentation, the scholar reviewed Dzukogi’s mentorship strides and visionary impetus as a thought leader. He offered an overview of Dzukogi’s ideas as a mentor, and the initiatives he conceived to drive his vision for a better society. He cited initiatives like the Annual School Carnival of Arts and Festival of Songs (ASCAFS) which he said “became the foundation for Dzukogi’s rise to mentorship stardom.” He further opined that Dzukogi and his peers who drove the ‘tradition of mentorship’ saw it as a “movement that could possibly transcend their own lifetimes,” and also highlighted the promulgation of the Fourth Order, a literary movement engineered by Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmed, BM Dzukogi, and Kamar Hamza who wrote essays supporting their notion of The Fourth Order and its objective of serving as the philosophical basis for their mentorship drive.

According to Prof. Sule, their essays “were philosophical expositions that provide an intellectual and moral basis for their practice of mentorship, but also templates for producing youth that are morally, ethically, and intellectually correct according to certain conservative social prescription.” He further noted how Dzukogi’s creativity and vision have impacted his children who have taken after him by becoming notable writers in their own rights.

“Sadiq, Dzukogi’s firstborn, led the way as he has become a bigger poetic voice than his own father in contemporary African poetry,” Prof. Sule said. “His latest, award-wining poetry volume Your Crib, My Qibla is a stamp of the world-class poetic brilliance that has emerged from BM Dzukogi’s lions. The poetic brilliance is sustained by Zakiyya’s three poetry collections, including Carved. Dzukogi, it turns out, has the privilege of having all his children inheriting his creative writing gene, and being guided and mentored towards realizing the uniqueness of a family of talented writers.”

The academic, however, forgot to mention Dzukogi’s third child, Yusrah, a fine poet and emerging spoken word artist who has graced several slam stages across Nigeria. He critiqued the Fourth Order as propagating morality and social etiquettes rooted in “Islamic religion and civilization, without paying the slightest attention to the complex colonial history of Islamization.” He went on to add that, “the so-called Fourth Order—which bodies forth in their creative writings with powerful symbols and images—was a willful or unintentional self-subjugation to a colonial tradition that, at best, would be counterproductive to the goal of raising social agents.”

In the third section on Dzukogi’s ‘activism and strategy,’ Prof. Sule highlights the imperative of writers acting as agents of social change given the dysfunctional state of society. He argued that, “Given the social-political dysfunction of Nigeria, writing-activism—the instrumental use of writing to pursue a social goal—is critical to the socio-political transformation required for a developed society.”

Reflecting on Dzukogi’s activism, Prof. Sule commented, “Dzukogi might not have attained the international fame of (Wole) Soyinka and (Arandhati) Roy, but he is undoubtedly endowed with the organic restlessness of a writer-activist. On the one hand, his activism takes its life in the incredible industry of mentorship he has built in Minna and other parts of Nigeria, in the lives of those numerous youngsters he has published and helped to bring to stardom in their teen-age. On the other hand, Dzukogi remains a gadfly wired to be unable to keep quiet in the face of social injustice, political dysfunction, and moral deficit. His newspaper essays rail against what he sees as social ills.”

Remarking on Dzukogi’s deployment of various strategies to secure funding from politicians to fund his teen authorship projects, and the now rested MBA colloquium, Prof Sule stated: “In spite of the shenanigans that came with it, the MBA Colloquium was something of masterstroke from Dzukogi whose passion for the growth of literature superseded any political ambition that he might have had. The MBA Colloquium was a forum of great inspiration for teen authors as they had the opportunities to meet, interact and network with famous writers and critics across Nigeria and beyond,” and concluded the section by asserting that Dzukogi “is not the kind of activist who makes loud noise, who insults failed leaders, who sits somewhere on a high moral ground without providing the practical steps to achieving the kind of society he wants. At every point in his life as a writer and activist, he makes strategic moves to put to practice the processes he imagines and theorizes.”

In the final section, Dzukogi as an ‘archive,’ Prof. Sule likens Dzukogi to an archive, a reservoir of untapped knowledge and wisdom that is beneficial to society. Using Professor Toyin Falola’s concept of “a human being as an archive,” Prof. Sule argued, “The idea of humans as archives, which of course has been ancestral to Africa, is not about whether to privilege orality over textuality. But it is to see a human as a restless but robust embodiment of varied ideas, practices and outputs. A human of such capacity is (and this is not to exaggerate) more-than-human, larger-than-life, and flowing with inexhaustibly. The archive that is such a person accumulates over the years to become a rather indispensable personage whose ideas, practices and outputs are critical points for defining society.”

Narrowing his discourse to Dzukogi’s person, Prof. Sule asserts that Dzukogi is a man working hard to turn himself into an archive, further postulating, “In point of fact, I like to think of Dzukogi as an archive, a reservoir of resources that has not yet been exhaustively documented in the books and essays he has written.” He then argues that “the archive that is Dzukogi needs to constantly rejuvenate, enrich, revitalize and reconstruct itself in order to offer the best services to those who need it.” And to end his theorization of Dzukogi as an archive, Prof. Sule said, “In reconstructing itself, the Dzukogi archive must bring back our ANA Niger. Dzukogi’s rise to fame and the emergence of his mentorship tradition could not have been possible without ANA Niger.”

Prof. Sule concluded his brilliant treatise on Dzukogi by opining that much is not known of “Dzukogi’s depth of sacrifice and his profound work in ensuring the growth of African literature through the instrumentation of teen literary mentorship. Even his detractors, his critics, agree that Dzukogi is endowed with uncommon courage to pursue the godly role of equipping children with creativity and intellection. He is the type of man who does not give up, who makes extra efforts to ensure he helps a child realize her/his dream of being a creative. He has over the years become the most consequential literary figure in the circle of literary teenagers in Nigeria.”

The poet, critic, and author, Paul Liam also presented a well-received tribute that highlighted his journey as a writer and critic under Dzukogi’s remarkable mentorship. He expressed gratitude to Dzukogi for believing in his dreams and providing him with platforms to develop his writing skills. He noted Dzukogi’s uncommon contribution to his development and that of several other young people scattered around the world. After Liam’s presentation, Dzukogi’s family, led by his wife and children, presented him with birthday gifts while his first son, Saddiq Dzukogi who phoned in from America congratulated and thanked his father for his immeasurable sacrifices and impact in their lives. Members of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Wushishi Old Boys Association (WOSA) and Minna Book Club all presented tributes and gifts to the celebrated author.

In his closing remarks, Dzukogi who was visibly overwhelmed with emotions expressed heartfelt appreciation to the guests for celebrating his birthday with him. Dzukogi’s newly launched books include quotes, Hibernation, collection of interviews, I Have the Penchant to Unfold Complex Realities, creative non-fiction, A Walk into Souls and essays, The Creativity of Man.

Other notable guests at the event included poet and Islamic scholar, Shiekh Umar Dada Paiko, Dr. Ola Ifatimehin of the Department of Theatre Arts, Bayero University, Kano, Ismail Bala of the Department of English, BUK, Director of Communications and Laison, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr. Abdullahi Ismaila, Dr. Kamar Hamza of the Department of Political Science, IBBUL, Deputy Registrar, Information, IBBUL, Alhaji Baba Akote, ace master of ceremony and Managing Director of Bentastic Media, Benjamin Ubiri, Founder of Maituwo Charity Foundation Hajiya Khadijat Sakiwa, and wife of the celebrated humanist, artist and Trustee of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abdullahi Awwalu Sakiwa, National Coordinator of HIASFEST, Makama Shekwo’aga. Some of the emerging writers in attendance included Keesh Rowland, Mujahid Lilo, Isaiah Adepoju, Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi, and a host of others.

* Liam is a poet, critic and author of two poetry collections Indefinite Cravings (2012), Saint Sha’ade and Other Poems (2014) and several reviews and critical essays

Spread this:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *