Nur Alkali at 67 By Abdulhamid Al-Gazali, algazali04@yahoo. Today, 3rd of March, 2013 marks the 67th birthday of a right honorable gentleman—a father to the orphan, a scholar of international repute and a seasoned administrator of an unquestionable integrity: Professor Muhammad Nur Alkali. I am compelled to write this tribute, in spite of the challenges involved, not only because the personality featured deserves it, but for the lessons to be learnt from a life well lived. Much as Prof, confined to the classes throughout his life, does not entertain publicity as do many of his contemporaries, his name, by virtue of his achievements, is not a new one within and outside the academia. His contribution to scholarship and learning is one which leaves a mark of permanence that can never be erased in generations to come. You know what I mean when today the whole of the Faculty of Arts, University of Maiduguri—the university which, as its two times Vice Chancellor (1985 – 1989; 1989 - 1992), he helped build a strong base upon which it got the foot that kept it standing up to this day—is managed, from top to bottom, by his students and students of his students: from the dean to the sub dean, from the heads of the various departments, down to the lecturers. As a professor of History, he is unequaled in his field of specialty, the “Sayfawa Mais of Kanem Borno”. Unfortunately I was too “unborn-ed” to be in his class at the days of his teaching, but his students, who taught me, never failed to narrate how much they loved his class. When I got to find my way into this world, unfortunately his teaching career was almost coming to its twilight. As a reputable scholar, he is very thorough and exhaustive in his explanation, such that even the most blank-headed grasps at least a pinch of an idea about what he teaches, his students say. They don’t forget to add his mastery of teaching methods, which they say is inimitably the best; his charisma, which stands out as the rarest; promptness to time and dedication to work, which has no equal—all which are still clear enough for one to see today. As a son, who took his footstep as a historian, I could affirm this myself. I was sad though that I had not had the chance to be in his class by virtue of birth. Not even for once, but I have always cleverly smuggled into our discussions topical issues surrounding his field whenever I had the chance to be with him. And he has never failed to exhaustibly explain things until they are brought to the plainest level. It was in 1972 that it all started, when after his B.A History, at BUK he was retained as a graduate assistant in the very department he graduated from. He knew from then that he had already taken off into the endless journey of academic life. Therefore he enrolled to his M.A History the very year, concentrating on “the Sayfawa Mais of Kanem Bornu,” one of the widest topic, and at that time, the most vexing and challenging because of the fear and skepticism among West African historians that there was nothing worth writing about their region. However, on completing it, his performance and indeed, his thesis, rich in compelling facts, brilliant analysis and lucid literary style, dominated the intellectual climate of the university, such that it was recommended for a PhD. It created hope for and cleared the skepticism that West African history, like every other, worth writing. The PhD, which ended in 1978, turned out to be nothing less, making Prof an authority in the field and one of the most respected scholars in the academia. These were, among other things, just the beginning of the achievements of a dedicated scholar. By the early 1980s, he moved to Unimaid, where he was to later become a Director of General Studies (GST), which he among few others, introduced to the Nigerian university system, Deputy Vice Chancellor and subsequently a two times Vice Chancellor, all by dint of hard work. His contributions speak for themselves—perhaps that he held all those highly placed offices and eventually meritoriously ascended to the number one office of the university within just five years of his transfer speak volumes of what qualities he possesses. As VC, the highly sophisticated and efficacious system of administration, built on the premises of discipline, merit and hard work, which he engineered, remains a thing to beat today. Of the effective system, he used to respond to praises about his services there, and how he helped people get admissions, secure jobs and get scholarships, in exactly this word: “it was the system, I as an individual would not have done that”—which is his humorous way of acknowledging and responding to praises. Nobody fails to tell you that, as the VC, he went on to teach more than twice a week, and back in office, no file that goes in would spend 24hrs unattended to, as testified by his secretary, Mal Bukar Usman. One incident which worth mentioning here as a VC was his encounter with the then Chief of Defence: General Sani Abatcha. The son of the latter failed to score the prerequisite mark for admission, and insisted be admitted into the medical college. In spite of the position of the latter, Prof, with the arrogance of an upright gentleman, proved impossible and ensured that he did not get admitted below requirement—what seemed out-of-the-world for many. It was his diligence, sincerity, discretion and commitment to work that inspired his re-election for the second time, with endorsement by all and sundry within and beyond the university—making him the only VC to run two tenures. Throughout his two tenures, his administrative prowess had sought the attention of the military federal government, under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who had kept tabs on him all the way. When he was done with the second tenure, and set to leave for a sabbatical leave abroad, just a day or two away for his jetting off, he was appointed the Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies [NIPSS]. By the way, who hears of NIPSS anymore now? Well, everyone knew how it used to be the talk of the town during Prof’s days (1993 – 1998). His arrival there no doubt provided the “shock absorber” to the jarring institution to bounce back. I now understand what that stranger I met once in a shop meant, who after a little conversation, said: “NIPSS was NIPSS when Prof was there; it has every reason to remain unheard of after he left”. At the midst of making his exploits in NIPSS, the new Head of State, Gen. Sani Abatcha, in diree need of fearless, brilliant and incorruptible university “soldiers”, recalled his encounter with him and in spite of the task of NIPSS, appointed him the chairman Presidential Advisory Committee [PAC]. Many a people had often wondered some of the beyond-a-soldier’s-head strides the Sani Abatcha’s government made. Indeed the secret was the PAC. And the Gen. was right in every sense, because when Nur Alkali arrived at the court, he demonstrated exactly what was expected of him. Indeed Prof accepted and did what he did more out of devotion and dedication to national service than for a mere penchant. This was glaring when the president assigned the burning of billions of mutilated currencies to him and did just that without any the-as-usual things. It was no coincidence at all that the Gen. himself called him Civilian General. Well to cut a long, perhaps almost endless story short, Prof is back in the university, after many years of national assignments—from nurturing a fledged institution to fame, from raising institutions from scratch to stand firm and providing the brain to manage sophisticated institutions to many more—doing the things he knows how to do the best. From the forgoing it is clear that he is very straight-forward and thorough; dedicated to his job with zeal and determination. He is fearless scholar who says things as they are regardless of whose ox is gored. In his innumerable treatises, he has shown that he is one who says them as they are. His attitude to time is one better left to be acknowledged by those who know best—the fact that he leaves for the airport 8:00am when the flight is to take off 11:00am, for now tells enough. His altruism and deep fellow feelings is no doubt his most distinct characteristic. The many downtrodden he helped raise to distinctive social positions are there to say more of Nur Alkali’s philanthropy than I probably can say. Nobody who has the faintest knowledge about him will fail to notice the mention of “pocket money” in his mouth. And it is not merely pocket money, as the mere mention suggests, it is much more than that—those of us who enjoyed the luxury of such gesture know. He is “insanely” religious such that many of his friends are fond of labeling him mallam or sheikh. Many people get amazed when they hear him fluently speaking Arabic and reciting the Holy Qur’an with an unusual command. Believing that, as a scholar devoted to western education, he wouldn’t find the time to do so, but being a child of an erudite scholar, late Shettima Baba Ahmed Gazali it was what he grew up doing. So it is no any wonder. Glory be to Allah, at 67, he remains as youthful as he is healthy, to which he used to say the secret is: belief in Allah. His words are always, “if you believe in Allah, then you will have nothing to needlessly worry about, and therefore you will remain physically fit and mentally sound forever”. Join me in saluting a right honorable gentleman, a man worthy of universal recognition. In your 67th birthday, we wish you much healthier and longer life ahead here and a mellifluous entry into high class paradise in the hereafter. It must be confessed that, despite the many omissions, conscious and unconscious, this is the most summarized version of what to be written about personalities whose lives are lived primarily to serve as guidance to emerging generations. Because of time and space, I know many things are left out, such as the many awards of excellencradua and others too numerous to list. Happy Birthday.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 11:57:18 +0000
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