Africa's most populous Black university celebrated Black History Month

By Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd

Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria 


In a grand ceremony, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, celebrated its maiden Black History Month 2017, organized by the university’s Department of English and Literary Studies, in collaboration with United States Embassy in Nigeria. Themed around "Crisis in Black Education," the event that lasted two days -  between 20^th and 21^st February 2017 - began with movie show at the Centre of Excellence in Communication, after which  followed a public lecture held at the University’s Assembly Hall, bringing together experts from across departments and the United States to discuss Black experience.

Courtesy: Atiku Kangiwa. Section of the audience

H.O.D English Department, Professor T. Y. Surakat, kicked off the event with greetings in various native languages, in honor of International Mother Tongue Day. In a sense of reunion, keynoter at the event, Dr.  Barry Lee, a Morehouse College Professor, Atlanta, Georgia - the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. - spoke in Ebonics to greet the audience - a distinct dialect of the African Americans in the United States. He expressed happiness at his first visit to Nigeria.

Dr. Lee talked about the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to the Civil Rights Movement history and the United States. 

"As a Black, you realize that your life can be taken away from you unjustly. You don’t need to commit a crime. The importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities is to train and inspire social justice fighters," he said. "In the past we were ashamed of our race. The importance of Black History Month celebration is that Black people are proud of their race." 

Professor Tanimu Abubakar, a senior staffer at the Department, and a discussant, said that the event came coincidentally when the world is full of chaos. 

"To understand what constitutes blackness," he said, "we must go back to the historicities that shaped our today’s discourses." Tanimu expressed happiness, urged the university management and the US Embassy to work together and make the occasion an annual event. On  Black education, Tanimu said the system aims at satisfying market needs, not the development of community. 

Courtesy: Atiku Kangiwa. Section of the audience

Professor Raymond Bako, of the school of Educational Psychology, and immediate past President Fulbright Alumni Nigeria, spoke about opportunities open to students and staff available at the Embassy. The US Education Exchange Program offers educational services to international students. "Feel free and approach any of us, we will mentor you on how to benefit from these opportunities."

Interlude of poetry recitations, work song performances and speeches re-enactment interspersed the session, making the atmosphere swinging, from heavy somberness at the performance of the work songs to spirited cheerfulness at the re-enactment of two key Black activists’ sermons: Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I have a Dream" and Malcolm X’ "The Ballot and the Bullet."

In what could be judged near perfect oration, David Ejeh’s reenactment of Dr. King’s  historic "I have a Dream" speech broke the hall into standing ovation.

As part of the remembrance for the Black History, a film session was held, a night earlier, featuring Roots, Haley’s most famous movie that recounts the Black experience of the Middle Passage and slavery. At the Centre, while the movie lasted, were joyful shouts as well as emotional tears.

"It is a summary of their past," said Karen Awan, a senior in Literature who went to watch the movie, "a kind of what happened in history. The problem of what is happening today did not start today. It started in history when the Whites came to America as masters, Blacks as slaves."

The event ignited interest among students. “It makes us more conscious of Black History,” she said.

To understand Black condition, Ahmad Dahiru compares his experience as a small boy. "I simply can’t imagine, I can’t understand," said  Dahiru, a senior at the Department majoring in Language. "They are just treated like animals," he said after a scene at slave market. The scene, he said, reminded him of his experience as a young boy when his father took him to the market to buy ram during Sallah period. 

At the end of the morning session, the event moved to the university’s Centre of Excellence in Communication where a discussion took place between the university officials and students’ representatives. Students’ activism, said Dr. Lee, who was billed to talk to students about campus activism, is an important part of the Civil Right Movements and social justice in the United States.

The gathering at the Centre was a refreshing experience, hosting several student bodies, religious representatives and campus activists from diverse background. Ahmadu Bello University is adjudged to be the best university to host such event, the breadth of its federal character admission has touched every state, every local government, than any other university in the county.

"Here is the right place," said the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Administration, Professor Kabiru Bala, standing in for the Vice Chancellor. "The United States is the most powerful country, Nigeria is the most populous black nation, our university is the most diverse, most populous. The university is the largest and most cosmopolitan University in Africa south of the Sahara," he said, "it wouldn’t have been better anywhere than here. We are ready to work with the Embassy to make the occasion an annual event."

As part of the celebration, the event tonight moved to the university’s Drama Village, where packages of traditional performances, dance, music and songs were dramatized by Theatre and Performing Arts students.

Courtesy: Damilola. Performance at Drama Village

Dr. Edward Abah, Chairman Local Organizing Committee (LOC), at the end of the performances which officially marked the closing of the event, thanked his colleagues, the school management, students and everyone who worked to make the event a success.