. Bukar Usman, OON, President of the Nigerian Folklore Society (NFS), was born in Biu, Borno state. A philanthropist, public policy analyst and culture-enthusiast, he has written 20 books on different subjects barely seven years after his foray into the literary world. Usman, a thorough-bred bureaucrat and public administrator, rose from a 3rd class clerk to a permanent secretary in the Presidency before his exit from active service in 1999. In this exclusive interview with Blueprint, he opens up about his life, writing, his foundation, and his uncommon interest with folklores and philanthropy
Do you feel satisfied with what you have so far accomplished in life?
Well, I feel satisfied. Of course, my tenure as a civil servant offered me the opportunity to express myself. Those who are familiar with me, and even in my writing I have confessed that I single-mindedly chose a career in the civil service and never looked back, never aspired to work in the private sector. I started in the federal service as a third class clerk and rose to the post of Director-General/Permanent Secretary. That is the highest career most people aspire to. To be Head of Service is rare because it is only one post. So the post of Director-General/Permanent Secretary is the apex position, although it was made political following the civil service reform of 1988. So to rise from a 3rd class clerk earning 15 pounds 10 then to a Permanent Secretary post above level 17, if you go by the Unified Grading and Salary Structure (UGSS), one must say one is lucky to have that career. Post service life which is barely 15 years, in a life of 70, the most eventful was my days in the civil service, the others were schooling in Biu, in Maiduguri, in Lagos, Kings College, in Zaria for my Degree in Public Administration and International Relations. The two are different. In the public service you are devoted to civil service work but life after retirement is devoted to looking after yourself. Of course it gave me time to pursue my literary career, it also gave me more time to interact with some people as I am fortunate to hold one or two positions on boards of some companies where I meet people who are more vast in knowledge of the private sector and I have to learn business management, which in some way is different from that of the public service. But principles of corporate governance apply to both sides so they are complimentary in a way; good management, whether in public service or private sector. So life after public service has given me more opportunities to interact with my family, friends and associates.
Many have been describing your public service career as successful and remarkable, in one word, describe those eventful years?
Challenging! At least in one word I would say challenging. Let me explain. It is challenging in the sense that if you are dedicated to the pursuance of public good, public service is the place to be. When I left service and people ask me if I want to go back; I say I don’t pray to be engaged routinely from 8:00am to 3:30pm; I gave my whole heart to public service and when I left I had no regrets. It is challenging in the sense that when I left, I felt I had dropped a big burden and did not pray to get engaged as much as I was in the service. That is why I told my friends, any salaried job from 8:00am to 3:30pm they should count me out of it. I want something lighter.
What has been your greatest accomplishment?
Honestly, in 70-71 years I can’t pinpoint and say this is my greatest achievement. But one thing is certain. When I set out to join public service, I never really contemplated taking another job in the private sector. So to be in the public sector from 1965 to 1999 and leave peacefully, in periods of changes, and for me to serve in the cabinet office/presidency for about 27 years of my career running a government machinery, I thought it was a privilege and to earn the confidence of people high and low in the changes that was going on, I thought it was a privilege. It all boils down to steadfastness. My steadfastness was making up my mind very early in the day that I wanted a career in the federal civil service and I never wavered. I have had normal progression without any setbacks. If promotions were done at three year-intervals, I was never skipped, so I had a smooth career with very little query and in fact, I enjoyed the best health as I can’t remember the one or two days that I couldn’t go to work on account of ill health. I have continued to enjoy my good health up till today. It’s a pride that today in terms of health nothing takes me beyond going to the pharmacy to buy drugs, so in that respect I also thank God.
Any regret so far?
From what I have said so far, and this is a question that has cropped up many times from the media people I have interacted with, but the most recent was my interview with Muryar Arewa, a monthly publication and another with Radio Alternative in Niger Republic, Hausa radio interview, I mentioned and wish to reiterate that I have no regrets because what I chose in terms of career, I got through smoothly. I have good health, I have the wherewithal to maintain myself, so what more do I want? I have no ambition in terms of participation in partisan politics; it is out of the question. I have been a bureaucrat all my life and I want to maintain my legacy. I am not wavering. In fact, some people say I am a writer and I say I am not a writer because I never set out to be a writer; it was something that came later on. The way I regard it, writing is a subsidiary thing. The main business is being a bureaucrat. I remain a bureaucrat who is delving into the literary field. As I said, it was not that when I was in the service I wasn’t writing, I was writing in files, I was writing papers to deliver in conferences and that has impacted on me a lot in my literary career. In fact, two of my books I wrote them while in the civil service, Voices in a Choir: Issues in Democratization and National Stability in Nigeria and my autobiography, Hatching Hopes and a few other books which were presented in 2006, which was about seven years after my retirement.
What do you know now that you wished you knew when you were in your forties?
Well, they say a fool at 40 is a fool forever and fortunately I would say I do not fall into that trap. I have been hale and hearty and I wouldn’t say there is anything that I wished I had done at 40 I could take back. Of course, once you reach 40 you start putting on extra weight in terms of physique but as you can see me, I haven’t gone much beyond the usual. Of course I have put on weight but I am not as bulky as some people have blown up. I have been fortunate in that regard.
Who is/are your favourite author(s)?
Honestly I have no favourite author. Why? Because unlike people who are more into creative writing, I am more into administrative history, if there is such a term, so I am an administrative historian who would write more of documentation in the sense that I would like to document certain things with regards to my civil service career and that is what pushes me into writing the history of my people. But if you ask me I can tell you I read a lot of biographies of people like Clinton, like Blair, like Nelson Mandela in order to support the idea I am trying to pursue. So it is more like who are the people whose books you have read rather than who is your favourite author. In those days and even now when people are reading novels, I would go for management books, documents, reference books to support whatever policy I want to explain or put across to the public in papers I write or the books I write.
What was the best book you have ever read and why?
One of the best books, as I said, any book I want to read, I want to read in order to gain one or two points for the paper I am trying to write, so to single out one book, I would leave my horizon and I would not like to say this is the best book. I am a reference man and I go to where I will get reference material to support my arguments and presentations.
Are you reading books written by African/Nigerian authors?
In the last one year? I wouldn’t like to boast much but visitors to my home will probably see the many books I have been making reference to. But if you are thinking of notable artists like Abubakar Gimba, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, that is an award winner, these are some I have tried to read their books because they are my colleagues and associates. I take interest in that. But I think I have sufficient interest in the reference books to occupy me. I don’t have much time in terms of reading novels. From time to time I take the African writers books and read and from there I learnt some of the background of the writers. In the papers, particularly the literary sections, I take interest in that. In terms of novels in the African scene, I cannot tell you that I have read enough to form an opinion.
At what time of the day do you prefer to write?
I must confess to you that writing in terms of long hand these days, I am not comfortable with it because of that, I dictate to my secretary much of what I write and this means in the daytime. But in the night time I read. I cannot burn the candle because I want to write something. I can type a little. I could pick some of the keys on a computer but when I lost my PC some months back.
You have authored over twenty books in seven years, what is the secret behind this literary harvest and where exactly do you get the energy or motivation?
The motivation is from people. Of the 20 books, the bulk is in Hausa, on the folktales that have become my past time. Having written my autobiography, Hatching Hopes and Voices in a Choir, my publisher asked me “don’t you have something else to do?” So from there I diverted my attention to folktales and that is where I derived my inspiration. As soon as he said “don’t you have other stories to tell from your area?” Immediately my mind went to the folktales which I heard from my mother and others; and having reflected, I found that the story telling tradition was dying and the old people who knew were passing away and the young people are engaged in watching television and such publications and programmes whether electronic or hard copy coming from overseas. Children hardly have the benefit of what we had in the 1950s, so that encouraged me to go into that field. I told people the field of folktales or folklore is a mine field and for a country like Nigeria with over 250 tribes the culture is unlimited.
Is there any writer who influenced you?
Of course there are many writers who influenced me but maybe their influence was more in terms of really reviewing what I have written, sketches on my autobiography. Okion Ojigbo who wrote several books on former president Shehu Aliyu Shagari and Gen. Murtala Mohammed looked at my writing and found it interesting and encouraged me. My other writings I refer them to people like Abubakar Gimba and of course Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. Their writings and similar writings encourage me and give me comfort. I also have the guidance of my publishers and I don’t stop there. I write things that I refer to many people. Even A History of Biu, I referred the manuscript to more than 40 people to read and give me feedback. That is how I go about it. Writing styles and other things, I am not particular about it. I have not yet made up my mind as to whether a writer is born or made but I believe that every individual has a gem of writing skill in him. It’s like putting a drop of water in the desert and seeing something grow. You don’t say the desert is dry and nothing will come out of it, it’s the same with writing. I believe it needs small promptings here and there for your writing genius to be revealed, it is left to you to explore.
If you were not a writer at the moment, in what direction would you have channelled your energy?
I did farming in childhood but after that I’ve not looked at farming. Though Nigeria and particularly the northern part have vast land in terms of agriculture, I have averted my mind from that. I have interest in estate development. Aside from that, I have some board appointments here and there which keep me occupied and my involvement in writing. These I believe are sufficient for now to sustain me. Writing in order to keep my mind active and supplement my board appointments and shares which I started since about the indigenisation time in the 1970s that have provided me some wherewithal to sustain me and not to delve into some adventures in which I have no skills.
What does it feel like being unanimously elected president of the Nigerian Folklore Society?
The responsibility which was conferred on me last April is still really sinking in on me though I had held the post of chairman of the Nigerian Folklore Society for one year and was merely upgraded from the chairman to the presidency, so it is not something new. I have been holding the post for one year, one at the chairman level and this is at the president level, formally elected and conferred. The elections took place barely three or four weeks ago. We want the executive to really sit down and map out the revival, which is continuous. I know we want to improve on what we have inherited. We’ve got a new constitution, we are trying to revive the publication of the newsletter, which is the publicity organ of the Nigerian Folklore Society and also to bring about authoritative journals to be published by NFS of which the members will be proud. Ours is to really solidify what we have tried to rebuild in the last one year so the challenge for me is to sustain the momentum and at the end of June we will be able to bring out the first newsletter. And sustain it by making it a quarterly publication and have regular programmes including writing workshops for people to know how to present their conference papers and direct their attention to the different challenges of folklore, which cover drama, songs and tales which is my preoccupation.
Of all the books you have authored, which one is more tasking?
Of course if it is bulky it will involve more time but sometimes the bulkiness may not also mean it is more tasking but I will really hesitate to pinpoint any of my works. I would rather my readers assess them and give me feedback and to say which book is of this quality whether by content or presentation, and that may probably show the amount of effort put into the presentation. But people will say the wine gets better with time. But I always tell people, just as some people ask which of your children you like most I don’t think I will rate my children and say this is the one I like most. It is for my readers to determine which one they think meets their expectation.
What informs the wise decision of coming up with Dr Bukar Usman Foundation?
That is a big question. The foundation came about in 2008 about July when we incorporated it. But really my motivation was to provide a platform or wherewithal for my family and associates to help in anyway the needy in different aspects of life. But the aims and objectives are contained in the incorporation document and people can go online (www.bukarusman.com) and view them. But from my family’s side, my wives, I say wives, two, but not married at the same time; the first one, Adekemi nee Badejo, we were married for 24 years before she passed on along with my second daughter in a motor accident around 1994. The second wife, soon after the earlier one passed on came on board around 1995. Our fourth child is just about 18 months presently. But both of my wives have shown some milk of human kindness. People, family, friends and relatives know how well disposed they were and are to helping people so I thought I should provide a platform for them to provide help to people who are needy. That was the main reason really. There were some events that occurred with my family which I thought unthinkable sometimes. In terms of charity, my first daughter Mero, before she died, someone got a visa to go to Canada on visa diversity and had no wherewithal to travel. She helped him. It so happened that after she died, it was that same person she helped that received her two children and husband when they also got diversity visa to stay in Canada. Can you imagine! By the time she rendered this help she never thought that she or her children would go to Canada let alone to settle there.
Would you briefly tell us the main focus or/and goals of the foundation?
I am not satisfied to the extent that maybe if we have the capacity we could do more. So there is no satisfaction in that sense but we have established it since about five years ago and it is picking up. I can only relate that the few people we have helped and the feedback we have got suggest we are making an impact, not on a wide scale but even on the limited scale, from the way people respond suggests that they are grateful. And even if it means two or three people benefit from the activity of the foundation, I feel to some extent, satisfied.
How would you love to be remembered?
As someone who has come to this world and has played his own part; they said the world is a stage, like Shakespeare said, you go and you perform your role and leave the stage. After 70, I thank God for keeping me in good health, and as people would say, ones prayer is to have a balance sheet where the good outweighs the bad, but we have to wait until we get to the next world for the great judgment where they say your good in this world will be put against the bad.
