Why I set up Hausa prize
for literature
–Hajia Bilikisu Karaye, Executive Secretary,
Federal Judicial Service Commision
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
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•Hajia
Karaye
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The Supreme Court of Nigeria overlooks the Aso Villa, Abuja,
Nigeria’s seat of power. Except you have an important
business here, jaywalking around the vicinity isn’t
entertained. Beside the Supreme Court building is the Federal
Judicial Service Commision. Hajia Bilikisu Karaye occupies
the seat of executive secretary, a powerful position in Nigerian
judiciary which entails training all the judges in the country.
Little wonder that last year when the first Engineer Mohammed
Karaye Prize for Hausa Literature was launched at the International
Conference Centre, Abuja, two former and present Chief Justices
of the Federation were present to give her support for establishing
a major Hausa prize for literature in more than twenty years.
She is on leave when I call at her office, but has to rush
to the office to keep this appointment. Hajia Bilikisu is
media-shy, and prefers staying in the background. “If
it wasn’t to promote and sustain this prize, I would
have preffered to remain quiet,” she tells me in her
quiet office.
Originally an Ebira from Okene, Kogi State, before transferring
her services to the Federal Judicial Service Commision in
May, 1999, as a secretary, the legal administrator, who was
called to the Bar in in July, 1980, served in Kano State with
the Ministry of Justice for one year as a youth corps member
before joining the Kano State Housing Corporation as a Legal
Officer, rising through the ranks to become an Assistant Director.
She was also also the Acting Secretary of the National Judicial
Council from 1999 to 2002.
Her late husband, late Engineer Mohammed Bashir Karaye, who
she is immortalizing in the Hausa prize for literature, was
the former Managing Director of the Kano State Housing Corporation.
“That’s where I met him in the 1980s, ”
she intones. He was a civil engineer with specialization in
water irrigation. Before joining the Housing Corporation,
he worked several years in the Ministry of Agriculture. After
he left the Kano Housing Corporation, he was the Commissioner
for Water Resources in Kano State. The last public post he
held was that of Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports
and Culture. Thereafter, he set up his own consultancy firm
called Kadarko, mainly concerned with water irrigation projects,
until his death in October, 2006.
Hajiya Bilikisu speaks in a soft-spoken voice with a mellifluous
accent laden with candour . “It was just by a mere dint
of luck waiting on my path,” she reveals how Patrick
Oguejiofor, a member of her staff and the Association of Nigerian
Authors (ANA), Abuja Chapter, came with the proposal last
year and she bought it. “But my main motivation for
establishing the prize was to immortalize my late husband’s
name. I was just trying to keep his name alive through any
means possible, and I felt what better means than literature!”
she adds an assertive tone.
Perhaps, the reading culture is not as it used to be, but
there are some people who derive pleasure in reading, and,
of course, you have to encourage the writers: this is what
she thinks. “And what better way, in this case, than
his indigenous language, Hausa! I am not Hausa myself, but
Hausa is the language spoken in the house (He was Hausa/Fulani).
I felt people would benefit more from the prize. Despite Hausa
being one of the indigenous languages spoken in West Africa,
there is a marked decline in the interest for Hausa literature.
So, why not re-awaken people’s interest to read more?
I was just lucky that Oguejiofor came up with the proposal
at the time he did,” she hints.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t write in any indigenous language
or read a sentence in her local language. But she has always
been interested in literature. As a student, she used to be
an avid reader, reading everything she came across. Even in
her secondary school days, she became a house librarian in
Form 2 or so, because nobody else was interested. “I
always loved literature. I offered it for my O’ Levels,
A’ Levels (i.e. IJMB). I was pleased to find out that
literature would stand me in good stead if I wanted to study
law. I read prose, poetry --whether African or foreign writer,”
she informs excitedly.
If you are wondering why she did not set a prize in English
language, she chose the Hausa language for a couple of reasons,
“ I believe we have several prizes for literature in
English in the country but none for Hausa language. As I said,
I just felt fortunate that Oguejiofor and Abuja ANA approached
me at the time they did. But I just felt it was the right
thing to do: promote an indigenous language and, luckily,
it was my husband’s language. I want to immortalize
his name in literature (that I love) and in a language I would
like to be promoted. Let’s acknowledge what Hausa writers
are doing, promote their published works and let them be well
known,” she says passionately.
Chances are that her late husband would have encouraged her
enterprise if he was alive. “He was more of a science
figure, but he encouraged me to do anything I liked. He would
have been pleased that I chose his language, and not mine,”
she says. Overwhelemed by the massive turnout for the inuagural
prize giving ceremony and launch last year. “It was
more than I ever expected. It was touching. I felt it was
a tribute to him and also a support from the people I have
worked with. All the three Chief Justices of Nigeria that
I have worked with turned up for that event. I felt so honoured
that day. Most of the people present at the occasion were
aware of the bond which existed between my husband and I,
so they came out that day to show that, though he was no longer
there, they would support whatever would promote his name.”
The executive secretary of the Federal Judicial Service Commision
hopes that the prize will continue for a long time. “We
need people like you to use your goodwill to inform others
about it and that we still welcome contributions. It is going
to be very difficult for the family and I to sustain it on
our own. Yes, we promised that every year we are going to
make the launch available, but ours is just a widow’s
mite. It is not much compared to what is required,”
she says. “The Karaye Prize is not different from any
other standard literary prize anywhere in the world. We already
have a framework in place to ensure that it survives.”
The first prize giving ceremony was combined with a fundraising
event. The money realized, she promises, will go into an account
to be named after the prize itself. Arrangements are currently
underway to register it with the Corporate Affairs Commission,
after which the dedicated account for the fund will be opened.
It is from this account that the prize money as well as the
cost of organizing the ceremony annually will be sourced.
She says, “The prize has a life of its own and, God
willing, it will survive us, the initiators.”
The prize committee is also working an arrangement with the
Association of the Nigerian Authors (ANA), Abuja Chapter,
for the administration of the prize. “I have plenty
of confidence in the association, and I am very confident
that the prize will survive and accomplish its objective of
identifying, encouraging and promoting writers of literary
expression in the Hausa language while at the same time reviving
the reading culture in the Hausa language. We count on everyone
to assist in sustaining this laudable effort,” she prays.
In what way would this prize impact on the reading culture?
She replies heartedly, “It will encourage people to
write more. Their works will be published and they will get
the deserved recognition , and the reading populace will grow.
So, in our own way, by the grace of Allah, we shall impact
on others as well.”
Is she looking beyond the Hausa community to, maybe, do something
for Nigerian literature? She chuckles and responds, “That’s
a big dream. I wouldn’t mind if I could contribute in
any way, but, right now, I am more interested in this one
having a strong hold before venturing into any other field.
But if it has to be anything, it has to be literature.”
Given the success recorded last year, she hopes for something
bigger and better in subsequent events, but not increasing
the prize money, “It is too early to start talking about
increasing the cash value of the prize now. Maybe not this
year, because, if you do so this year, people will expect
it to be increased yearly – we may not be able to sustain
it. I think for some years to come we are going to maintain
what we started with and, thereafter, if it becomes necessary,
the trustees will sit down and consider an increment.”
At this juncture, I venture into a sore subject: what memories
of her husband is she still keeping? Tears flow from her eyes
and cascade down her cheeks as she replies, “ I think
about him everyday of my life. He was just a perfect husband.
Those who knew him will tell you that he just complemented
me in every way. He was what I was not. He was my strength
and pillar and, without doubt, my best friend and confidant.
I miss him a lot. I cry, smile and laugh when I just think
about him. He made me the happiest and most satisfied person
in the world. He brought out the best in me. I pray for him
everyday, hoping that Allah (SWT) shall bless him with Al-Janna
firdaus.
“I will like to use this medium to express my heartfelt
gratitude to all those wonderful people who hearkened to my
call to honour my beloved husband barely a year after his
death. I thank all the donours for their generous donation
toward this very worthy cause – friends, relatives,
lovers of literature and, of course, my colleagues, staffers
and members of the Association of Nigerian Authors. May Allah
reward them abundantly.”
The reward ought to be mutual, for, as long as the record
remains, her reward would be eternal. |
