Friday Discourse 103: Fulani and Their Problems in Nigeria (3)

Friday Discourse (113)
By Dr. Aliyu Tilde

Fula and their masters in Nigeria

Jam bandu na?
I have dedicated the third part of this series to the economy and the growing insecurity of the Fula naturalis in Nigeria. So I have discussed the imperative of his movement from one place to another as well as the problems and dangers that doing so poses to his life and that of his cattle today. His demands are not hard to meet, if it were not for the betrayal from his domesticus brother. The necessity of coming to his rescue has been emphasised, particularly given the fact that though he alone toils to keep the cows alive, he is not their only beneficiary. As an addendum, I have a message from Bayero University Kano followed by a prelude to the next article.
Contract
How the Fula came across the cow remains a mystery. I often wonder if he is not under a con-tractual obligation with nature. It might have told him, the day he broke away from the Jews, the Romans or the Indians, whichever theory you believe in: “take these animals and live by them, with them and for them.” He promptly accepted the offer and faithfully followed its command. Except the Hindu, it is difficult to come across a person preoccupied with cows as is the Fula. From the former, the animal derives the vener-ation of a deity, and from the latter the dignity of a profession.
In the age long relationship between the Fula and the cattle, it is difficult to distinguish the master from the slave. But I have finally con-cluded that the cattle are the masters. He strives to meet their demands for food, water, space, security and protection against diseases, among others. Though other domesticated animals do also require each of the above, however, the ag-gregate demand of the cow in this respect is ob-viously the greatest.
In his effort to meet these requirements the Fula earned the notoriety of being one of the most travelled nomads of the world. While most nomads did not go beyond the boundaries of their countries or empires, he has successfully traversed the African continent beginning from his earliest known location in North Africa. If there is no record of his cattle tasting the waters of the Mississippi, the Euphrates or the Ganges, we can certainly claim that they have tasted those of inland rivers of Africa: the Senegal, the Niger, the Benue, the Nile, the Congo and much beyond.
Wherever he went, pushed more by necessity than by adventure, he came across, and learnt to live among, different peoples. He learnt to toler-ate their temperaments, and know their strengths and weaknesses. He has seen the rise and fall of nations, of which many he, as a domesticus, con-tributed to build, and few he conspired to ruin.
Limitations
However, resources are no longer in abun-dance because populations have increased while arable landmass has shrunk. The ensuing compe-tition over these resources has become intense especially after the advent of modern nation states. Another danger to the Fula, which ac-companied such states, is the growing restriction on cross border movement. The naturalis does not know an international passport. He looks trapped today like bacteria in a petri-dish.
If we take Nigeria as an example, the Fula was earlier restricted by Tsetse-flies to the Northern Guinea Savannah, especially after the collapse of soil fertility in the Sahel. Desertifica-tion has exacerbated the situation by further re-ducing the forage yield of the region. A south-ward migration became necessary. Conse-quently, in the last three decades, he dared the flies and downwards he penetrated the forest regions of the Southeast and the Southwest.
He does so not only for the sake of food, but also for keeping his herd healthier. The new ar-eas are richer in minerals, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, than long inhabited ones. As they move southward, the cattle can feed on grasses that are richer in these minerals, enabling them escape the fatal ravage of phagotic diseases that make them eat soil and other hard materials.
Problems
Earlier, he used to migrate southward annu-ally, returning home as the rains start to stabilize. Recently, with less Tsetse-flies, with the availab-ility of effective drugs, and with the relative se-curity brought about by colonization and inde-pendence, many Fula have yielded to the tempta-tion of remaining in lands between the lower Benue basin and Delta region. This has brought about some cultural problems. I have lamented on this for long, for unlike in Hausaland, where there is a cultural continuity as a result of Islam, in many southern states the Fula have to forego certain values, tolerate or learn bad habits, and practice the forbidden. Imagine a daughter of a naturalis married to non-Muslim husband in Calabar or Nsukka! Taboo. Living under such circumstances, and with the indifference of the naturalis to religion, they have become very cheap targets of evangelism.
But after building homes, fortunately (?), they have today realized that those isolated set-tlements are food, not safe, havens. Their lives, together with that of their cattle, are under real danger.
As the struggle over its diminishing pros-perity intensifies; with its security apparatus overstretched; and its leaders handicapped by the doctrine of democracy or the impotence of in-competence, Nigeria is faced with a rising trend of intolerance.
The masses, under the influence of the elite with whom they share religion or ethnicity, are overdosed with ethnic sentiments and religious bigotry more than what their heart could bear and beyond what their mind can accommodate. Many times, they would burst like a balloon, naturally, at the spread of the smallest rumour or following the slightest misunderstanding. While the elite who instigated them earns the relevance he desired, the masses suffer the loss of lives and property as well as the anguish of terminated relationship and the agony of living in perpetual bitterness. This is the trend, in Lagos, Kano, Ka-duna, Enugu, everywhere.
The most heinous aspect of this unfortunate development, and which affects the Fula natu-ralis most, is how religion, in confederation with ethnicity, is stripped naked of its innocence and conscripted to serve in the battalion of ethnic cleansing that is different only in proportion, but not in intent, from those perpetrated by Serbians in former Yugoslavia and the Hutu in Rwanda. It has served to elevate intolerance above patience, violence above dialogue, and chaos above tran-quillity.
But one would assume that the theatres of po-litical struggles are restricted to the cities, that they should have little impact on the life of the rural Fula. Not so in Nigeria. Those that use eth-nicity to achieve their political aims still have their vestiges rooted in the countryside. They have found it convenient to return and preach their doctrine of violence among their people. And the Fula, who belongs to a different culture, is made to suffer the full brunt of their rage.
Where city dwellers, with all the police sta-tions, barracks, modern means of communica-tions and transportation, and the benefit of to-getherness, cannot be protected in times of crisis, what do we expect would be the fate of the Fula who lives in the bush, alone with his family? He becomes a punching bag, someone on whom other tribes will vent their anger after finding city dwellers hard nuts to crack. On a simple promise of a stipend from one local political leader or another, some youths will storm his settlement, burn it down and drive him away. He is turned into a refugee overnight. When luck is not on his side, he is butchered, together with his sons and daughters, and his cattle are taken away by the invading thugs.
This has become his most recent fate. Exam-ples are too numerous to mention, a fact that makes it difficult to convince the pessimist that it is not a calculated attempt at ethnic cleansing. Plateau and Taraba states are the recent areas where he has suffered the worst of brutalities. In all these encounters, he has suffered losses of life and property that the mannered would prefer to bury than to render.
Solutions
It is not clear when this rising trend of vio-lence will end. But if it is true that such atrocities are provoked by declining prosperity; if it is cor-rect that democracy encourages the reluctance to amend; and since there is no end in sight to both evils of poverty and maladministration, the Fula will be reckless to invest in hope better than he could in despair. He has since started to retrace his route, back to the friendly areas of the North.
On our part, the domesticus and other Nige-rians as well, I feel it is time we abandon our hypocritical stand regarding these helpless peo-ple. The country cannot afford to see its sole source of beef laid up by insecurity at a time when its foreign exchange earnings are declin-ing. Insecurity worsens our plight as Nigerians. It must be fought and discouraged in all ways possible. But we shall take up that monster in another article shortly.
The main suggestion regarding the plight of the naturalis is obvious. We cannot run away from finding means that will limit his migration into hostile areas where there aren’t adequate provisions to protect him. He must be encour-aged to remain in the Northwest or the Northeast. May I cease the opportunity to, for the first time, praise Obasanjo for mustering courage, after the last September crisis in Jos, to affirm that Nige-rians must be free to live anywhere in the coun-try, pursuing their professions and enjoying full rights as citizens of this country. We welcome such assurances, but unless enough evidence is there on ground, the Fula will find it difficult to return to certain places.
Fortunately, governments in the Northwest and the Northeast have the basic infrastructure required to meet the demands of the Fula. All their states have grazing reserves. They only require rehabilitation, and such other things like gazetting and reclamation from trespassers. Res-toration of stock routes is also essential. Their livestock departments, together with the exper-tise of federal establishments like National Ani-mal Production Research Institute in Shika and the National Veterinary Research Institute in Vom, can supply the services required to enrich those reserves with all the modern forages and facilities that will sustain large populations of cattle. Dams can be constructed, in addition to many existing ones, which will serve their cattle and irrigate their fodder.
There is also the need to cultivate what I call grazing fields, thousands of hectares planted with improved varieties of fodder that will pin down the naturalis to their areas. Such grasses are perennials, once they are planted and catered for during the first season, they will survive any drought and their coverage will increase annually by the natural dispersal of their seeds by the cattle themselves. The innumerable rivers we have are long enough to sustain millions of hec-tares of such forage along their banks. We hardly have reason to fault nature.
The fault is in us. It is shameful to note how the Fula domesticus has so far treated the plight of the naturalis with wanton abandon. He has preferred to concern himself with the contracts of public utilities in urban areas at the expense of the dire needs of rural people. But if he would sit down, for just a moment, to remember that his immediate father or grandfather was a naturalis, and that he only narrowly escaped living like one, he would have been overcome by pity; and the nobility he claims would have persuaded him to behave responsibly.
All northerners must give a helping hand to the cause of revitalizing the livestock sector. The argument of resource control will continue, given the trend in the past twenty years, to gain mo-mentum until it is finally settled to the disadvan-tage of the North. Then, livestock will be one of the few sectors that will immensely contribute to the economy of the region.
It is surprising to see how a country like Burkina Faso has endeavoured to remarkably meet this challenge for the Fula in their country. Nigeria – with a greater population, and more cattle and Fulbe – has preferred to ignore it com-pletely, if not for the recent effort by the PTF and the Pastoralist Resolve (PARE) of our for-mer Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari. The PTF has completed all the paper work on grazing reserves which present gov-ernments can readily use to forge ahead.
There is also the unexploited area of im-proved varieties of cattle, artificial insemination, and many modern methods in animal husbandry. I was surprised to read that the Sardauna person-ally two such cows from overseas and kept them on his farm at Bakura. That would have served as a good example to others, if not for the apathy of Malam B. But the idea died with his death, until its reinvention by Admiral Murtala Nyako recently. And even now, Nyako is a lonely voice.
It is not true that the Fulani cannot be settled, as it is often portrayed. That misconception has contributed immensely to their present state of neglect. Given the harsh realities today, and the above-suggested facilities on ground, most of them will be glad to settle down. If failures were encountered previously, they were largely be-cause adequate attention was not paid to meeting the requirements of their herds, which we listed at the beginning of the article. Without meeting those requirements, it will be difficult to expect the Fula to stay and watch his cattle die.
Conclusion
Our argument is simple. With a responsible leadership, almost every state can sponsor the establishment or rehabilitation of grazing re-serves and their management, with the attendant facilities of clinics and dams where perennial rivers are absent. Every local government can assist the Fula and the country at large by creat-ing smaller communities in suitable places with at least a veterinary clinic for his cattle, a dispen-sary for his family and a school for his children.
Once this is done, the Fula naturalis will no longer find it necessary to maraud in search of food for his cattle. He will not be forced to aban-don his culture or religion. He will not be ex-posed to brutal violence in other communities. Other Nigerians, on their part, will be assured of beef and employment. Above all, however, we have enabled the Fula to continue fulfilling his contractual agreement with nature: service to his masters – the cattle.
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BUK Fulfulde Day
The Ardo Fulbe of Bayero University Kano in-vited me via email to their annual Fulfulde Day last weekend. I had the pleasure to honor it; after all, I could not turn it down after putting the challenge strongly in the first part of this series. It was a successful day, which I believe Fulani students in other campuses should endeavor to emulate. There were speeches, paper presenta-tion, drama, and cultural dances before an im-pressive gathering at the Twin Theatres. The sweet memory of the crowd and of the warm reception I enjoyed will linger in my mind until the next occasion.
I had the privilege of meeting many senior Academicians like Professors Ahmed Jalingo and Professor Isa Abba. I also met with an old friend, Gausu Ahmad, the first time in thirteen years, but regretted missing the opportunity of seeing Mal. Abubakar Jika for the first time. Jika’s arrival at BUK, as confided by many of his colleagues, has given the Department of Mass Communication a new vitality. I saw a notice board carrying articles of the Writers Col-lective club. With efforts like these, the future of the North in journalism is certain to be very bright. I doff my hat for people who change so-ciety by marrying their words with their actions.
I never knew that this column was being fol-lowed with a lot of exuberance and deep interest, until that day. Apparently, the column, at least at BUK, has succeeded in capturing the interest of the students and commanded the respect of their lecturers.
For some hours, I was treated like a celebrity, close to what Hausa films star Fati Mohammed or Princess Diana enjoyed. I only missed a shot with their ex-balloo, supposedly as a result of her pulaaku, not mine! But even when there was no prior acquaintance to warrant a hug (taboo!), or an intimacy to permit a kiss (blasphemy!), I thought there was enough pain in farewell to justify a reminder!!
Beyond the numerous snapshots, the readers interrogated me regarding some of the ideas that I expressed in this column: ideas on IBB in 2003, the Fula series themselves, women rights, pri-vate schools, and so on. The interesting thing was the respect in which questions were asked and the due regard they were answered.
I promised Professor Jalingo a correction on my list of emirates in the Northeast that have enviably remained custodians of Fulfulde. I omitted Muri that has a distinct history from that of Gombe and Adamawa. Mi tuubi. Thank you Prof also for the advice you gave the organizers. I believe they will work with it. Next year will record more success.
I am grateful to the officials of the organiza-tion and also to Mal. Abubakar J. Njiddere (sai ka yi, as I heard them say) for the sumptuous meals throughout my stay, and in case of the latter, for continuously giving the students the encouragement they need. I also accept the chal-lenge he posed before the audience, that “Tilde must deliver his paper next year in Fulfulde.” Great. Sai yendeere fere, kadi sai to giidal hauri.
Next week
On a serious note, during the occasion, I saw the need to clarify some issues regarding the promotion of Fulfulde. I explained myself there, I suppose to the satisfaction of the audience, in order to dispel the normal apprehensions. I be-lieve the ideas of interest some readers also.
While still in Kano, I had the liberty to dis-cuss with a critical friend, Dr. Aminu Taura, a versatile consultant psychiatrist (!), who was initially against my Fula advocacy, in many re-spects. Somehow, though a full-blooded kado, I was able to convince him about the political sig-nificance of Fulfulde having a firm root in Hausaland. It will likely be the future second language of their Hausa. How we arrived at that will also be explained next week, the last in the series. I promise.
Use ni, bear with me. Keep a date with the column and learn more fulfulde. Jam waala.

Friday Discourse 104: Fulani and their Problems in Nigeria (4)

Friday Discourse (114)
By
Dr. Aliyu Tilde

Misconceptions in Fula Advocacy

This article is a shield to the three previous ones. As our discourse returns to address more general issues next week, it is important to focus on certain misconceptions, which are very likely to be held by people – Fula and non-Fula alike – who will have a cause to comment on the subject publicly or privately. Fortunately, the misconceptions are few, two in fact: political and religious. There may not be time for the column to revisit the matter in the near future. For many of our readers who will be concerned about any criticism on the matter, they can always return to this article to remember what our true position on the issue is. It is our final word.
It will be an act of ingratitude if we will proceed without thanking God for the success that the series has already recorded. Alhamdu lillah. My prayer was answered, for no other topic has attracted so many responses, almost all of them positive, than the Fula series. They have not ceased. I hope the people directly concerned – I mean the Fula themselves and others whose official duty require dealing with them – will translate this interest into action by taking cogent steps of redress.
Criticism
There were few discontent voices, in spite of our initial apology. From Zaria, I received one from one of my most loyal readers, which essentially read thus:
“… Mallam, it is quite unfortunate that after a series of your indefatigable defense of Hausa language, its people and culture – with an extraordinary emotional plea over the years and seeing yourself as part and parcel of them – you are now advocating for Fula culture, language, everything, not Hausa.
“… Mallam we have many problems. The situation requires that we speak more about our similarities than our differences. Your presentations… will shift us away from attending to other issues that urgently require our attention.”
A friend in Kano first argued that it is natural for languages to die. (This was also the same idea expressed by a British colleague who lives with us here.) Secondly, he expressed the fear that Fula advocacy, if not handled carefully, has the potential of dividing our society. Thirdly, he corrected me on Chomsky, asserting that genetics and language, according to the linguist, are discontinuous.
Then came the rejoinder by Abdullahi Doki, titled, Tribe Worshipping and Decline of the Fulani who found my first article faulty only in one place (what a generous score: 99%, if the article had only 100 sentences). He wrote:
“The problem is Dr. Tilde might have punctured the swelling gratitude his peace… generated with a few lines on pulaaku. Advising his ‘blue-blooded domesticus friends’ on what to do when getting married, he wrote: ‘Expounding the theory of pulaaku in a newspaper is not enough. I will make Fulfulde a precondition for their enthronement whenever the seats in Kano, Bungudu or Katsina become vacant...’ Tribe worshipping, manifested in ideas like these, are responsible for the decline of the Fulani and other problems Dr. Tilde wrote so well about. Dr. Tilde has not erred in the remaining part of the essay…”
His last sentence read:
“Should not the fear of God, not Fulfulde and tribe-worshipping, be the precondition for enthroning Pulaaku?”
Clarification
The last two have really touched on sensitive aspects of Fula advocacy. The apprehension from my friend in Kano was political, while that from Abdullahi Doki was religious, supposedly. I will clarify my position on both.
First, Abdullahi Doki did not catch the essence of the appeal I made to my “blue-blooded friends”. There is no way I will have a say in the enthronement of anybody, anywhere, not even in my village. My blood is red, deep red in fact.
Unfortunately, Abdullahi took it so seriously that he used it to accuse me, along with Sanusi, of pagan attributes – as tribal-worshippers, or Jahiliyya as the Prophet would accuse Aba Zarr in his dispute with Bilaal. I know very well of the existence of ‘Fula-phobics’ among us. And that tells you how difficult it was to write these essays. Humour was the only option that I could use to daunt their feelings. That was why I had to, for example, turn the Fulani into a genus, like plants or animals, and give them Latin names – naturalis, domesticus as distinct species of the genus Fula – in place of say town Fulani or cattle Fulani. For a scientist, only humour can warrant this. That is also why I combined language with genetics, regardless of the relationship between Mendel and Chomsky, and expressed the proliferation of our genes among other people. And so on.
But for some people, the humour was to no avail. The phobia for the Fula talking about his culture, when any other is free to do so, arises first from his stigmatisation by his adversaries – among some Hausa and missionaries – who are still bitter about the Jihad; and secondly by others from the South who saw the Fula, as Awolowo once complained about, as the only force standing in the way of grand ambition to rule Nigeria. That is why my Bagobiri customer could look at me and say: Ku filani kun ramma mutane, simply because I refused to do something which is also discouraged in Islam. That is also why many southern politicians and middle belters refer to Fulani as colonialists, feudalists, and what not.
Religion
There is a misconception regarding the stand of Islam regarding tribes, languages, cultures, and so on. We are often reminded of verse 49:13: “Lo! The noblest of you in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.” To many, the verse signifies the dissolution of all differences, cultural and otherwise. A simple question here is: why did not God make us all Arabs, for example?
The answer, to my understanding, is to be found in the same verse: “O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another…” In other words, our interaction is facilitated, if not made possible solely, by our differences as nations, tribes and gender. Think of the confusion that would arise, if the over 5 billion people inhabiting the planet Earth today were clones of Adam, without any phenotypic or genotypic differences.
But God has planned that his creation should be in form of variety, whether they are clouds, people, mountains, plants and animals, as he mentioned in Fatir. A combination of geography, history, religion and genetics has contributed to the evolution of distinct morphological and behavioural traits among groups we call tribes. Some of the traits are irreversible. This is a reality that is better accepted than renounced. It is impossible to make all of us behave like Arabs, for example, simply because we are Muslims. Islam recognizes such differences and has been flexible enough to accommodate them. In Malaysia, I was told, an Imam will hardly find followers if does not wear a wrapper, a complete opposite of Nigeria!
If we consider industrialized societies, we find a strong impact of the Industrial Revolution and of the subsequent social changes associated with it. Add geography and the two world wars, you will then have two serious factors that are enough to cause sharp cultural and political differences between the West and nations of the world that did not undergo such tumultuous history. They do not have to be like Arabs and Africans, who have a tropical weather and largely a traditional sociology.
Such differences not withstanding, God has disproved any superiority based on gender, tribe or nation. All that Islam came to do is to unite these varieties of people under the common goal of goodness (taqwa) that distinctly flows from the belief in, and obedience to, one God, Allah. In spite of this, a surprising thing is how the doctrine of social compatibility (kafa’ah), became deeply entrenched in Islamic jurisprudence. This is a food for thought.
I have made this clarification in my article on pulaaku, the second in the series. There, I have clearly expressed the fact that henceforth Fulani should consider Islam as the paradigm for their pulaaku, since they can no longer remain in the bush. The yield of the interaction between pulaaku and Islam is particularly great as proven a number of times in history. That is why I still feel that Abdullahi’s rejoinder was redundant. Certainly, Abdullahi has shown very little pulaaku, and much less of Islam, if, after reading the article, he still found it necessary to publicly his rejoinder and accuse me of what he called “tribal worshiping” and “supremacy.”
At B.U.K. I was more blunt. Those that attended the Fulfulde Day there will recall my reaction to a remark that seemed to elevate the Fulani over other people. It is their conduct that accorded the Fulani a place in the history of West Africa. Both Danfodio and al-Futi, among others, fought for social justice; they endeavoured to learn and disseminate knowledge; etc. There were many – like Yakubu of Bauchi – who were non-Fulani disciples of Danfodio, just as there are many Fulani today involved in bad habits. Pride should not be sought in history, but in what we are today. We can however use history to encourage righteousness as God did to the Children of Israel in the Quran. We can similarly ask why should decendants of Muhammadu Rumfa in Kano fail to rise against bad governance and ignorance? Why should the progeny of Waliy Danmarina fail to excel in virtue? Why should the North today cry about injustice and ignorance while among their leaders are progenies of Usman and Abdullahi Danfodio? This is the relevance of history. I added that since we are accusing the elite of the Southwest of raising the banner of ethnic supremacy, we couldn’t afford to do the same ourselves.
On the decline of the Fulani that Abdullahi mentioned, I am not aware of any such decline. I agree that they are confronted with problems, especially regarding their security, their livestock, and their language adapting to urbanization. These are not enough grounds for him to use the world ‘decline’. In spite of these problems, the Fula are as good as others would claim to be. If they cannot claim to be superior, obviously, they cannot in anyway be regarded inferior.
Having said so, I think no one should see any fault in the promotion of Fulfulde and the preservation of their culture that are not repugnant to Islam through such avenues as suggested in our preceding articles. I remember that Hausa Week used to be my best week at A. B. U. It gave me the opportunity to meet people like Aliyu Namangi, Mudi Spikin, and the rest of them. There, I heard students and scholars of Hausa speaking fluently with a diction that could only compelled me to accord its scholars my admiration, and for its people my respect, to date. What difference then does it make if there is Fulfulde week, classes, clubs, centres, newspapers, books, radios or websites? That will be a pride to be shared by all northerners. They are preserving an asset that strengthens their link with the past as well as with many people in West Africa. I was very glad to see that the attendance of the Fulfulde Day at B. U. K. was not restricted to the Fulbe alone.
Now coming to the issues raised by my friend in Kano. Why bother about the death of a language? My reply was that though death is natural, we do our best to avoid it by not endangering ourselves, by becoming law abiding, by fighting against hunger and illiteracy, and, most importantly, by seeking medication. The same thing applies to language. If it dies, only God knows the opportunity lost. The Holy Prophet used to send people to learn various languages for the purpose of security and propagation of religion. God has clearly emphasized the importance of language to da’wah when He said: “We have not sent a Messenger except with the tongue of his people such that he will explain to them…” Abdullahi Doki himself has raised the issue of Fulani converted to Christianity in Bompai and some villages in Abuja. If the domesticus who knows a lot about Islam cannot speak to them in Fulfulde, how would he gain their confidence if he will attempt to de-convert them?
Politics
Lets us turn to the political aspect. I share the view that all caution must be taken to avoid any cultural group becoming involved in politics to the detriment of our collective interest. Politics must be based on the egalitarian scale of individual competence and articulated principles of social justice, regardless of tribal differences.
Presently, the Hausa-Fulani are considered as one political group in the country. Some people, including my friend in Kano, detest this. They feel that the two tribes must be separated to maximize political gains. I disagree. It is impossible to separate the Hausa from the Fulani, and vice versa. The entire political interest of the two became merged since the conquest of Alkalawa 200 years ago. We must remain together, tib da taya, united in a camp with all those who share our ideals from whichever ethnic group they might be.
Separation in response to the ethnic politics of the Southwest will only weaken our position. The dangers in doing so are many, the least being the polarization of people along tribal lines. The Holy Prophet has also commanded us to remain together, for, as he said, “the wolf eats from a herd the sheep that is afar.” I am glad that my friend accepted my stand.
In line with this, I seriously condemn the effort of some politicians in the Northeast, trying to separate the two zones by appealing to cheap regional sentiments. They claim that the Northwest has dominated northern politics for long. So what? This card is intended for 2003 and we will stand firm against it. We are after a credible candidate, from wherever he may be. Let the Fulani or Kanuri, if they can, produce someone better than Obasanjo, we will be glad to vote for him. Let us be wise enough to ask what the politicians from the Northeast in the present administration did to the region apart from calling its people names at the beginning and fighting for their shares in privatisation. Their contribution, if any, must be too little to be recognized.
Finally, we must not forget that at the national level we are all Hausa. The Nupe, the Kanuri, the Fulani, the Angas, the Bachama, in fact almost all northerners, even if some will detest it for reasons of religion, are all referred to as Hausa by people in the south. When I use Malam B. for example, I am referring to all of us in the North, not only the real Bahaushe. In terms of the behaviour of our elite, there is very little difference, unlike what some would like to assert, between the various tribes. Collectively, we can affirm that we have failed.
In fact the claim to Hausa will soon become inevitable to many tribes in the North, regardless of religion, after their languages have completely been wiped out in the next 100 years. (That is how the Fulani wiped out a number of smaller languages in Guinea, to become the most spoken indigenous language there today.) Then the Hausa-Fulani of today may find Fulfulde handy, ready to adopt it as a second language, especially in case of privacy.
Diversion?
Finally, let’s return to what my student said. In discussing Fula and their problems in Nigeria, I do not think I have digressed from the main theme of my discourses, Northern Nigeria. The Fula are part of the North; their livestock is part of its economy; and their culture is also part of its cultures. There is no way talking about any such cultures will tantamount to a digression.
Agreed that we have a myriad of problems. But that is the more reason why our discourse is not restricted to politics. In fact today, with the strong columns at the back cover of the Daily Trust, our discourse is relieved of the monotony of always discussing politics, as it used to be at the beginning. We can now indulge in problems of other sectors, which other columnists might be reluctant to explore.
Neither would our discourse on Fula be an emphasis on our differences in place of our similarities. Differences are bad only when employed to earn undeserved dividends. However, where they are employed to express variety and continuity of the praiseworthy in our cultures, in my opinion, they become something that cannot be overemphasized. We do not have to look on, until when our cultures are completely wiped out, then we start spending millions reviving them as a major preoccupation of generations to come. We can avoid what happened to Hebrew, Aramaic, Berber, and many other languages.
It may interest my readers that I am still an advocate of Hausa as our lingua franca, apart from its inevitability. I do not see this as a contradiction because only the lazy will restrict himself to a language or two. In 1984, disturbed by the poor quality of English among our undergraduates, I strongly nursed the idea of using Hausa as a mode of instruction. We discussed extensively with my then Vice Chancellor, Professor Mahdi Adamu, who educated me on the number of obstacles on that path. Though my postgraduate work overtook that ambition and I have long lost my draft of Kananan Halittu, the appeal has remained to date. Unfortunately, few students and scholars of Hausa think of this possibility and the enormous challenge it poses. They are presently engulfed by the usually unending literary debate between old and the new.
Conclusion
There is every need for making Fulfulde overcome the challenges of urbanization. Promoting it has become necessary for various reasons, religious and secular. Attending to the problems of Fula naturalis – their livestock and security, among others – is also necessary for the region. The responsibility of addressing them lies first among their domesticus brothers who ignored their plight over the years. With a little effort, I believe, we will succeed in saving them from being exploited either at Bompai or in some villages around Abuja. Doing this should earn the Fula a praise, not condemnation, from people whom he considers among his best partners throughout his memorable history.

Friday Discourse 111: Fulani and their Prolems in Nigeria (2)

Friday Discourse (111)

By Dr. Aliyu Tilde
Pulaaku among the Fula

This is the second article on Fulani and their problems in Nigeria. We have sufficiently focussed on language in the previous article last week. Today, we will look at an attribute with which the Fulani are distinguished. It is a feature that is eroding in Nigeria, on one hand as fast as life is becoming difficult for its citizens, and on the other, as gradual as the ruler becomes encapsulated by the norms and adulterations of sedentary life.
We will start with its meaning, then its examples, origins and benefits. Finally we have offered a pre-scription on how it will be maintained among those who still practice it sufficiently and how those who lost it could recover it.
Meaning
The single feature that cuts across the behaviour of the Fula is what he and others call pulaaku. It is the altruism ((Hausa: kara) that makes him consider the interest of others first, before his. It is also the shyness (Hausa: kunya) that prevents him from enjoying what is lawful like gifts, or prevents him from publicly showing his attachment and concern to a beloved one. It is also the endurance (Hausa: juriya) that enables him to withstand pains and difficulties silently, with-out complaining. It is also the caution and pride that makes him to avoid anything ignoble and degrading.
Seen from the above perspective, it is difficult to understand why some people would like to see pula-aku as limited to the Fulani. I will rather consider it as one of those traits common to human cultures. All civilizations, if we have the freedom to discount capi-talism, consider self-sacrifice praiseworthy, and self-ishness blameworthy. All revealed religions preach pulaaku in many of its forms.
In one place, the Medinite companions of the Holy Prophet received the migrant Meccans to their city after the Hijrah with a selflessness that earned them a divine praise. God described them as people who “prefer (the fugitives) above themselves though poverty become their lot. And whoso is saved from his own avarice, such are they who are successful.” (59:8). The Meccan migrants who were deprived of their possessions, on the other hand, were praised with the pulaaku of endurance when God said: “the un-thinking man accounteth them wealthy because of their restraint. Thou shalt know them by their mark: they do not beg of men with importunity…” (2:273). The Holy Prophet, the epitome of good con-duct, shied from expressing his annoyance over the offensive conduct of others towards him: “…Lo. That would cause annoyance to the Prophet, and he would be shy of (asking) you (to go); but God is not shy of the truth.” (22:53) In one of his traditions he was reported saying, “if it does not make you ashamed, do whatever you like.” This tradition sup-ports our assertion that pulaaku, in decrying the igno-ble, is a universal human attribute.
Having established that pulaaku, in many respects at least, is not is not restricted to the Fulani, I am now comfortable to hold that the Fula differ from others because he has taken pulaaku a degree, or degrees as someone would claim, higher than how others did. It is the medium of his conduct, and the substratum on which it is anchored. To the Fula, absence of pulaaku defiles the noble of his dignity and its presence could earn a slave the respect of his master.
Examples
Pulaaku, in its simple form, expects a woman not to mention the name of her husband or that of her first child. In case of the first son, both parents, but espe-cially the mother, are expected to ignore him through-out his life. In extreme cases mothers shy from saving their children from risks, including fire or drowning! (I won’t go that far). Parents with sufficient pulaaku will find it difficult to side with their children or rela-tions in case of misunderstanding with others.
Pulaaku demands utmost privacy in habits of eat-ing, drinking, sleeping and intercourse. A friend from Dukku once told me how his grandfather used to eat in hiding, so secretly that none of his wives ever saw him eating throughout his life. A Gobir trader (bagobiri) once rebuked me for refusing to be served with Coke outside his shop, along Waff Road, Kaduna. He said: “Ku filani kun ramma mutane”, meaning, “you Fulani have an inferior impression about others.” I explained to him how I have always obeyed this form of pula-aku, until when I decided to break it one day in Abuja, thinking that I was away enough from home. It was not long after I started taking a snack outside a restau-rant that I heard an approaching voice saluting me. I raised my head and found, to my utmost shame, that it was a brother to my father in-law. The bagobiri laughed, saying, “And so what if your in-law saw you eating?” He just could not understand why.
The Fula will abhor whatever is discerned as shameful in the society. Lack of remorse is considered as antithesis of pulaaku. In times of deprivation, it is shameful to ask anyone, including his relations. Beg-ging is taboo. As one of his proverbs signifies: there is enough shame when a request is granted; where it is not, the shame cannot be described. If you would ask him, as a guest in your house: “Do you mind some food?”, no matter his condition, he will certainly reply with a smile, saying, “mi haari.” (I am okay).
If he will receive a gift (he does reluctantly and sometimes only to avoid embarrassing the donor), he will add, “hai! torra non?” (What! Why suffer so much?). Thereafter, even if he is a child, he will hur-riedly disappear, because he feels ashamed to receive something from someone. He must be seen to be self-sufficient. That is why, a child is stopped from visiting a house where he will be given gifts. He must also not eat from another house. The adult would usually boycott, wherever possible, people who offer him gifts. He concurs with al Motanabbi who held that generosity buys the noble but encourages the poor-minded to rebel.
Pulaaku demands resilience. Enough of it is ex-pressed in the annual festival that is called sharo in Hausaland. There, the Fula will bare his chest to be beaten by any challenger in the crowd. As the fresh stick of the attacker awfully tears his skin apart to expose his flesh before the viewing public, he neu-tralises the sympathy of his spectators with beautiful smiles and cheerful jubilation. Many times, hit on one side of the chest, he will challenge his opponent fur-ther by turning the other side. He will retire from the occasion to prepare for a hurtful revenge the following week.
While some cultures celebrate the proof of their daughter’s virginity the morning following her first intercourse as a bride, Pulaaku demands that the Fula to conceal even her pregnancy, especially the first one, until it is impossible to do so any longer. And when she comes to deliver a child, she must do so quietly. Even a sick child should not complain of pain by crying. This is where an Arab will shout, wa musi-bataaaa, or wailiiii, or yaa naass, yaa khooooy… and the Hausa will cry, “wayyoooo Allah…” There are no such words in fulfulde, at all.
The dying should also bid farewell to the world quietly. The loss of anything, a son or a property, should not warrant the slightest discomfiture. A mother is denied the tears that would sooth her eyes from the pain caused by the death of her child or husband, no matter the attachment she had for him. On such occasion, the Persian will be piercing his head with a knife; and the Arab will throw dust over his head and cry, “ya khasrataaaa...”
I think the point has sufficiently been made, given these illustrations, that few cultures, if any, as we said before, will be ready to take their pulaaku to this extent.
Origin
We may be tempted to ascribe pulaaku to religion, since all religions preach endurance, self-denial and so on. What a convenience! If it were so, we will expect to find a strong correlation between pulaaku and the religiosity of the individual Fula. On the contrary, pulaaku is also practiced impressively by those natu-ralis who care very little about religion. It is therefore safer to see it as a purely cultural trait among the Fula, which Islam has in some instances condemned or tolerated, and encouraged in most others. It is like the tradition of generosity among pre-Islamic Arabs, which I remember the author of Meccan Crucible was able to trace back to their Jahiliyya customs.
I will argue that pulaaku, to the extent that the Fula practises it, is a habit that was cultivated or rather derived from his nomadic life. The features of pulaaku are the most deficient properties in modern techno-logical societies. Thus the more traditional a society is, at least in the Powelian paradigm of social science, the more will its culture be characterised by generosity, hospitality, selflessness, and so on. Conversely, the more advanced a society is technologically, the lesser will it be characterised by such traditional values.
This argument is more plausible in capitalist soci-eties due to the enormous social pressures that their exploitative mode of production provokes. In tradi-tional societies however, the means of production and distribution are simple: resources are readily supplied by nature and require little processing or marketing before they are consumed.
The nomadic state of the Fula, in other words, is what generally granted him the liberty of selflessness. Their farming system permits self-sufficiency, exten-sively using shifting cultivation and mixed farming. Their close marital practice produce unified communi-ties whose members are closely related. Under such circumstance, sacrifice becomes easier, if not natural.
It is now easy to understand why the Fula, over a long period, is stripped of his pulaaku anytime he settles to face the harsh realities of urban life. If his abundance remains, like where he maintains a large herd of cattle, the likelihood of his pulaaku remaining is higher. But if he has to capture his livelihood from amidst the thick air of competition, like through con-tracts and marketing, then he will soon realize that pulaaku will be a detriment to his survival above the margin of poverty. He would also learn to save his small hard-earned resources for himself because there is none who will come to his aid, as any other person is trying to work out his own survival arithmetic. In the absence of his cattle, farm, fruits, rivers and space, over generations, preference to self becomes irresist-ible, if not inevitable.
The courage component of the Fula’s pulaaku can easily be traced to the necessity of self-defence in his nomadic state. This is a habit he shares with other cultures that grew under conditions of seclusion. The Arabs were equally courageous, until when they learnt how to enjoy the sanctuary of sedentary life and to indulge in the luxuries of the nations they conquered. Today, they cannot raise even a finger against Israel, in protest to the atrocities it is committing against their Palestinian brothers.
Benefits
From a utilitarian perspective, what benefit has the Fula derived from his Pulaaku? The benefits, I be-lieve, are many but we will restrict ourselves here to three. One, internally, it ensures peaceful coexistence among members of the genus. With pulaaku, there is a good understanding among the members of the genus as to the standard pattern of their behaviour. It is the normative law. Also, by restraining the self from eyeing the property of others, pulaaku has helped to demobilize the greatest precursor to quarrels – the struggle to acquire what belongs to others.
Two, externally, pulaaku has made it easier for the Fula to be accepted by other people. Without it, his nomadic life would have been difficult. Here he dif-fers from other nomads. The Jew, for example, is mainly preoccupied with how to acquire what belongs to others. If he has ninety-nine sheep, he will plan to snatch the only sheep belonging to his brother. Greed is the hallmark of Jewish trade and a fundamental article of his association with others. On the contrary, pulaaku asserts self-sufficiency that is achieved and maintained through honourable means. Where depri-vation visits the Fula, he is expected to overcome it without revealing his secrets to others. He would rather die than beg. With this self-pride, others found him a guest enough light to accommodate easily, and who does not pose much threat to their possessions. Men will remain amiable, according to Machiavelli, so long as they do not show interest in the wealth and women of others.
Thirdly, the Fula demesticus has found pulaaku important in his leadership role. In the various parts he settled in West Africa, apart from farming, he has also engaged in scholarship and administration. Pulaaku is necessary to both professions. To become a good leader, self-sacrifice and trust are indispensable quali-ties. To be a formidable scholar, self-denial is neces-sary. And pulaaku supplies the Fula with both habits in abundance. He thus finds the commandments of Islam regarding these matters easy to follow. This might have contributed to the acceptance of Shehu Danfodio in Hausaland. The caliphate that he estab-lished enjoyed the respect of the people as long as the leadership was ready to live by those qualities. How long they did so is a question that only historians can best answer.
Erosion
Unfortunately, this fundamental identity of the Fula, much of which is praiseworthy, is fast becoming eroded in the genus. Among the Fula domesticus, very little of it is left; and even among the naturalis, it is increasingly becoming difficult to sustain. The self-lessness of Fula leaders is falling far short of the measure of pulaaku. They have put their interest and that of their children first, and failed to attend to the problems of their subjects. They loot the treasury as much as others do; the difference between them, except in few cases, is marginal. The misconduct of some of their daughters, especially some of those brought up in the GRAs and who have become bereft of shame and shyness, is enough to make their grand-parents in the villages faint or go berserk.
The present habits of many naturalis is not better than that of his doemesticus brother. They are also finding it difficult to keep trust. Some of them run away with cattle that others kept in their custody. Some are involved in petty habits like theft. Worst is what we have been learning for the past five years about their participation in armed robbery and ban-ditry. Do not mention alcohol and other vices. I re-member a goge artiste who used to perform in our village on market days. One of his songs was: “Karyar wade-wade ta kare ga dan Fulani na sai da giya”, meaning, “pulaaku is finished since we have a Fulani selling alcohol.” I wonder what he would say today, were he alive.
These are the reasons why I strongly hold the view that pulaaku is endangered. Its decline among the Fula when the country needs it most to overcome predica-ments triggered by avarice is deeply lamentable.
Solution
It is difficult to practice all the ramifications of pulaaku in the present world of political boundaries – local and international – that exacerbate poverty by limiting movement and restricting the economic choi-ces of the individual; of growing predominance of capitalism and its values; and finally, of acculturation through western education. Fighting against these factors is like standing in the way of a flood.
Nevertheless, we must know that facing the flood is better and more honourable than drowning in it. It will take the capitalist societies to nowhere. Such societies will sooner or later revert or their civilization will perish, for no civilization lasts by living on bi-zarre exploitation and unguarded avarice like theirs.
My prescription is a simple pill. In a struggle between civilizations, like in fighting against a flood, it is wiser to hold on to a firm support. I am referring to systems that are more enduring, that are held at higher esteem and that possess higher values than those of traditions inherited from ancestors.
Here, Islam comes handy, to the Fula and the non-Fula alike. Fortunately, the Fula have accepted it very long ago. Therefore, it is unnecessary for them to return to the old pulaaku that was passed through ancestry. When they practice it under Islam, in obedi-ence to God, they will be executing His command-ments for which they will be rewarded in this world and in the Hereafter.
It will delight many readers to note that Islam has made sufficient provisions for all the praiseworthy properties of pulaaku, and much more. A devout Muslim will flout pulaaku only in few respects, all of which are unnecessary. If he follows the traditions of the prophet, he will be able to drop the terrible and the tedious in his old definition to adopt simpler versions that will endure the aggression of external values. By this, we are most assured that the values we cherish in pulaaku will live to be inherited by our distant prog-enies. God said: “Lo! this Quran guideth unto that which is straightest..” (17:9) Regarding the traditions of the Prophet, they have emanated from someone described by God in the best of testimonies: “And Lo. You are of great conduct.” (68:4).
Readers, that was pulaaku. Those were the threats to its survival. And this is Islam; its best saviour against the formidable flood of urbanization and capitalism. No other system will offer the Fula a better alternative. With it, wherever we go, we do not believe that we have missed anything that is praiseworthy in our heritage. Neither will we lose touch with nature for Islam is built on nature. We feel at home.

Discourse 110: Fulani and Their Problems in Nigeria

Friday Discourse (110)


Fula and their Problems in Nigeria (1)
By
Dr. Aliyu Tilde
Tilden Fulani, Toro LGA, Bauchi State Nigeria

The number of their cattle is fast dwindling. Their language is diminishing by the day. More insidious cultures are taking over their hitherto esteemed habits and values. They are the least beneficiaries of public social services. In recent ethno-religious crisis that started with the debut of this administration, they have become easy targets in the middle and Southwestern part of the country. In many parts of the Northwest and the Northeast, where they would have easily found succor, they have been fighting with farm-ers over grazing areas for decades now. To crown their catalogue of problems, they have been stigmatised as feudalists and colonialists, fit, according to some, for elimination through a nationwide genocide. They are the most endan-gered human ‘genus’ in Nigeria.
My dear reader, you are welcome to a series that examines the life and problems of the Fula, or Fulani, as we know them in this country. If my discourse will make a single member of their genus to become aware of the problems facing his people, or make someone among others to sympathize with them, then my objective is ful-filled. And if another would take practical steps to ameliorate their predicament, it would be a bonus I never hoped to earn.
To begin with, I think a clarification is neces-sary. I am afraid that I will be accused of raising the banner of ethnicity. That is not my intention. Islam strongly condemns tribalism, though it recognizes tribal differences as natural traits among human species. Yet, it does not deny us an objective examination of our problems in their proper contexts. There are problems we share globally with citizens of other nations; others are limited to our country, region, tribe or even area. What is paramount, in my view, is that our examination must be for the purpose of finding solutions that will bring us together. This is the spirit with which this essay was written. If my style and humor has offended any of my readers, please let him accept my sincere apol-ogy.
Also, without any prior permission from an-thropologists, I have found it necessary, for the purpose of our discussion at least, to divide the Fulani into two: Fula naturalis, representing the Fulani who are largely nomadic or semi-sedentary and who have maintained both tradi-tional cultures of the Fulbe in language and cat-tle keeping; and Fula domesticus, who have completely transformed from the natural no-madic state of the Fulani to that of sedentary cosmopolitan life, grabbing its opportunities, facing its challenges and suffering from its prob-lems. Their cattle have divorced them, or they have divorced their cattle, just as they did with their language in most cases.
Language
I will start first with the language because it is the most crucial factor in the continuity of cul-ture. Some would say its disappearance is as threatening to its people as genocide. Fulfulde, the language of the Fula, is fast disappearing due to three principal factors that we will now con-sider individually.
The first is marriage. There is a strong corre-lation between genetic adulteration and the sur-vival of a language. Like other nomads, the Fula have avoided this as much as possible in their history. It appears that their migration into the farthest region of sub-Saharan Africa in the ninth century A.D. and their intermarriage with tribes like Jolof and Wolof has not affected the lan-guage because it once enjoyed the status of a lingua franca of the Senegambian region, as it does in Guinea today, something like what we have in Adamawa since the Jihad. That has helped to make many other tribes adopt it as a language and get assimilated into the genus to participate in their eastern migration through ancient Mali down to where we find them in the Central and Southern African countries today.
But where fulfulde remained a minority lan-guage, any intermarriage with other people de-creases its chances of survival. In Hausaland for example, the introduction of a single non-Fulani wife has in most cases put an end to its employ-ment in the house.
The Fulani are less concerned with marrying their daughters to outsiders than allowing their sons to marry from non-Fulani wives. They have understood that importing a foreign gene into the genus pool is more catastrophic to the continuity of language than exporting a gene out of it, though the latter too has its effect. In fact, one of the factors that contributed to their survival is that their genetic pool has continued to quench the thirst of many non-Fulani (I will not call them habe for now) who are attracted by one of their Berber features which they notice on some of their females. Where such features become exceptional, the competition for them between a poor insider and a rich outsider becomes intense. Usually, the girl is won over by the outsider to relocate from the environment of her Fula natu-ralis parents to the spacious palace of a prince, or the glittering mansion a bourgeois or the mod-est house of a middle class Romeo. A copy of that gene is gone. And if it were not for the po-lygamous nature of the genus and its high fer-tility of its female, the Berber features of the Fula would have been completely exhausted through this artificial selection.
Nevertheless, it is really gladdening to see how the borrowed Fula genes are gradually gain-ing dominance, through the above-described method of artificial selection, over others in sub-sequent generations of elite families throughout Hausaland. At the same time we regret the recent discovery of these features by the western capi-talist fashion and movie industry. M-Net for ex-ample has just whisked away a fifteen-year old Senegalese Fulani girl – Fatimatoulaye Diallo – for a sponsored carrier in the United States.
The second factor is their involvement in administration. It is one of the ways of trans-forming the naturalis into a domesticus espe-cially in Hausaland. The Hausa are as notorious as the Egyptians. Their language and culture is pervasive. Like their Egyptian counterparts, any conqueror is allowed one choice, as rightfully noticed by the late Taha Husein: it is either as-similation or annihilation. Where the conqueror intermarried with the indigenes, his rule remains as long as his astuteness could afford; otherwise, if he plays the game of the Greeks, the Romans, the Turks, the French and finally the English in Egypt by alienating himself from the fellaheen, his regime becomes short-lived and very soon none of his progeny will taste the sweet water of the Nile.
The Fulani leaders of the 19th century Jihad in Hausaland have wisely preferred assimilation, though unlike the Arabs, they did not attempt to superimpose their language on the Egyptians. If anything they preferred Arabic and Hausa in their official communication, using Fulfulde only for personal consumption of the Fulani. Thus, though Danfodio and his brothers spoke fulfulde among themselves, barely two centuries later, I doubt if the occupant of his seat, the present sul-tan, would understand jam mbandu na?
I doubt if there is anyone that could under-stand fulfulde among any Northern Fulani Emirs in the Northwest or the near Northeast. They have become the best samples of Fula domesti-cus. Exceptions to this are the fulbe fombina, the domesticus of the far Northeast and northern Cameroon, who have benefited from the lingua franca status of the language in the region. The palaces of the Lamido and the Emir of Gombe for example have remained enviable for retaining their fulfulde. They only need to contend with the third factor: urbanization.
Anytime the Fulani and his cattle part ways he leaves behind him the shell of nomadic life that limited his interaction with other people. For every minute that his children will speak with others in Hausa or other languages, their fluency in fulfulde is dropping from the standard thres-hold of the naturalis. In most cases, at the gate of the city the language seems to tell him what Khidr told Moses: “this is our point of depar-ture.”
Nature is sometimes the facilitator. When-ever hit by a catastrophic loss of his cattle to disease, like the rinderpest epidemic of the early eighties where millions of cattle were lost in few months, nature offers the Fula naturalis only a choice between two extremes: abandon the bush and come to civilization or remain there to rear the few cattle that remained for others. Most threw away their shepherd’s stick and said good-bye to the bush, forever.
Sometimes it is the sheer demands of life that would finish his cattle. If he has attempted to buy the luxuries of urban life such as education, cars, urban dishes and wives, then, coupled with growing lack of grazing areas, the number of his cattle will dwindle annually.
Finally, today if the Fulani does not come to the town, the town will go the Fulani. It will trek to meet him in a settlement that has been exclu-sively his. A highway may pass through the set-tlement. That is enough to trigger a chain reac-tion. It will attract other people from the sur-rounding bush. If the surrounding land is fertile, that will attract farmers, just as a river will also attract fishermen and dry season farmers from Kano and other distant places.
As the population of the settlement increases over several decades, the kilometre long plots that used to separate one Fula family from an-other for the purposes of privacy, farming and grazing becomes filled with houses of other peo-ples, few of them Fula, many of them whom I am now ready to call habe. The local gov-ernment would find it economical to establish a market, then a well, then a school, then a police station and then an area court, then a clinic, then a secondary school, then electricity, then tap water and finally a prison.
As these developments take place, the Fula is gradually becoming introduced to a way of life in which he now depends on the skills and pro-ducts of other people with whom he shares the town. By now his cattle have been pushed many kilometres away from the fast developing town. He will visit them weekly at the beginning. Later, it becomes monthly, then annually, before the cattle finally decide to leave him. He is now a Fula domesticus, with his children attending schools and universities; others becoming dri-vers, civil servants, merchants, politicians and taking habe wives. Ask any of them about the cattle, or his staff, or fulfulde, all he will do is to laugh. His affinity to the genus can only be veri-fied from his morphological features. The town has transformed him, in situ, into a Fula do-mesticus.
I leave the reader to think of the various ways the Fulani are losing lose their language. If the reader is a Fula, let him map out the route he took to becoming a domesticus. Let him find out which past and present factors contributed his present state.
Solutions
Now let us turn to solutions for the remaining part of the article. First, the most important thing to note is that it is an act of sheer negligence and disservice to humanity and religion to take any measure that will contribute to the death of any language. Language is a creation of God, to serve the purpose of speech, identification and understanding among the human family. That is why I am worried at hearing other tribes around speaking Hausa in their homes.
As we would like to always appreciate how Hausa has become a lingua franca of the North, we should not be afraid to submit that it should not be allowed to wipe out other languages. The Hausa, majority of whom are Muslim, would themselves not like that. Hausa is so incipient and conquering. It will use any slight opportunity it is allowed to oust any language in a home. For this reason, some families have banned it com-pletely from their homes. And it worked beauti-fully.
The second suggestion is for every member of the Fula genus to exercise care in the selection of his marriage partner. The danger of genetic adulteration that will contribute to the loss of the language is strongest among those that have at-tended schools of western education or those who see Islam as endorsing a singularity of cul-ture. The first wives, in particular, if not all, must come from the genus. If you are looking for piety, the Fula are not destitute of some. The advantage here is that you are likely to return with beauty and many more qualities in addition. Boy, what luck!
But if a Fula naturalis will find his ‘Mary’ irresistible and at the same time he wishes to maintain the language in his house, then he has no option other than taking all necessary steps to naturalize her. If she is sufficiently intelligent, and especially with the persistence of the hus-band, she will quickly pick the language from other family members and relations. This too has worked in many families.
To those Fula domesticus who have lost the language long ago but would like to restore it, I will prescribe the pill of the late Wazirin Sokoto, Dr. Junaidu, if they have enough zeal and time. He was so disturbed with this deficiency that limited his access to the literature left behind by his ancestors. So one day, at the age of forty, he set out to learn the language by abandoning Sokoto and living among some Fula naturalis. And he succeeded.
Another suggestion to the domesticus that have lost the language is that they and their chil-dren, again where it is not too late, should take wives and husbands from the naturalis. The re-sults may be fantastic even from the first genera-tion. We will be delighted if the Fulani ruling houses in the Northwest and Northeast will adopt this strategy. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Hassan Attu Bungudu, Isyaku Dikko and all my blue-blooded domesticus friends must please take note. I will make it a precondition for their enthronement whenever the seats in Kano, Bungudu or Katsina become vacant. Their oath of office will be served in fulfulde and henceforth the court itself will adopt it as its only official language. What a crime!
The Fula cannot afford to miss the opportuni-ties of urbanization like education, modern health care, transportation, roads, and even mod-ern methods of animal husbandry. There just aren’t enough cattle to employ all their children. So they must learn other trades and become em-ployed elsewhere.
Apart from the home-based suggestions given above, Fulani need to explore the oppor-tunities that civilization offers. First, I see no reason why any two of them would meet and use either English or Hausa. They must not shy away from using the language in schools, offices, mar-kets, mosques and so on. They can do so as much as the situation would warrants, without courting unnecessary apprehension from other people.
They need to intensify efforts in teaching ful-fulde orthography and speech through various centres and media. I am yet to come across a fulfulde newsletter even in Yola or Gombe or Bauchi in which I will maintain a column. Hey Fulbe, what is happening? I am yet to see an Alliance Fulanaise in Sokoto, Gusau, Katsina, Zaria, Kaduna, Jos, Maiduguri and other cities, places where evening lessons are offered the children of domesticus like the late Dr. Junaidu, Shagari, Buhari and Ado Bayero. They may not be opportune to abandon Sokoto, Daura or Kano and live among the naturalis in order to recover the language.
I am yet to be invited by any of our universi-ties offering fulfulde to deliver a lecture or recite a poem in the language; or by an association calling itself kaural fulbe, holding a week of campaign for the understanding of the Fulani heritage and its contribution to the society. If next time any naturalis sends me an email in English or Hausa, I will return it, saying, “forget it, use ni.”
All I am saying here is that there are a thou-sand ways today to promote fulfulde beyond the reta saa’a fulbe in stations like BRC Bauchi. While legitimately becoming worried that Fulani are butchered in various parts of the country, we must recognise the fact that the greatest threat to the culture of a people is the disappearance of their language.
While I sit down to explore ways of solving other problems facing the Fula genus in Nigeria for your consumption next week, kindly help us by proffering suggestions, as we attempted doing in this discourse, on how their rich language will be saved from the contagion of extinction. I will be glad to receive it at info@fridaydiscourse.com. Meanwhile, start your tutorial by knowing that in the pleasant dia-lect of fulbe fombina, ‘Jam bandu?’ means ‘how are you’ and ‘Jam waala’ means ‘good night.’
Jam waala.