Life and times of Ahmadu Coomassie (I)

When Dahiru Coomassie, our colleague at SBS-ABU Zaria in the early 1970s, passed away in April, he left behind a tome of a book, The Life and Times of Ahmadu Coomassie. The well-researched and well-written book, co-authored with Muhammad Kabir Sani, tells the life story of the family patriarch, Ahmadu Coomassie, who became a legend in Katsina and indeed Northern Nigeria by becoming a pioneer in many respects.  

Born in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1908, Ahmadu Coomassie was one of the handful of pioneers to benefit from Western education in Katsina, having started his elementary school education in Ghana and continued when he returned to Nigeria. After middle school, he wholeheartedly embraced education as a career, becoming a headmaster and ultimately the first Katsina indigene to be appointed a visiting teacher, a prestigious post at the time. He was a celebrated educationist covering the entire northern region, associated with the government’s intention to bring Western education to the North.  

During that period, the provision of Western education was prioritised for young children at the expense of adults, particularly those who lacked basic education. It was Malam Ahmadu’s preoccupation to redress the anomaly. The literacy level in northern Nigeria was abysmally low and required an immediate and comprehensive strategy and action. He was intimately associated with this endeavour and was credited with the popular coinage of the campaign, Yaki da Jahilci (War against Ignorance). He also coined the popular slogan gemu baya hana ilmi (age is no barrier to education).  

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He successfully spearheaded the campaign in Katsina by creating special evening classes in many villages. When the Northern Region Government decided to establish an adult education department within the Ministry of Education, it required capable hands to monitor and coordinate all adult education activities in the provinces. Since Malam Ahmadu’s set-up in Katsina was adjudged the most outstanding among the provinces, he was appropriately drafted into the regional ministry of education to continue the good work. The headquarters of the department was in Zaria, and Malam Ahmadu moved there to team up with the colonial officers involved in the project.  

Their efforts were so successful in a matter of a few years that the Governor of the Northern Region, Sir Bryan Sherwood-Smith, decided in 1951 to launch a massive literacy campaign throughout the North. Malam Ahmadu played a pivotal role in the project and rose fast in the department, becoming the Chief Adult Education Officer in 1951. It was a period when the colonial civil servants were being replaced with indigenes. Malam Ahmadu was, in due course, promoted to the post of deputy permanent secretary in the Northern Nigeria Ministry of Education, and just before independence in 1960, was appointed the first indigenous permanent secretary in the Northern Nigerian civil service.  

While in the Ministry of Education, he was fondly remembered for his pioneering role in shaping educational policies and standards in the Northern Region. He championed the cause of establishing a university in the North to cater for the increasing needs of the region, which ultimately led to the birth of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria in 1962. A grateful ABU honoured Malam Ahmadu with LL.D in 1968, and he remained on its council until 1982.

Malam Ahmadu retired formally from the civil service in 1964 and thereafter became much sought after by both the government and the private sector.  

He had a stint as a Director in NTC, then one of the most flourishing private firms in Nigeria. The federal government appointed Malam Ahmadu as the chairman of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) in 1966, and later, in 1973, also appointed him as the chairman of Standard Bank of Nigeria, the oldest and biggest commercial bank in Nigeria, which subsequently became First Bank of Nigeria. He retired as the chairman of Standard Bank in 1979. Many years later, the bank paid him a befitting tribute by naming their Abuja office after him.    

Forewords in published books are usually brief and do not run more than a page or two. However, the foreword by former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, in the book, The Life and Times of Ahmadu Coomassie, ran close to four pages and was as detailed as could be. Here is an excerpt of what General Gowon wrote: “I knew him much earlier in the service of the Northern Region, but the gap between us was much, and our relationship then was that between a respected elder and a much younger person, almost like that of a father and son. However, I came in close contact with Mallam Ahmadu when I became Nigeria’s Head of State in 1966. He was head of one of the nation’s foremost development institutions, the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB). As chairman of the bank, he oversaw the country’s industrial development. He carried out that assignment for several years with such zeal and vigour that the government was reluctant to let him go when he indicated his intention to relinquish the position. The truth was that we found it difficult to find a man with the same qualities and experience to take over from him.”  

How did Mallam Ahmadu get the surname Coomassie, which sounds like Kumasi in Ghana? We will continue the discussion next week.