Sunday December 31, 2018, will be a day to remember as Kano hosted the famous TEDx Talks. The venue, Mambayya House, home of the late Mallam Aminu Kano and now Bayero University’s centre for democratic research and training, was quite apt a venue because Mallam Aminu Kano and his mentor, Mallam Sa’adu Zungur (after whom the hall where the Talks actually took place is named) are unarguably among the most gifted of our people.
The history of storytelling is long. It is so important that thousands of books have been written and millions of talks have been presented on storytelling for millennia. Some of the most important functions of the art, or science, of storytelling include building a connection with audiences and imparting knowledge. Humans are born to naturally love stories, and that is why we ask questions from “Why is the sky blue?” to “What is inside the nucleus of an atom?” And that is how science developed.
TED Talks is a nonprofit programme devoted to spreading ideas usually in the form of short, powerful talks. It began in Canada and the US in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design (hence the acronym T.E.D) were discussed. The idea developed phenomenally such that today TED Talks covers all the major topics from Science to Business to Global Issues, and in more than 100 languages.
Independently organised TED events, known as TEDx (where ‘x’ stands for ‘independent’), hold across the globe in more than 5,000 cities, and now Kano has been added to the long list. Past speakers at TEDx include our own Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (as he then was, now Emir of Kano), Bill Gates, Gordon Brown, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Google founders, Nobel Prize winners and many more.
In Kano, some young minds were granted a license to organise the TEDx event some months ago, and they registered it as TEDxBabaDanBaffaSt after a Kano street where many of the organisers live. “Connecting the dots…” was chosen as event theme, and Education, Science, Technology, Money, and Media were some of the ‘dots’ the organisers wanted the speakers to connect. (See more @TedxKanoCity on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram).
Starting with Education, Mariya Abdullahi Sidi talked about her journey through medical school and how she learnt that limits were only conceptual barriers we set for ourselves. She talked about that little boy whose kidneys and heart were failing, a sight which made her stop complaining about ‘six hours of standing during medical rounds’. She shared her poem ‘Limitless’, which ended “…if you speak of limits, I’ll tell you a million reasons why you are actually limitless.”
Fiona Lovat told the audience the revealing fact that “It takes only 100 hours for an unschooled Nigerian to connect the dots” and become literate. With copious pictures of smiling children, happy and eager to learn, she took listeners up the lane where these hitherto unlettered beings were now saying ‘This is my life as a 21st century African with something to contribute to the world!’ Indeed, the road to literacy is up, as every connection of a few dots by a child lifts up the spirit.
Still on Education and its intimate relationship with Science and Technology, Fa’iz Bashir took the audience down ‘Empowerment Through Education: The Intimate Solution to our Chronic Challenge’. He discussed how inquisitiveness and inquiry, born of education, led him to discover his passion for computer programming, and how he has harnessed the skill into shaping the future of education.
AbdulBaqi Jari also discussed ‘Education and the Development of Northern Nigeria: The Connection and Disconnection’, and showed the audience the glaring disconnect between the concepts, because our system has been unable to ‘connect the dots…’
Farouk Sarkinfada, medic in arts and humanist in sciences, reminded the audience about the perpetual war that has outlived all wars in history – the war with the microbes. He asks whether the war can ever be won, finally convincing all that even if there is no total annihilation one of the other, a ceasefire between microbes and humans could shine.
On the Media, Musa Abdullahi Sufi held the attention of the audience with his catchy topic ‘Can social media be controlled?’ where he shared his worries about how social media is being grossly misused in Nigeria, and shared his ideas about the ways forward, ‘to connect the dots…’
Still on the subject, Yasmeen Obadaki gave the audience a whole new viewpoint for the 3Ds (Determination, Discipline and Development) all women should learn from the movie ‘Wonder Woman’ (which Yasmeen herself seeks to epitomise). Her talk on ‘Women in Media’ urged young women to overcome stereotypes, beat standards and set new ones to be able to rise to the top in the media.
Nasir ‘Yammama, speaking on Technology born of Science, sent ripples across the hearts and minds of the almost 500 members of the audience with his talk about the future of food in Nigeria. He showed how technology could be used to improve our yields and save our rural folk the drudgery of peasant farming which has been with us for millennia.
On money, Abdallah Edward spoke of the billions of Naira earmarked for revitalising Small and Medium Enterprises and how Northern Nigeria could benefit from the scheme. These funds, the speaker said, are there waiting for those who could connect the dots.
In the same vein, Ibrahim Dooba (a colleague Columnist on this newspaper) told us how money grows on trees. Though proverbial a statement, Ibrahim succeeded in convincing many of his argument; that indeed, money does grow on trees, but only if one could connect the dots…
All in all, the Kano TEDx Team led by its Chairman/Curator Muddassir Abdullahi did well, and more is expected for those who do well. It was a worthy outing but, by Kano standards, the N3,000 ticket is a bit pricey. Yet bringing together these mostly young brilliant minds who have connected the dots should cost a premium.
And the Kano event could well compare to TEDxMaitama Abuja and TEDxAjah Lagos which trended for long. And though the December holiday season is suitable, we should start thinking of Sallah holidays, as we don’t need to copy EVERYTHING, do we?
A TEDx Hausa event will be a runaway success as we have brilliant speakers with excellent ideas which are better put in Hausa. After all, if x = independent, Hausa is the way to be.
