By Dada Ahmed.
Life can be so kind with some people and others, it is a different ball game. In between the sweet and bitter side of life lies the ability of man to utilize his ability to overcome the oddity of life to fulfill his or her goal in life. Our guest falls to the sour side of life but the manner he overcame his predicament marvels thousands of people in the society. Let’s lead you into the life history of one of Journalists in Lokoja,kogi state, north central Nigeria, whose life experience as a physically challenged individual, is a classical demonstration of ability in disability.
The life story of Mal.Ishaq Dan-Imam typifies the truism that with focus and determination, people living with disabilities have the potential to also move mountain compared to their able bodied counterparts in life.
In fact, he maintains that ability in disability as his watch word, adding that he is ever ready to tell any inquisitive mind his story from grass to grace, with all sense of pride and responsibility with thanks to almighty Allah and humanity.
This trait he eloquently exhibited to our Correspondent at the premises of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), Kogi State Council in Lokoja while robbing mind in an interview which centred on the journey of his life, his practice of journalism ,the profession after his heart among other things.
Born into the family of late Chief Imam of Ogba community of Egbura speaking people in Mozum district of Bassa Local Government Area of kogi state, Sheikh Adamu Shaibu Jibril and princess Bilkisu Ibrahim in 1977, the 45-year-old media practitioner, who went to memory lane with nostalgic said his road to success was laced with difficulties. He, however, stressed that with determination, he was able to accomplished mission.
” I began my education with LEA Primary School,Ogba, then proceeded to Bishop Delisle College, Lokoja,next is University of Jos, gained admission to the Kogi State University, Anyigba and finally to Bayero University,Kano, typical of a person with disability with the attendant bitter experience. In all this, I was not deterred by my condition as I pursue my mission with great enthusiasm, passion and with prayer and today,I have a success story to tell the world.
” I am the most neglected member of my family from childhood, simply because of my condition but today, the most cherished child in the family, flaunting my first and master’s degree in Mass communication with higher prospect in Journalism career.,” he said with nostalgia.
The above remarks represent the testimony of one the versatile Journalists in Lokoja, Kogi state in north central Nigeria,Malam Ishiaq Imam,whose experience in life,as a man challenged by polio almost from childhood has been aptly described by many as amazing and inspirational to all and sundry who come across him.
Imam,who was spotted, full of life, exchanging pleasantries with colleagues and extending gesture to some of them at the NUJ Press Centre recently in Lokoja, said he had a story that portrayed strong lesson to those with erroneous belief that nothing good comes out of those living with disabilities.
He described hus story as characterised by hard times but that he was able weather the storm because he was to make it in life.
The Reporters reports that from a casual reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority NTA Lokoja,Imam,who goes about with glutches in the course of achieving his private and public tasks,is now a principal editor with the Voice of Nigeria(VON).
Imam,who has taken his Journalism profession to international level by covering the 2019 general elections for BBC from Kogi state,as a freelance reporter, beat his chest to say that he accomplished his mile stones through dint of hard work and dogged determination to break all barriers to attain his educational ambition, career progression and other dreams of his life.
From a humble background with little opportunity of seeing the four walls of primary school education, coupled with physical disability (polio) with the attendant stigmatisation from the members of the society, Iman took his unfortunate circumstance in good faith as he walked through the ladder of rough edges of life to realise his dream.
Fired by absolute zeal to achieve his educational ambition to the highest level of citadel the Nigerian government can provide for its citizens, Imam proceeded to the University of Jos where he obtained a Diploma in Journalism.
Not satisfied with the giant stride,he proceeded to the Kogi State University, Anyigba to bag his Bsc in Mass Communication,a feat he capped with Master’s degree in the same discipline from Bayero University,Kano.
He said he was not through yet as he expressed his avowed determination to earn his PhD; either University of Oxford or Harvard University in the nearest future.
“My ambition is to obtain my PhD soon. I am preparing myself for the greater leadership responsibilities at that level, not minding my physical disability anyway.
“This is because, I believe that having a first degree is not enough to achieve the lofty idea I have for my state and the country at large. As a matter of fact, my dream is to become a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria one day,to enable me formulate policies and programmes that will make life bearable for people living with disabilities.
“Therefore, my main goal in life is to obtain PhD in transformational leadership, either from the university of Oxford or Harvard University.
“What more, with such highest educational qualification, I would be able to change the leadership narrative in my state and Nigeria at large as well better the lot other members of the society.
“Having experienced low quality of life, associated with leadership and governance in Nigeria, I am a passionate student of policy and strategic development, the absence of which,in my opinion is one of the major causes of Nigeria’s underdevelopment,” he explained.
Besides his accomplishments, Imam is married with two dutiful wives, lovely children and has a personal house in Lokoja, all this he did, he did, surpassing some of the abled bodied ones in the society.
“I am the first Journalist from Ogba community, my village, in Mozum district of Bassa Local Government Area of kogi state to obtain masters degree and built house in Lokoja among other firsts,” he made bold to say.
He described disability as merely existing in name, stressing that he pursued his ambition with vigour, believing strongly that disability has no place of pride in his agenda to break his way to success story in life
In a philosophical tone, he said:” Disability is not a curse but a path some people have to follow in their journey of life which can be natural or man made. It is also to prove the greatness of the supreme being over His creatures, especially the humans. We are like pencil in His hand and He can use us to write anything He wants to write to communicate His mightness to humanity.
“The reality of life is that, nobody is immune to physical disability, so whenever it comes, irrespective of the cause, it should not weigh our morale down in our avowed determination to achieve our purpose in life.
“Physical disability, as unpalatable as it may be, should instead ginger the victims to push ahead with dogged determination to achieve their desired goal in life, rather than bemoaning over such fate they cannot change.”
Baring his mind on the plight of fellow persons living with disabilities in Nigeria, Imam expressed concern that the society has not be encouraging to most members of this class of population in Nigeria, for them to excel in achieving their ambition.
.
He blamed many parents for their lackadaisical attitude towards the education of their children living with disabilities, adding that the development has limited the capacity and ability of those class of children in achieving their desired goal in life
“Most parents do not live upto their responsibility in terms of caring for children living with disabilities in Nigeria.Therefore, such persons must struggle harder to succeed with doggedness, in spite of physical challenge.
The educational institutions are not friendly to us too. All these need to be changed for good by our leaders in the country. This is one of things I hope to pursue while in position of authority in the nearest future.
On how he came into the media,Imam said his love and passion for journalism started from his youth when he developed interest in reading any newspaper at his disposal,even before seeing the four walls of primary school.
He said: “I have the age long dream to be a Journalist in life, to the extent that my people called me director of information, because I always read features written by Ray Ekpu,Dan Agbese and Yakubu Muhammed and engaged in enlightening my community,feeding them with social,economic and political news around them.
“In addition, I always monitor BBC radio and gather information with a view to informing the people about happenings around and outside their environment.
“My brother,Musa Mohammed, an Islamic missionary with Islamic propagation centre in Ughelli, Delta State, also made immeasurable contribution to boosting my interest and success in Journalism.
“At early stage in life, Mohammed thought me how to read any book at my disposal. He would bring me books on the Principle of Federal Character and Federalism in Nigeria, co-authored by Prof.same Oyowvobare and other authors to read and internalise what I read.
He also bought me english language text books to read which enabled me to know the rules and use of grammar to be able to effectively communicate with people.
“He said to me, with your verse knowledge in english language and journalism,even at this stage, the people will begin to see you as a reliable person to inform them about developments in and outside Nigeria and you discover that you will achieve greatness in Journalism in life.
“I imbibed that idea and within some time,I started writing letters and informing my people about happenings in Nigeria even before gaining admission into secondary”.
On his foray into the practice of journalism,he said his first attempt was he went to the Nigerian Television Authority,NTA Lokoja, soliciting the assistance of reporters to be interviewed to enable members of the public raise N 3,000.for his WAEC fee.
.
He said when the news about his story was aired, the then General Manager of the NTS station, Ejembi, noted his diction as being suitable for broadcast journalism and gave him casual job, for him to be writing stories from press releases and transcribing english stories to Hausa stories, on N7,000 salary per month.
However,his job at NTA only lasted few months as he was laid off because the Authority scrapped the idea of using casual workers and he was thrown into the unemployment market but little did he know another luck was waiting for him.
According to him, success came his way again when he secured another casual job with the Voice of Nigeria (VON) as a reporter, where he interviewed a one time Senator from the Central Senatorial district, Sen. Mohammed Ohiare in Lokoja and told him of his aim to join VON as full time member of staff and Ohiare asked him to come to see him at the national assembly for the letter to VON for that.
He further told this author that with his condition, he traveled to the National Assembly, Abuja to see Sen. Ohiare on his mission but missed his target only to stumble on Sen. Umbi Wada of the blessed memory from Gombe, by sheer luck and courage to secure permanent job.
According to him, Wada wiped his tears by giving him letter to be employed by VON as a full fledged staff and today, he is a principal editor with the organisation and the rest is history today.
The import of this piece is that, there are thousand of people living with disabilities today in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world with great potential to contribute to the social, economic and political development of their society but cannot because no help any where to assist their realise their ambition, coupled with discrimination against them by the same society.
While Ishiaq Imam should be commended for his courage to bulldoze his way to acquire his education to the highest level, as a self-made man, there are many of his colleagues begging for assistance of government and other well to do individuals to achieve their aim in life.
Helping this class of Nigerians to realise their life long dream will go along way to boost the process of building the society and the citizens whose input remain crucial to the development of the society.
The story of Dan Imman is also a wake up call for those with one form of disability or the other to change their mindset from the belief that, being physically incapacitated means the end to achieving their aims and objectives in life.There are a lot they can achieve with strong determination to excel in their chosen career.
Dada Ahmed is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and a media consultant.
ahmeddada008@gmail.com
