IBRAHIM Kashim

A Public Administrator by(Tunde Babawale). Sir Kashim Ibrahim was born in Yerwa in Borno State to an aristocratic Kanembu fa ther on 10 June 1910. He started his formal education in 1922 at the Borno Provincial School. At school, he played soccer and was also a skilled horseman. He moved from primary five to teacher's training college, Katsina in 1925 because ofthe high intelligence heexhibited overandabove his classmates. And at the end ofthe course, he fin ished as one of the best in his class. While in KatsinaCollege, he led 'East' House to win two coveted trophies for cricket and soccer. In his four years in Katsina College, Kashim Ibrahim's mental and political acumen were shaped. He met and interacted with teachers from England and more importantly, with other northern Nigeri ans with whom he forged lasting ties. He began to administer public offices when first he was made Minister for Social Services and welfare in 1952,and a year later he was made Min ister of Education. Even though he served Nigeria as a minister, his love for the North was overriding. This was epitomized in his dislike for the abusive and personal attacks to which the Northern repre sentatives were subjected in Lagos. At the time the southerners were clamouring forindependence in 1956, Ibrahim Kashim with some ofhiscolleaguesfromtheNorthfelt itwouldbesui cidal to grant independence to Nigeria then. They feared that the southerners who dominated the civil serviceandtheeconomy inthe Southand intheNorth would automatically takeoverfromthe British. Since they were not ready toreplace British rule with south ern domination, they argued that they would want independence as soon as practicable. Before he became minister in Lagos, Sir Kashim wasprovincial Education OfficerandCoun cillor for education in Borno. He was a reluctant politician, preferring toreturn, each time, tohis pro fession as an educator or administrator. In his desire to uplift the down-trodden inthe pursuit ofacademics, heoncesaidthateducation lays upon us the duty, and provides us with the opportunity- to render serviceto others- so that they can become good citizens, by using our abilities for the benefit of our country in its many-sided development. His idea of education was quite simple and straightforward.He believed that each person experienced three levels ofeducational development: at home, school, and through experience as one progresses through life. He was ofthe view that it is the duty of parents to provide moral and religious education at home as the foundation on which the super structure ofeducation rests and withoutwhich the whole system is meaningless. Herepresentededucational interests inthe leg islativecouncil ofNigeria in 1947. He saw hischoice in professional terms, as against political terms. He was a member ofcouncil ofthe University ofIbadan, and oftheNigerian College ofArts and Technology in Zaria. Sir Kashim Ibrahim encouraged industrial arts, crafts and agriculture as education minister. He ar guedthat vocational education isas important as any otheraspectof formal education.As an educational administrator, he promoted religious education, which he regarded as the real essence of life. In 1955,he moved from Lagos to the Northern House of Assembly in Kaduna, only to attend meetings oft he Legislative Assembly when it was in session. The Sardauna had come to rely more and more on his advice and thus immediately made him minister in charge of social welfare, co-operatives and surveys.Though this ministry was a kind of omnibus department, Kashim Ibrahim's forte was social welfare under which the education department was subsumed. Having just headed the same minis try in Lagos,he was considered the foremost authority on the subject in the North. He brought all his accumulated experience to bear on the question of educational expansion and the provision of teacher training schools in the North. He avoided unnecessary proliferation of government establishments Even though he believed in women's education,he did not see the need to have more than one government girls' school in the North at the time. Sir Kashim pursueda conservativepolicyon education. He placed emphasis on the background of a child over his academic ability, in facilitating his admission to school. He made sure this policy guided the actions of all school administrators in the North. He never saw education as the right of every child. As a chairman before governing board of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria in 1958, he instituted discipline in the collegewherestudentsandstaffappeared to be lax. He wasagoodadministratorwhoencouraged hard work. He once fired the rector ofNigerian College of Arts and Science, Dr. Hartford, who could not enforce discipline in the college to the detriment of good government, law and order in the school. Ibrahim was bent on sacking the erring rector forced him to proceed onretirementtothesurpriseofthestaffand students of the school. DuringhistenureasthedistrictheadofYerwa in Borno, he tackled the financial improprieties of the Emirate. He investigatedthe situationthoroughly, and madesure all the culprits faced the wrath of the law. Manyimportant personalities were found guilty andwereeithersurchargedorjailed. Hediscouraged the stealing of public funds by reviewing the poor salaries paid to officials in Borno. Under him, all governmentworkers were well paid. As a resultof these changes, all the officials became more dedicated to their duty, to the extent that by the end of his first year in office, his emirate recorded a surplus of£200,000. Such a record reflects Sir Kashim's astute administrative talents. Having established a sound foundation, heset himselfthe task ofmodernization, development and political stability in Borno. As the Waziri, he took more than the usual interest in advancing education by relentlessly pursuingthe expansion ofinstitutions of learning in his province. He established and built Maiduguri Government Secondary School, and he launched the war against ignorance by putting in place facilities for adult education. He sowed the seed oflove and unity by bringing togetherall Borno people ofdifferent political thought under the aegis of a cultural organization known as the 'Borno State Union'. This Union fostered the spirit of Kanuri Nationalism. The Waziri put in place infrastructural facilities that developed Borno. He increased water supply by drilling boreholes and sinking wells all over the province. He did not limit himselfto this, he equally expanded the road networks and con structed drains, built a modern abattoir in 1958, a central office, modern maternity hospitals, as well as the Maiduguri Monday market. It ison record that by the time Ibrahim left Borno, the total revenue and reserves of Borno stood at £901,030 and £950,000 respectively. To his credit, the development and modernization of Borno's rudimentary transportation system was recorded. He liaised with the Nigerian RailwayCorporation and used his considerable influence to prevail on the federal government to extend the railway from Jos to Maiduguri via Bauchi and Gombe. This railway project, which had been so much desired since 1948, did not come to fruition until 1959 when Ibrahim was in Borno. His involvement with Nigerian constitutional development took him to London in 1957 as an ad viser to the Northern Peoples' Congress (NPC). On returning home, he had to take another assignment on behalf ofthe Northern Nigerian government. This was at the Law Reform Commission. He was known to be critical of the prevailing legal system in the North,with respectto the Emirs' Court. These courts usually sat incamera in the palace and decisionswere sometimes arbitrarily reached. Apart from the abuse that the Emirs' court encouraged, there was also ju dicial confusion in Northern Nigeria, where three unrelated judicial systems and legal codes were in operation: Islamic law as well as English and cus tomary law. As a member ofthis commission, their recommendations formed the basis of the Islamic system introduced in 1958which restricted applica tion ofthe Sharia to personal matters such as mar riage, divorce, inheritance and property. These re forms were carried out also to satisfy investors who were not comfortable with the prospect of being dragged before Alkali courts for civil or criminal offences. The reforms also calmed the fears of nonMuslim minorities in the North who had earlier threatened political violence if changes were not made while the British were still in power. Kashim Ibrahim played a major role in the codification of Islamic law in Northern Nigeria and the creation of a graded court system. Sir Kashim Ibrahim's involvement in educa tionmade himappointable as a member ofthe Ashby Commission on Higher Education in Nigeria. His contribution made the establishment of University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria pos sible. He also became the first chairman of councils of the Universities ofIbadan and Lagos. Though a great Nigerian who had contributed much to the development of education in Nigeria, especially in the North, he did not hide his dislike for the South. Sir Kashim Ibrahim was made governor of Northern Nigeria and he doubled as the Waziri of Borno. During his lifetime,this great Nigerian made tremendous contribution to the development of public administration in Nigeria especially in the North.