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SCHOOL AND COLLEGE
WHEN I went to Sokoto to school, Muhammadu Maiturare was the Sultan (r915-24): he belonged to the Atiku branch but was, of course, one of our relatives. In fact, there were literally hundreds of relations in and near Sokoto and I cannot say that I knew them all: some were very distant indecd, but they were all kind to me.
Among my friends at school were Maigari Gwamba, Alhaji Ibrahim of Gwandu and others, who have done well in local affairs. The first of these is still with us, a trusted friend and assistant, a Gwamba Fulani of Gwamba who is not as old as he looks. At present he is my Chief of Protocol.
We used to go to the Sultan's house every Friday and he would give us Kola nuts to encourage us in our work. This was, of course, after the general gathering for prayer; a large number of the family used to be present every week and everyone took their places in strict precedence although the schoolboys used to keep together.
The school was over to the south of the town quite close to the old town wall, more or less where the ECN power station is now. It was known as the Sokoto Provincial School and was maintained by Government and not by the Native Authority.
There were no other modern schools in the whole of the vast province. The buildings were, of course, all made of mud everything was in those days, even the Resident lived in a mud house, and very good they were to0. In many ways they were preferable to concrete houses and far more preferabie to those of modern design. They were very cheap, and quick and easy to build and just as easy to alter, Our craftsmen were excellent and brought in new techniques shown them by the Europeans.
The classrooms were long narrow rooms with lofty mud vaults in the classic style: there were shutters over the window openings and the floor was of hard beaten earth. This kept them cool and.pleasant to work in. Only in the rains when the shutters had to be lowered were they awkward, for they became very dark and it was almost impossible to see our books.
We were not given books at first; we had to learn how to form the letters and we copied them on to slates. This stage did not last long and we were soon promoted to writing in ink and reading from books. We were taught in Hausa and the books were, of course, in that language. By the time I went to school there were a number of these available, but they do not compare with the variety that is now obtainable even in small shops in the towns.
After two years, when we had mastered the principles of reading and writing, we were put on to English and after a while we were taught some subjects in English, without any Hausa aids. Arithmetic and geography and history were taught, together with readings of the Holy Koran. The history, oddly enough, was that of England so far as detail went, though we had a good deal of world history as background, as hard as it was for us to take in. Meanwhile we went on with our Arabic.
I was a very keen student: indeed, most of my school fellows were, and I cannot remember an idle boy. Learning was important to us that we gave every minute to it. I remember I used to work into the night (as I do to this day) studying my books and learning my lessons. Of course, we had no proper lamps in those days and I used raw cotton as a wick in an earthenware bowl full of groundnut oil. It gave a smoky light, but it was better than nothing.
There used to be a good many interruptions, for often some of the other boys would come into my hut and discuss what we had learnt or had heard the teachers talking about. Then I would be expected to give them some food. Things were, however, very cheap then and for sixpence I could get enough from the market to entertain quite a numnber of boys.
There were two of us to a little round hut with a thatched roof. There was nothing in the hut except a sleeping-mat and a box for each one's clothes. It could be very cold round Christmas and at the height of the rains.
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