Encounter with schoolboy farmer | TheCable

I was on a field trip to Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State, about 20 kilometers from the capital, in company with UNICEF officials and journalists who had gathered for a two-day ‘Media Dialogue to promote equity in education for children’, organized by the United Nations body in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and held in Kano City on October 29 and 30.

Our mission was to see first-hand how the efforts of the Kano State government have fared in uplifting children education in the local government.

But about half a kilometer from the Army Children Special Primary School inside the Janguza Barracks, a young boy of school age attracted me as he tended a maize farm alone. He spoke only smattering English and could barely understand a spoken English except to react with innocent smiles. I had to engage him in his native Hausa to be let in a…