Professor Ahmad
Mustafa Falaki: The
Fall of The Farmers’ General
My esteemed readers, again and again, I am craving your indulgence
for the umpteenth time to write a tribute of the fallen hero, mentor, consummate agricultural
scientist, extension specialist par excellence and the farmers’ General; Professor Ahmad
Mustafa Falaki. In almost three years when Prof. Falaki lost his life, I have been making
attempts to write a tribute but each time, I picked my computer, I became short of
words to justifiably describe the time and life of Prof Falaki. He was an
embodiment of truth, hard work and perseverance with limitless passion to
assist, fight for the common man and absolutely engage in youth’s mentorship. His relentless drive to support smallholder farmers earned him accolades nationwide
and beyond. He was honored with several chieftaincy titles from different rural
communities in many states as testimonies for touching their lives in
agricultural enterprises. He was a
centerpiece of SASAKAWA, SG 2000 enormous successes in the development of
agriculture in Nigeria.
The history of SG 2000 in Nigeria began with the name of Prof.
Falaki in the early 1990s and continued till 2008 when he handed over the
mantle of leadership to his closest disciple, student and ally, Prof. Sani Miko
as Country Director of the Internationally acclaimed famous NGO. Falaki’s roles as the National Coordinator of
SG 2000 for almost two decades were groundbreaking, gargantuan and
unprecedented in the history of agricultural development in Nigeria. When SG
2000 set foot in Nigeria, the organization was lucky to find a perfect match in
Prof. Falaki, a simple, humble and down-to-earth man with chains of disciples
across the nation and the acute passion to support smallholder farmers increase
their productivity. With financial backing of SAA/SG 2000, Prof. Falaki’s team identified
“correct application of fertilizer” as the most potent technology that could
impact on the productivity within a shortest possible time. Thus, Falaki
adopted a strategy, which integrated technology generation and technology
transfer process with involvement of researchers, extension agents and farmers
on farmers’ fields. The improved technique of fertilizer application by digging
holes and burying the dose was advocated in conjunction with the use of improved
varieties. Similarly, farmers were trained to use optimum agronomic practices to
obtain greater returns to their investments. In addition, farmers obtained
credit facilities for purchase of necessary inputs with more than 95 percent
recovery. These short-term production loans greatly assisted farmers to access
improved production inputs for timely utilization, which impacted heavily in
yield increase. This was part of the SG 2000 strategy for achieving successes
all these years.
The SG 2000 approach championed by Prof.
Falaki paid off as yield per hectare of smallholder farmers increased from an
average of 1.2 tons/ha to an average of 5.5
tons/ha. Falaki’s wave of
influence and selfless services to humanity through SG 2000 touched principally nine states; Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Cross-River, Gombe,
Jigawa, Kano, Katsina and Ogun. In these states, over 26,000 farmers, 3,800
extension agents and lead farmers directly benefited from the SG 2000 projects. The SG 2000
Agricultural projects in these states benefited well over 100 thousands
farmers, which deservedly made Falaki, the farmers’ General. Several farmers
graduated from small-scale to large-scale producers improving the livelihoods of several
other rural dwellers through SG 2000 implemented projects in their domains. SG
2000 was one of the platforms that made Falaki directly touch the lives of
millions of farmers. SG 2000 pledged to continue the good work of Prof Falaki;
“that his death says to us that we must continue to work, passionately, unrelenting to make the smallholder farming dream
become a sustainable and profitable reality, so that he did not die in vain”. His
roles as a teacher, school father, counsellor and mentor in Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria and other higher Institutions of learning were very commendable and
admirable. This column cannot justifiably catalogue Falaki’s inspirational,
instrumental and mentoring roles in making and shaping the lives and future of
young men and women in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and beyond. Today, these men and women are doctors,
professors, vice chancellors, and administrators impacting knowledge and
civility on the larger society as legacies from passing through the hands of the great personality, Prof. Falaki. To
buttress this point, let me share with you my personal knowledge of this great
teacher.
In 1983, when I finished my A – level, a one-year academic program in School of Basic
Studies for direct admission into ABU Zaria, some of my classmates, although
marginally qualified,
only secured
admission for their preferred courses through Alhaji Falaki, as he was then
popularly called. When students had
issues with admission, registration, accommodation, victimization and similar
challenges, Alhaji Falaki
was always there for them with his magic wand. His milk of human kindness
continued to flow unabated, his generosity was limitless and his soft-spoken
nature was so enticing and comforting to all of us. His humility accompanied by small stature and friendly
face made students to feel free and reveal their worries. He was simply an
epitome of hope to the hopeless and a darling tutor to all the students. On
employment after graduation, Alhaji Falaki was instrumental to the employment
of several graduates who passed out with first class and second-class upper
division degrees in the Faculty of Agriculture. Even as a relatively distant observer, I am aware of some of my friends who secured their employment in the Faculty of Agriculture, ABU Zaria
and other universities courtesy of Falaki’s behind-the-scene roles. Today, many of such friends
have become full professors of various disciplines of Agriculture. Although,
Prof Falaki was from the stock of the so-called “Hausa-fulani”, he was never discriminatory to people
based on their religion or tribe. Testimony of Professor Samuel Duru, one of
Falaki’s disciples suffices. Professor Duru said in a telephone conversation to
me "Falaki was an
Angel, he was a wonderful human being who often did the impossible, his absence
during the Faculty’s home coming was very glaring as he was missed by all the
faculty’s graduates…” This provides a vivid reflection of what Prof Falaki
represented to all his students, friends and the university community irrespective of their social and religious
differences.
To express simplicity of Prof Falaki and
his readiness to go an extra
mile to elevate people, let me share one of my personal experiences. In late
1998 when I was still a
lecturer at the Federal
Polytechnic Bauchi under the unbearable pressure of “Abachaconomics”, on one particular evening, I noticed a brand new official vehicle parking in
front of my house at the staff
quarters of the Polytechnic. I was wondering who the visitor was as most of my
visitors then used to come on motorcycles or trekked down. Within a twinkle of
an eye, Dr. Falaki emerged from the car, strode to the gate and knocked, I
couldn’t believe my eyes, how could I entertain this august visitor, do I dash to the neighbourhood to buy soft-drinks? Why didn’t he send for
me to come to his hotel as his peers normally do? As I opened the doors, his
enticing smile and captivating nature composed me and I shivery uttered a warm welcome. He observed my
uneasiness and suggested I should bring a mat out for
us to have fresh air. Prof. Falaki didn’t allow me to go out to buy any "entertainment", he insisted eating whatever we prepared
for dinner that day. I was certainly
honored to host such a great personality in my house, where a mere presence of a car was a symbol of
opulence and high class within
the neighbourhood. After
having dinner, Prof, Falaki brought out an envelope containing a letter. “Babangida” as Falaki
normally called me, a name only used by closed family members and childhood
friends, “This is your appointment
letter into Ahmadu Bello University Zaria as an academic staff of NAERLS”,
Falaki announced with a beautiful smile on his face. It was a moment of joy
that remains a turning point in the entire history of my life. I later learnt
this was how Falaki visited some of his former students to deliver appointment
letters or admission letters of postgraduate studies or notes for them to
deliver to other places to secure
favors. It was just his typical passion to help others.
In the melee of the fight against Boko Harram, unknown
criminals murdered Prof. Falaki, before the very rural dwellers, the people he
spent all his life serving. What an irony of life? The news of his murder was
certainly the saddest thing we
all have to bear. May Ajannah Fildausi
be his final abode, Amen.
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