Ab-initio, It starts as tedious morning that I have to left my bed since dawn, so that i can make some needful preparation of my journey to Damaturu, Yobe state capital. Being curious to attend the event make all the pains runs. At last it paid.

Saturday, 12th of March, 2022 happened to be a day full of opportunities and nostalgic memories. Opportunities indeed, owing to the speakers that opens a window to their minds for all of their listeners, by sharing their concealed stories and experiences. At the end the listeners were motivated and taught on how to look for opportunities beyond the circle of their sight.

It was a nostalgia by quenching my long awaited thirsts of meeting with friends and masters in the art of writing and poetry; Ismail Auwal, Salim Yunusa, Sa’id Sa’ad Abubakar, AI Sabo, Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad, and the village boy Mu’azu Little, to mention but few.
Yahuza Rabiu Garba makes me feel comfortable with the event by throwing his friendly banters on me. On the top of these, having Anas Babati and Aishatu Gimba as the Host and Co-host, the duo make the event captivating and awe-inspired.

Don’t forget that; the theme of the event was “Forge Ahead” now, let’s look in to see whether we are forging Ahead or not.

Here are my takeaways;
It will never be possible to highlight all speakings word-by-word, rather I would share with you, the ones I found favorite.

The First speech that I find my self totally immersed-in was a speech by the chairman of ‘yan makarantar lilo’ (standard secondary school grad), The Managing Editor Sahellian Times Newspaper, Mr Ismail Auwal, on Fake news and misinformation. As a budding journalist, I found his speech useful and elucidating. I can say I fall in love with all the words we used in his speech during TEDx Pompomari, for all are relevant to topic that I have been wanting to know. Mr Ismail Auwal gave me a damn hint in verification the authenticity of News. Where he said that, Fake news and misinformation are in everywhere even in the academic journals and Textbooks. He also share the story of his public speaking ability with trace to his secondary school adventure.

The next speaker, Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad, an advocate of education for all, with the exhilarating topic of presentation ‘Using Pain to Gain’ encouraged many of our young sisters on the life obstacles that may come across if married or divorced. How to use that pain of sorrow to gain glad of honour. She also share the story of her married days and how she is living now full of conformity as a single and divorced mother. How she used that opportunity to further her study, writing, and humanitarian activism.

The next speaker was a writer and womanist, Rukayya Ibrahim Iyayi, her speech is on women right and gender violence. Miss Iyayi take the Abaya Saga of one female students from KUST Wudil that tormented by male colleagues early 2021, as a topic of discussion. I can remember vividly as Miss Iyayi quoted that; “Women Right is a Human Right, and Human Right is a Community Right”.

Kazeem Adetola Ahmad, from Lagos. Mr Adetola is the President of Mandela fellows in Nigeria. He also encouraged us on not given-up in life, He shares the story of Babagana Modu, from Ngamborun-Ngala how he used the thought time of his imprisonment life to built a good time he is currently living in.
With this we had a refreshment by entertained cultural dancers, imitating the culture of Yobe state inhabitants.
After cultural entertainment, the event continued rousing as it was just started.

A speech from a journalist, Poet and Wole Soyinka Literature Lauret winner, Sa’id Sa’ad Abubakar, on raising a children to built better community. During the speech, he shared the story of how he quite his journalism work and joined humanitarian activism. He told us on how he is dealing with IDPs children in their displaced environment, how he understand their sorrow, heart beat rate, blood pressure in just a single handshake with them. He obviously stated that his father don’t know that he is already a doctor he wanted him to be. This part touched me so deeply!.
The courtesy of appreciation I received from Sa’id Sa’ad Abubakar make me felt flattered, whenever we discussed a little he would be saying Oh Aliyu nice to meet you!

The story of Mrs. Ikleemat Idris, 30, a mother educationists and gender activist that combined being married and schooling at the same time, to cut the story short her message would definitely changed how we are thinking as young people.

The story of Ikleemat started when she was about to complete her secondary school education and coincidentally she would be married immediately. It was a two days interval between Ikleemat last day in high school and her wedding day.
Despite all these, this heroine (Ikleemat) never gave-up, she got admission to read an NCE (Three years program) in FCE (T) Potiskum. During those days Ikleemat as a teenage, pregnant house wife went through a lot of difficulties like shouldering her house chores and reading to pass her examination. Every morning, She had to cook breakfast and lunches all at same before going to school. Her husband who happened to be arduously responsible would cook a dinner for them before she return back from school and at the night he can take nurse of baby so that she can concentrate well on her books, this happened continuously till her graduation. After she graduated Ikleemat and her husband sit-up and discussed on the possibility of her going to further her studies to the university, due to his financial in ability they concludes that she can seek a job from nearby primary school so that she can earn penny to save and takes care of her tuition fees by her self, this advise was implemented as it planned. Ikleemat served as a class room teacher for two years, by then she got admission to the same college she graduated from (affiliation of degree program with the ATBU Bauchi) She is now 400 Level student. While serving as a class room teacher, that paved a way to Ikleemat, where she started a business of selling Ankara, laces, Abayas, Shadda, and Shoes. Ikleemat said and I quoted that “even, if I have nobody to tell that I am a super woman, I’ve to tell myself that I’m a Superwoman”. With this the event is paused for short-time break, where we used the break to say our Zuhr prayer.

While in Musallah I and Ismail Auwal, spontaneously started a conversation on Ikleemat where we break the ice. We discussed on how young ladies and boys are afraid of getting married with the notion of it tough. Ismail says that today’s young generation are between the circle of materialism; women wouldn’t marry a young man at his starting point, and male too if settled would agree marry only the one that composed his greedy complement.
Alas, we’re are not marrying each another (youth).
Mr. Ismail added with the story of former minister of education Mrs. Rukayya Rufa’i, that attained her SSCE as a housewife up to the highest title of learning (Professor). Even when she was a serving minister she had to cook for her husband. And she was quoted to have said if her husband would ask her to resigned, she would do unhesitatingly. What a loyal wife!

Ad-interim, the event was resumed. The next speaker was a “daughter” Adama Yerima Balla, the woman confined on wheelchair. I called her daughter because it’s a best title she want to be addressed with, despite all what she achieved in life for being mother that received several recognition across the globe but she insists that she is still a daughter; if not because of my parent I can’t make it to my potentials. What a good daughter!
Mrs Adama was a victim of polio since she was five months of birth. Instead of her to be begging on the street as we’re seeing, she take up the challenge of her disability and beat the status-quo. Hajiya Adama despite her disability, possess NCE and BSc, and write two books. This make me believed that disability is not an inability. According to her the saying “there is an ability in disability” might be Yes and No! It’s ‘Yes’ if the ability was brought to you, and ‘No’ if it wasn’t. She accolades her parents for bringing her the ability by employing a tutor to her that taught her how to reads, writes and counts simple arithmetic during her childhood, and allowing her to school. This was the reason behind her choice to be addressed as daughter everywhere.

The one of ours, Poet, Salim Yunusa, takes the TEDx floor eloquently, that attracts the listeners with his melodious vocality and fascination topic; Commercialization of Culture. He stated that our culture need to be promoted, package, sells at last we can make money of course. Salim said that the different between groundnut we are buying at cost of fifty Naira on the street and the one we are buying at cost of five hundreds Naira in malls is packaging.

The last speaker I can mention here is, Humanitarian activist, and Mandela fellow Washington DC, The Village Boy, Mu’azu Alhaji Modu, that excited us with his moralizing topic named “Beyond our Sight” He said and I quoted “as a young people there is a thousands of opportunities beyond our sight therefore we must look beyond” He added with his story of how he declined the offer with a bank and joined humanitarian activism! Today, Mu’azu is among the world 100 most influential youths.

We were entertain by many performance that i couldn’t be able to mention. But there was a spoken word artist and business developer, Ramadan. He happened to be exceptionally brilliant performer there, I can’t forgive my self if he reached the end of every verse of his poem while I didn’t put my hand together enormously for him.

The way we received the number of speakers and performance within the circle of intelligentsia across the country, revamped my hope that Yobe is still The Pride of The Sahel not Desert as some unpatriotic elements are seeing it and we would definitely Forge Ahead.

TEDxPompomari

ForgeAhead

Ali Tijjani Hassan, writes from Potiskum, Yobe State.