Student Body Honours Jaafar for rehabilitating Hausa musician

Student Body Honours Jaafar for rehabilitating Hausa musician

A student association, Kungiyar Daliban Hausa ta Kasa (KUDHAN), has honoured the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Nigerian, Jaafar Jaafar, for his effort in rehabiliting a famous Hausa diva, Magajiya Dambatta.

Conferring the award on him, the president of the association, Comrade Nura Sulaiman Janbirji, Sarkin Daliban Hausa, said the purpose of the award was to acknowledge his contributions to the development of Hausa oral literature.

Jaafar won acclaim recently for championing the rehabilitation of the old musician who in her day was a brilliant composer.

However, she had had become blind, living in penury and had resorted to begging in the streets in order to feed herself.

Jaafar took it upon himself and, with the assistance of other public-spirited individuals, formed a foundation which raised over N5 million for her rehabilitation.

At the award ceremony which took place at the offices of Visually Ethnographic Networks in Kano on January 2, 2020, the president of KUDHAN lamented the fact that the academia has failed in its public and moral responsibility.

He pointed out that many academicians have benefited from the talents of Hausa musicians through publications, becaming experts on them, but do not care to follow-through what happens to them after providing them with a career trajectory.

“Jaafar’s efforts are worthy of emulation by all public-spirited individuals,” Janbirji said.

Signed:
Ibrahim Sheme
Member,
Visually Ethnographic Networks