TEDx Event in Kano City: The Inception

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The year 2017, unlike many other years before it, will be a memorable one in the history of Kano State and northern Nigeria in its entirety, not just for the amount of rainfall recorded or the bumper harvest of rice,
not for the bomb  free Sallah and Christmas celebrations, not for the two days visit of President Muhammadu Buhari and the commission of Health Care Centers in the state, but, for the first time, a day of a well-organized TEDx event in the ancient city on last day of December by a group of brilliant youths from across disciplines.

TEDx events are well planned, independently coordinated local gathering where live TED-like talks from various speakers and videos previously recorded at TED conferences are shared with the community, on a community-by-community basis. TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design conferences which began 33 years ago in Canada. Today, TED talks are not limited to one topic or field, it covers a various topic  from sciences to business to global issues  in more than 100 languages.

TEDxBabaDanBaffa Crew
The recent TEDx Event in Kano City aptly coined TEDxBabaDanBaffaSt (harsh tag ConnectingTheDots), the first of its kind in North Western Nigeria was aimed at bringing something worthwhile happening in the rest of the world to the doorsteps of our people, to foster learning, inspiration and wonder  and to provoke conversation that matter.
Mudassir and Crew
Our journey began with a TEDx enthusiast  Mudassir Sulaiman who, after attending number of such events in Nigeria, the passion in him transformed to fetching like minds to make it a reality in Kano. Eventually, aside my humble self, Ahamd Rufai Sagagi who would later become the organizing secretary, Mr. Sulaiman conveniently lay hands on three talented poets and writers I know: Imam Az-Zubair, Aysha Mahmoud, Badamasi Aliyu et cetera all from our reading club World Book Club Nigeria and many others elsewhere. In early 2016, we came up with a vibrant team we have today.To set up such an event we faced many challenges from the inception, worse of which was sponsorship. TEDx event isnt a marketing conference or a political, its not a religious or a commercial gathering that'll generate income or campaign for a political party. So, we truly understand why many turned down our humble requests to sponsor the event. With a resolute team leader, we never relent. We focused on our task, took the bull by the horn and devised another means for ourselves  a source from within. The unrelenting commitment of both the curator and co-organizers singlehandedly paved way for the success of the TEDx Event in Kano City.

Audience
To really connect the dots by sparking a thought-provoking and mind-blowing conversation that will unleash new ideas and offer solutions, we reach out to some brilliant and wunderkind personalities to be our speakers. These speakers were Mariya Sidi   a medical doctor, Musa Abdullahi Sufi   a development worker, film producer and film director, Fiona Lovaat  a philanthropist, Yasmeen Obadaki  radio presenter and activist, Prof. Faruk Sarkinfada  a medical scientist, Faiz Bashir  CEO Flexisaf Nigeria Ltd., Abdullah Edward  a researcher, Murtala Adogie Mohammed  youth empowerment specialist, Abdulbaqi Jari, a youth activist, Nasir Yammama  CEO agroverdent tech. Ltd. and Prof.  Ibrahim Dooba  educationist and a columnist (Daily Trust).

Sufi
Few of the topic discussed and questions we tried to find answer(s) to include: 'The Future of Food and Agriculture in Nigeria', 'Why Money Grow on Trees', 'The Journey of a Medical Student', 'Can Social Media be Controlled?', 'Women in The Media' and so on. All our speakers performed exceptionally beautiful and delivered their individual topics theyve chosen for themselves far beyond expectation.

Murtala Adogi
However, some of the personalities who made our list but were unavoidably absent at the event include Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Maryam Aliko muhammad, Kenneth Gyang and Rahama Sadau.

The inclusion of Rahama Sadau, a Kannywood actress and producer attracted criticism, as expected, not only on the list of our invited speakers but the entire TEDx Event in Kano City. Sadau had been on the redline of criticisms for her uncultured doings in the Hausa movie industry especially her appearance in a video song of a certain Hausa Hip hop artist, ClassiQ, as well as her rapport with an American base musician, Akon. But a recent reckless statement she was said to have made on her virginity without remorse few days to our event somehow made us part of the equation for involving her.


Shamma
The uproar following her recklessness was truly understandable. But calling on us to get rid of Sadau in the list of our speakers was uncalled for. At least, it was the last thing we thought of doing. Others didnt just stop there, however, they went ahead to suggest legal action to put stop to the event. As funny as this may sound, it showcased nothing but their lack of knowledge of it and how things work entirely. Why should TEDxBabaDanbaffaSt bear the burden of Sadau not as an organizer but a speaker?


Audience
Sadau was invited lately, to speak on "her journey to the film industry", something no better person can but herself (which I believe would have been an advantage to the critics, in some way). We were told that there are uncountable number of Kannywoods who could speak better than Sadau. But weve reached out to these qualified personalities (directors, producers, script writers and actors) in the industry and they turned down our humble request to participate. And havent we had Sufi? And unlike those who underestimated our effort, she didn't just accept our request but went ahead to make advert of the event on her social media platforms. We truly owe her more than a word of thanks for her patriotism. We missed her presence due to the fact that she was out of the country for her studies.

Aliyu Jalal and Friends
Nonetheless, the feedback we've being receiving from our delighted audience and speakers who were there (like two of Nigeria's intellectuals and Columnists, Dr. Bala Muhammad and Prof. Dooba (Mr. Brainy)) and even those who were not opportune to be there are remarkably awesome and encouraging. We are more than happy to have host and served them.
We will forever be grateful to people like Prof. Uba Adamu, Prof. Rabiat Said and Dr. Bala Muhammad who we've been knocking their doors for guide and are never tied to do even more. Our partners, Freedom and Rahama Radio are truly amazing. They understand the good in our effort to host sessions with us in their stations before and after the event. We are thankful to that.


Prof. Rabia
TEDxBabaDanBaffaSt is here to stay, forever, In Sha Allah. And its for all who have something worth sharing with the people of Kano, Nigeria and the entire world. In the next coming TEDx Events in Kano City, we hope to invite other amazing speakers (among which will be speeches in Hausa) to discuss various issues not limited  to but including societal problems; marriages and divorce, bridging the gap between the elites/rich and the poor, education, entertainment; art and culture, Hausa movies, colonization of the Hausa Hip Hop and lot more.

The future is brighter. See you at TEDxBabaDanBaffSt 2018. Allah Ya kaimu. Amin.

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