“We shared classrooms with expatriates’ children and competed equally,” says 66-year-old public official
Story by Maryam Saleh Isa
Muhammad Isah is a staff member at Alma’arif College of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Sciences, Potiskum, Yobe State.
As a 66-year-old vibrant and cheerful individual, he sat for an in-depth interview with Neptune Prime’s Maryam Saleh, where he reflects on a childhood shaped by discipline, communal living, and values he believes are gradually fading in today’s society.
Neptune Prime: Can you tell me about your childhood and what life was like when you were growing up?
Muhammad Isah: Life was simple and affordable. In those days, our parents’ friends were like our own parents. One respected elder could enforce a rule, and every child in the settlement would obey it. Trust was common, and disobedience was rare. Children were naturally helpful; whenever we saw an elder carrying a load, we rushed to assist. Even then, we were warned not to accept gifts offered in appreciation. Schooling was well organised and competitive. We were taught by both foreign and local teachers, shared classrooms with expatriate children, and competed academically regardless of gender or background. Poverty was not common. If a neighbour lacked food, others shared freely.
My father was Sarkin Noma. He used to give us millet to take to our neighbours’ houses, especially when the head of the house was not around, so that when he returned it would surprise him.
In those years, we bought Peak Milk at five kobo, Getsha at sile and sisi– Food was affordable, milk was abundant, and livestock was properly inspected before sale. This development was as recent as the 1980s.
Neptune Prime: What are some of the happiest memories from your early years?
Muhammad Isah: One memory I will never forget was when I fell seriously ill during third-term examinations. Despite my condition, my father took me to school every day. Question papers were brought to me, and I was allowed to complete them before returning home. When the results were released, I emerged first overall. I received gifts such as an advanced learner’s dictionary, school items, and uniforms. That experience remains one of the happiest moments of my life.
Neptune Prime: Were there any challenges you faced as a young person that shaped the way you see life today?
Muhammad Isah: I later faced financial challenges, which pushed me to join the Nigerian Armed Forces. While there, I became a squad leader in my platoon. Long before that, my father trained me in farming and discipline. That discipline followed me to this day. I am almost 67 years old, yet I can still match someone in their twenties.
Neptune Prime: What values or principles do you think every young person should live by?
Muhammad Isah: Honesty and trustworthiness should come first. Young people must learn to be independent and find something productive to do. Depending on relatives is risky, as everyone has their own responsibilities.
Education today is also misunderstood. Reading and cramming are not learning. Understanding is learning. Googling and copying alone do not make someone educated.
Young people should also use their phones wisely. Staying on phones 24 hours a day is dangerous to mental health. Take breaks, learn skills, sleep well, and allow your brain to refresh. Media exposure today is making youths more restless than intelligent.
Neptune Prime: If you could go back to your youth, what is the one thing you would do differently?
Muhammad Isah: If I were to return to my youth, I would study tirelessly, from degree level to professorship. Some of my classmates are professors today, some are governors, including people like Alhaji Umaru Jibrilla.
Neptune Prime: What advice would you give young people about handling failure or disappointment?
Muhammad Isah: Young people should embrace Tauheed. Whatever happens, whether good or bad, relate it to Allah. Some disappointments are blessings in disguise.
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Neptune Prime: In your lifetime, what kind of leaders have inspired you the most, and why?
Muhammad Isah: Leaders who inspire me are patriotic leaders—those who place national interest above personal interest. The democracy we practise today is not the same democracy brought to us. Those who introduced it practised it differently.
Neptune Prime: What qualities do you believe good leaders should have to guide society?
Muhammad Isah: For Nigeria to progress, we must admit that democracy is not working as practised. Military rule once worked because of discipline.
Leaders should be merciful and creative in policy-making. My first salary was fifty naira, and a bag of rice was twenty-five naira. The environment is not the problem; honesty and truthfulness are.
During my service as a soldier, I never insulted anyone. What we lack most today is justice and fairness.
Neptune Prime: How do today’s leaders differ from those of your time?
Muhammad Isah: They are very different. During our childhood, emirs allowed us to enter their homes and play with their children freely. Governors’ children attended the same schools as ours and used the same facilities.
Today, once someone attains power, they separate themselves. Their children attend different schools, use different hospitals and the poor are left to manage whatever reaches them.
Neptune Prime: What hobbies or activities have given you the most joy over the years?
Muhammad Isah: What gives me joy is seeing improvement in female healthcare delivery. There was a time when female health workers were very few. In 2009, my wife was stitched by a male doctor during delivery.
Today, from Potiskum to Dawasa, there are many midwives. This gladdens my heart.
Neptune Prime: How do you spend your time now, and what keeps you happy in old age?
Muhammad Isah: I take breakfast with my family, then go to work at Alma’arif. By 4:00 pm, I close and take my medicine bag to offer veterinary services around the community. This helps solve some financial challenges before my salary.
Neptune Prime: Is there a book, song, or tradition that has stayed with you throughout your life?
Muhammad Isah: There are books we read in primary five, especially fairy tales like Na Allah and Locus, and Iliya Dan Mai Karfi. They have stayed with me.
Neptune Prime: What life lessons have you learnt that you wish more people understood?
Muhammad Isah: Patience and perseverance. Be committed to whatever task is assigned to you.
Neptune Prime: How would you like to be remembered by your family and community?
Every night, I sit with my family to read the Qur’an and ask my children questions. I ensured they received both Islamic and Western education. I want to be remembered as someone who educated his children.
Neptune Prime: What message would you leave behind for future generations?
Muhammad Isah: People should work with honesty and truthfulness. Love one another. There is no point where your brother dies and his children suffer under your watch. We must be our brothers’ keepers.
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