Late Dr Adamu Turaki: The Lost of a Great Educational Magnate By Mudassir Aliyu Yunusa

"Mallam Adamu was a great icon, a renowned educationist, a career Civil Servant and in deed a father to his students."

Innalillahi wa Inna ilaihir rajiun (We are all from Allah and on to Him we will surely return). "every soul must taste the death". People die everyday, yet not all affirm the goodness in humanity and leadership the way Late Dr Adamu Turaki did. Mallam Adamu Turaki answered the call of his Creator (Allah) on Monday 25/5/2020, 2nd Shawwal 1441AH and left legacy of positive experiences for anyone who took the time to know him. Most likely you may not know Adamu Turaki but you can learn from the legacy he left quite rightly. Mallam Adamu was a great icon, a renowned educationist, a career Civil Servant and in deed a father to his students. Certainly the lost of someone with such calibre  is very painful and irreparable.

Late Dr. Adamu Turaki is a renowned educationist of international repute, an administrator, a friend and father of the students, a teacher with distinct qualities, and an exemplary leader with philosophy of honesty accountability, transparency, dedication, sympathy and fear of Allah in the course of discharging his responsibilities.

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The Adamu Turaki I knew as far back as 22 years ago has remained reference point in Kano educational sector and beyond, his successes and achievement in education has remains significant to the sector. My first encounter with the erudite scholar was at Rumfa College Kano, when he served as a Principal while I was his student, it was the time when Dr Adamu Turaki held sway the National Body of All Nigerian Conference Of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), his stewardship as ANCOPSS National President was monumental considering the unprecedented achievement he recorded.

Doctor, as we respectfully called him has made his marks in the history of Kano State Educational sector, because a lot of teachers in the Ministry of Education particularly those who excelled in their various field of endevours undergone his tutelage. Likewise his students excelled in various field of human life, some became qualified Medical Doctors, Teachers, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, Journalists, Politicians, Business moguls, and many Academicians.

He started his career as classroom teacher in the Kano State Ministry of Education in January 1973 and reached the pinnacle of his career as Permanent Secretary. He made enormous contributions toward the development of education in the state, his firm ideal and principle of equity, justice and fairness are among the qualities that made him to stand out as a leader and a record breaker in the area of education and administration.

Late Dr Adamu Turaki is a gentle, courageous, industrious philanthropist who sacrificed much of his time in ensuring better condition of teaching and learning. The man of ideological and religious stand, especially in educational philosophy who prompted his actions toward provision of qualitative education and provision of welfare to the teachers. As some one who hailed from humble background, he always denounced corruption in what ever form, it was against his strong conviction. His appearance always in WHITE COSTUME indicate how clean his mind was in serving the nation, he also believed in transparency, honesty, dedication and hard working as the key to success especially in an academic environment.

As Principal in Five (5) famous Senior Secondary Schools: GGSS Kaugama in the old Kano State(now Jigawa State), GSS Tarauni, GSS Dawakin Tofa, Science College Dawakin Kudu and the prestigious Rumfa College Kano,  he was able to curtailed negative behaviors among students such as lateness, truancy, lackadaisical and non-challant attitudes. On the part of teachers he abhor mediocre, indiscipline and laziness which he challenged them to purge themselves and became punctual to their duties particularly when it comes to their lesson period. I could remember when he was a Principal of Rumfa College he introduced attendance register for teachers, a step to ensure teachers are alive to their responsibilities. Rumfa College Kano (formerly known as Middle School) is one of the premier and pioneer secondary school in northern Nigeria, as a Principal he led the College with absolute commitment and dedication where he succeeded positively in changing the fortune of the great institution which made it paradigm of knowledge and also left an indelible mark as legacy. He came up with some important administrative principles and academic disciplines by initiating some good policies that improved the standard of learning in the College, during his reign of leadership he was able to restore back the lost glory of the College by reviving some important curricula of learning like prep, extra lesson and coaching classes aimed at preparing his students for both internal and external examinations. The acts of truancy, lateness, exam cheating were drastically reduced in the College, However, he introduced the system of writing terminal examination with question papers as against the usual way of writing exam on the blackboard this has no doubt made the students to be acquainted with question papers as well as the sitting arrangement to avoid any panic when it comes to external exams, and this made Rumfa College highly exceptional among its contemporaries in the state. Indeed this effort of Mallam is highly commendable.

Dr Adamu Turaki is the first principal of Rumfa that facilitated IT literacy and made the College Computer Centre so vibrant and beneficial, he upgraded the centre to became standard department among others. The IT lab was fully equipped with modern computers, students were extracted base on merit from each class to undergo an intensive computer training which at the end of the course each student will be awarded a certificate. For proper enrollment of serious students into the College, the highly articulated man came up with policy of thorough screening for both fresh and transfer students into the College.

Neatness and decency are other achievement of  Dr. Turaki in Rumfa College, students were forced to dress decently and neatly in complete school uniform, thorough inspection was taken place every week. He equally reinstated the dormant Waziri, Galadima, Madaki and Chiroma houses of the College.

In the area of games and sports, he achieved much through reviving the College inter house competitions which gave the College an opportunity to represent the state in the National Inter Secondary Schools Football Competition in Lagos, where the College was able to reach the Final stage and lost to Salahu Abiola Memorial College Ibadan, Oyo State and the duo were taken to Italy for their outstanding performance. In deed he was able to restore back the status of the College as put place initially.

Dr Turaki stayed in Rumfa College for 5 years (1998 – 2003) and later promoted to the rank of Assistant Director in the Ministry of Education Rano Zone, he became a Director in the same Zone and later promoted to the rank of Permanent Secretary (pioneer in the Ministry for Higher Education) where he retired in 2008 after putting up 35 years in civil service and establish his private educational research centre (TURAKI EDUCATIONAL CENTRE) to assist in making researches for the development of education in the state and beyond.

Surely, the death of Dr. Adamu Turaki is a great lost which has really created a vacuum not only to his family but to the society at large. He was a devoted man spending much of his time in Masjid (Alfur'qan, Umar bn Khattab, BUK Old Campus). He was also the Chairman of Badariyya Mosque Jangaru. For the time being I usually called him every friday to greet him, and he always offered advice, guidance and prayers to me which are always counting on my success and achievement. In 2012 and 2017 I wrote two different articles in recognition of his mentorship to me and his service to humanity. May Almighty Allah forgive his shortcomings, grand him Jannatul FIRDAUS. May Allah continue to give us the courage and fortitude to bear this irreparable lost of our Teacher/Father.

MUDASSIR write from NTA Zaria, Kaduna NWC.