Dr Bukar Shuaib, who died in February 2006 at the age of 79, was the doyen of Nigerian Vets. He was recognised as the first Nigerian to hold a DVM, the professional doctorate required to practice veterinary medicine. He is today reputed to be No 1 on the register of the Veterinary Association of Nigeria. Incidentally, one of his contemporaries from Borno, Dr Musa Goni, the first Nigerian to be the Director of the iconic Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, was also high up on the register.
Dr Bukar Shuaib was born in 1927 in Geidam, a thriving border town with the Niger Republic, now in Yobe State, but lived most of his life in Maiduguri, where he maintained a permanent residence at the bank of the River Ngadda by the Customs Bridge. He had his early education at Maiduguri Middle School, from where he proceeded to Katsina College. Katsina College was then in transition to Zaria. However, as the Zaria buildings were not ready, the school stayed in Kaduna and was called Kaduna College. The school later moved to its permanent site in Zaria and became Government College Zaria, later rechristened Barewa College.
I understand that he chose the field of agriculture early in life and whenever on holidays from Kaduna College, would take up a temporary appointment in the Borno NA Agricultural Department, which Mallam Mohamet Lawan, his earliest mentor, headed. He worked in the Ngirmeri Farm Centre, learning all the basic agricultural practices from Mohammet Lawan. He was even given a big plot of land by Mohamet Lawan to try some of the things he had taught him. On completing Kaduna College, he went on to train at the Veterinary Research Institute in Vom. Realising that the institute was only a diploma-awarding academy, Bukar Shuaib sought and obtained the Northern Nigerian regional scholarship to study abroad. He was successful and went on to Liverpool University in the UK, from which he graduated with a DVM in 1954. He was also registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (UK).
After graduation, he returned to work as a veterinary field officer in various provinces of the north. He was posted at various times to Sokoto, Katsina, Kano and the Mambila Plateau. At independence, he was identified as one of those who would take over the northern region bureaucracy from the top colonial civil servants, finally leaving. He was then brought to Kaduna and, in 1961, appointed Permanent Secretary in the newly created Ministry of Forestry and Animal Resources. Interestingly, the ministry was carved out of the Ministry of Agriculture, which his mentor, Mohamet Lawan, had been heading as permanent secretary since 1960.
After the creation of states in 1967, Dr Shuaib elected to transfer to the Federal Civil Service. His talents were immediately recognised, and he was appointed Permanent Secretary in 1968 and posted to head the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR). He was destined to be the longest-serving permanent secretary ever in that ministry, staying for 10 years from 1968 to 1978. His tenure at the FMAWR was eventful. He was both the lead technocrat and the administrative head, a role in which he acquitted himself admirably. His long tenure as Permsec witnessed the rapid expansion of the federal government’s efforts to lay infrastructure for the country’s agricultural sector.
He was particularly credited with the creation of river basin authorities. He travelled widely to China, Egypt and Sudan and was impressed by how those countries ramped up their production figures by using irrigation to extend their cropping seasons. He advised accordingly, and the decree to bring the authorities to life was enacted in 1973, starting with the Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA), Maiduguri and the Sokoto Rima Basin Development Authority (SRBDA). In later years, the numbers increased to eleven and on and on.
I came to know him when I joined CBDA as an admin officer after serving in the NYSC in 1977. Even by then, Dr Shuaib was becoming a legend of sorts. Despite his heavy responsibilities as permsec, he never missed board meetings of his river basin authorities. He was always there listening, guiding, educating and never allowing things to go astray. I witnessed all these because I took minutes at those meetings.
It is now 20 years after his death. Yet, he is still remembered for his sterling contributions to Nigerian agriculture as a whole and, in particular, for the creation and sustenance of the river basin authorities.
One of my fondest recollections of Dr Shuaib was that day in July 1979 when I accompanied them, himself and the General Manager CBDA, AJKG Imam, to New Marte, the project headquarters of the South Chad Irrigation Project (SCIP). The project had a very successful launch a few days earlier, which was attended by the Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, and a host of national and local dignitaries that included Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the Governor of Northern Nigeria. Dr Shuaib had retired as Permsec and had just assumed duties as Ambassador to Italy with concurrent accreditation to the FAO and a few other European nations.
He missed our launching ceremony, which he had looked forward to for a long time and had been closely involved in organising.
We will continue the discussion next week.