Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that maybe it will lead you to your path. And you must understand that your time is limited, so don’t waste it by living someone else’s life. These are the summary of words of encouragement and wisdom given to graduands of the Mustafa Comprehensive School in Kontagora on the 29th of July 2017 in celebration of the 22nd graduation/prize giving ceremony.
The occasion, which attracted men and women of like minds, was chaired by Hon. Godfrey Ishegbe, and had as chief host, Alhaji Usman Sanni Bello. Also in attendance was Col Sanni Bello, the founder; the royal father of the day, His Royal Highness Alh. Saidu Namaska-Sarkin Sudan, Kontagora. The visionary, Col. Sanni Bello counted his blessings as he took his guests down memory lane concerning the challenges resulting in the success story of today.
According to Bello, the vision was to place the institution among the best in the world through rendering of quality education and making the product of the institution to be among the very best that can ever be come by in the world. The founder believes that in the nearer future, when ten names of leaders are mentioned, three must be products of Mustafa Comprehensive School. What a goal of a great man who does not seek applause or seek a place but truth, fulfillment and road to happiness for others.
Information has it that Bello’s prime purpose in life is to help others. And if he can’t help you for a reason, he won’t hurt you. The birth of Sani Bello Foundation, we were informed, was as a result of an undying love to help others. The foundation came at a time that the voice of the ordinary man must be heard. Today, we live in a society where the bridge between the ordinary man and the privileged is an unseen distance. However, Col. Bello stands out among the privileged on an account of his outstanding sacrifice through youth empowerment and entrepreneurship.
Col. Sani Bello (rtd) was born in 1942 at Kontagora, Niger State, Nigeria. He attended Central Primary School, Kontagora in 1950 and Government College, Bida {Niger State} in 1957, before joining the Nigerian Army as a Cadet in December 1962. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in July 1965. He has always been in the vanguard of youth education and he believes that time has passed when societies would have to wait for government to do everything for them, believing that it’s time private individuals got involved in mobilizing support activities that will move the nation forward.
“Nigerian youths today have become the pain of this nation and no nation can move forward without the commitment of her youth. The youths of any nation are regarded as the hope of that nation, hence, any nation without a well-articulated programme of development for its teeming youth is considered to be threading on deadly grounds and in gross danger of self-extinction,” averred the renowned humanitarian.
It is in the regards above, that the Sani Bello Foundation focuses in engaging the youths of Northern Nigeria in profitable ventures that could be used to improve the social-economic standards of the nation and its citizenry. Furthermore, he said, it has become imperative at this time to get our youths off the streets before selfish politicians take advantage of their hungry disposition to unleash mayhem on the nation because as the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man.
He notifies: “Our pilot states are Niger, Kaduna and Kano. The Foundation’s mision statement is to transform our nation into a productive economic environment where high tech entrepreneurs are groomed thus driving the economy to rapid development while they are on a mission To embark on immediate and sporadic evacuation and rehabilitation of all unemployed, homeless youths and street urchins to a well-organized environment and structure where they will be trained in diverse entrepreneur skill for a specified period of time.”
Col Sanni Bello is also set to launch a sport complex which ranks at par high-class complexes around the world. With this initiative, we heard, he wishes to transform Kontagora to a more developed city and one that is conducive for citizens and visitors.
-Keem Abdul
