Jama'a, Sallama
I decided to open a separate thread on this to provide members opportunity to contribute to the next levels. It was Muhsin who first drew my attention to the thread and on reading it I feel very excited about the various prospects being discussed. I will outline one or two of my thoughts about this, and then we can decide what the next levels would be.
Let me start with a small preface on Online communities. One of the beauties of being an online community is our collective flexibility and ability to contribute without being hampered by restriction of space and time. This fluidity makes it possible to often suggest schemes and activities that would otherwise be impossible in landbased community. I operate quite a few online communities and over the years we explored a series of projects to strengthen our collective resolve to make things better for our people. Unfortunately none worked; not because of the lack of will, or even the funding, but simple TIME! It is quite easy to debate a particular issue from the comfort of either laptop or a cafe; but to ask someone to attend a meeting, often in a different city, or mobilize resources is quite dicey! I remember that in the Finafinan Hausa forum, and quite before all this Hiyana hiatus, we decided to rise to the occassion by producing a film ourselves -- a film we believe would be better than the standard fare produced by Kannywood, of which many of us were unfavorably critical. Among the members of the forum we had directors, producers, writers, and even backers; but in the end it didn't work because we are all spatially dispersed and getting people to come together to do one activity was getting too bothersome. So we gave up.
The same thing with arranging an award for writers on Marubuta forum -- again we gave frameworks, suggestions and specific budgets; all to zilch, because of the difficulties in getting us to "come on down" in physical space and organize something.
The point I am trying to make is that organizing an online forum into a landline concern is not as straightforward as it looks. There are many challenges, but of course none are too unsurmountable.
Now let's look at transforming
KanonOnline to an NGO. Jibo and Waziri came to Kano over two years ago to discuss this proposal with me and Salisu. We had a lunch meeting and agreed that it is a good concept and welcome idea. We even provided guidelines on how an NGO can be registered in Nigeria, and the sort of requirements needed. With Salisu working at the CAC, we didn't anticipate As far as I could tell, that was where the whole ended, although Jibo can correct me on this. The process of creating the NGO needs to be followed through a series of activities requiring money, and TIME -- that commodity that is more expensive than money! Once the NGO has been formed, it must be SUSTAINED -- again requiring time and money. I used to be part of an NGO -- Center for Hausa Cultural Studies -- which we established in 2003. But after the first flurry of activtiies (funded single handedly by one of our Board of Trustees), we simply lost steam, and could not to move on. Yet every year we had to struggle to pay rent for our offices -- which we rarely use. Lack of time and possibly committment, made it difficult for us to come up with a series of activities that would generate funds to ensure our sustainability. In the end I got fed up with shouldering most of the NGO's financial and logistic responsibilities and quit as the Chairman -- and I vowed NEVER again would I be snared into such situations again. I am a follower, not a leader -- let someone lead, and I quite happy to follow them; at least I can sneak away if the going gets too rough!
So, yes, we welcome the idea of KanoOnline being an NGO. To do that effectively, we need to focus on precisely what we hope to achieve by doing that (goals, vision, mission, strategic planning, long-term planning, deliverables, do-ables, etc). We need to also decide on SUSTAINABILITY -- what would we need to do in order to sustain our existence? We need to also address the issue of startup funding -- funding for office (offices?), payment for the maintainance of the office (running costs), payment for registration (any lawyer in the house?), and funds for ACTIVITIES (which are yet to be determined, and therefore operate on a fluid budget). Once we have clear perspectives on these issues, then we are on the go.
Let me now turn to the
Public Lecture issue. I am quite flattered that I am the first choice (among others) for possible candidates! However, as one of the administrators of the Forum, we have always preferred to remain in the background -- happy enough in providing a space for people to let their hair down. Therefore right from the beginning we decided amongst ourselves that we should not be the ones to lead or speak at any function organized by the Forum -- besides words of welcome and goodwill messages.
I think some of the alternatives being nominated are quite good enough. If I recall, they are Dr. Bala Muhammad (A Daidaita Sahu), Dr. Bashir Galadanci (Special Adviser to Kano State Governor on ICT and Education), and Muhammad Rabo AbdulKarim (The Director General, Kano State Censorship Board). One thing to bear in mind, though, is that each one of them is a politician, and would therefore promote a particular political view. This may not be palatable to many on this Forum -- and we have always prided ourselves on our non-participant stand (well one of us, Ibrahim Ado Kurawa has also become a politician by the virtue of being Director General, Directorate for Research and Publications, Government House Kano; but we don't allow that to get in the way!). Whoever we eventually settle on as the speaker for the event, there are logistic issues to be sorted out -- payment for the venue, refreshments, paper duplication, mini-secretariat, transport costs to secretarial staff, etc. We need to determine how these funds would be sourced, for the activity is too heavy for just one or two people to shoulder.
We experimented with the idea of setting up a subscription fee at the other online communities I operate -- and it worked, up to a point. It worked to the level were we usually meet twice a year during the Sallah period to greet each other, and pay a token subscription of minimum of 1,000 naira (but you can pay more if you so desire). Not many were willing to pay -- because we do not meet again until the following year; and people kept asking what happened to their money. So we decided to stop that practice. It was with the little we got that we provide logistics for the meetings, and in the early stages, even contribute to holding an award ceremony (for the Hausa film industry). As I said, people started grumbling, so we stopped.
So the main issues are: how do we generate enough funds to a) metamorphose into an NGO?; b) hold a Public Lecture somehwere -- either in Kano, Abuja, or even Dubai?!?
I hope this is food enough for thought to enable us to move to the next level.
Happy deliberations.
Abdalla
