I got fed up with the teaching profession after a dose of it for eight years. During those long years, my desire was always to leave for greener pastures. This was due to so many reasons such as poor pay, lack of incentives and the fact that you are looked down upon by the society itself.
So I was on the lookout for a job - any job - all the time. I became a "SAN", Senior Applicant of Nigeria. I was always responding to Newspaper advertisements. And I went to the extent of attending interviews in quite a few places. When the time ordained for me to leave, I got three different invitations for interviews simultaneously; one from Katsina State History and Culture Bureau, one from Isa Kaita College of Education, IKCOE, Dutsinma, Katsina State, to be an English Language Lecturer and the third from Katsina State Television, KTTV. I attended two of the interviews. But before the date for the third interview at IKCOE came, I heard from the grapevine and on good authority that I was successful in the two previous interviews. So I didn't bother to attend the third. In any case, I wasn't that keen about the third as I was trying to run away from teaching.
As I waited for a letter of appointment from any or both places, I was told that my colleagues had already received theirs from KTTV. I wondered where mine was stuck. After waiting in vain for mine, it dawned on me that it wasn't forthcoming.
So, I set out to find out what happened. In the course of my investigation, I found out that the state government, realising that it was fast losing teachers had come up with a policy that no teacher should be allowed to switch jobs in the state and so my appointment letter was withheld. I spoke with the then General Manager, GM, who, regretfully, confirmed the development. I patiently explained to him that I had a pending transfer of service to KTTV which was fully endorsed by the Ministry of Education before that policy came up and that it was dusting away in my file at the State Civil Service Commission. For some reason it was not forwarded to KTTV. He asked if I could get a copy of the letter and I said I would try.
As luck would have it, I was lucky to get a copy of the endorsed letter which I took back to him. He told me that, luckily, there was a function that night at Government House, Katsina and that the Board Chairman, who was based in Abuja, was billed to attend. He promised to see him with the letter and told me to write a sort of appeal and attach the endorsed letter, which I did.
I went back home and kept my fingers crossed and left everything to the Almighty Allah. After several days, I went back for feedback. The GM told me that he had seen the Board Chairman as expected that same day. He took him aside and gave him my letter of appeal. After reading it, without a word, he minuted on it. It was many years later I found out what he wrote. This was what he wrote, "Please offer him employment as recommended by the interview panel". That was how I got the job and finally disengaged from teaching.
The GM then was late Ibrahim (Boyi) Abdullahi and the Board Chairman was none other than Malam Wada Maida, former MD, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, now Board Chairman, NAN.