People: Chinese who speaks Hausa
China, a country of strong possibilities, is full of fun and surprises. The visiting team of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, savoured more than it bargained for during its recent week-long tour of strategic zones of the leading Asian country.
The PDP top shots were in China on a special invitation by the government. Officials of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), detailed to shepherd the visitors from Nigeria on trips round some regions of the country, offered the greatest comforts to make everyone feel at home. In essence, Tukur and his entourage were offered first class treatments, as they stepped on red carpets everywhere they went.
The first shocker that awaited Tukur and his team occurred with their visit to the mega city of Shenzhen. The Nigerians arrived Shenzhen through the world's fastest train. Built for robust comfort of the passengers, the train can run a trip from Lagos to Abuja in slightly less than an hour.
The tour guide proudly announced to the visiting Nigerians that the smartest train the world had ever seen, was produced by China.
China, according to him, tapped the technology for manufacturing the electric train from a European country and was able to advance the technology to emerge as world's best producer of the brand. China, as of today, has the best rail system in the world.
The City of Shenzhen is another shocker that awaited Tukur and his team. The city ranks as one of the most beautiful in the world as it exhibits lots of sky scrapers with best aesthetic designs. The network of roads, streets and general city layouts glitter invitingly, as they tell much of ingenuity of the Chinese in the building of great cities.
Most interestingly, Shenzhen was a small fishing village 30 years ago, but it began to wear a new look, courtesy of the resolve of the government to open up China to the outside world. Being almost a stone throw to Hong-Kong, another hub of modernity and beauty, it took Shenzhen little time to spring into a mega city.
In truth, Shenzhen comes first in exhibition of infrastructure. The train station, airport, hotels, hospitals, schools, banks, public buildings and others are usually massive, beautifully stunning and world's best.
When Tukur and his team moved over to Beijing, they were lined for series of meetings with top officials of the Chinese ruling party; the Communist Party of China. It took two days for the delegation from Nigeria to explore the world of the Chinese communist party.
At the end of the tour of Beijing, the Chinese media moved in to sound out the PDP chairman on his experiences in China.
A crew from the China International Broadcasting Network, a respected Chinese radio station world wide, was the first to seek audience with Tukur.
The man who led the radio crew, Yaw, a Chinese, spoke flawless Hausa language. When, on arrival, he greeted the PDP Chairman in familiar Hausa phrases, those around could not conceal their utter shock.
Most astonishingly, the Chinese journalist, who adopted Bako as a name, conducted the interview with Tukur in plain Hausa from the beginning to the end.
Back home in Nigeria, Bako is a household name, most especially in the northern region where predilection for radio runs as a means of sourcing news has always been high. Bako cast news in Hausa from China with a distinct style that only he could offer.
He anchors most of the programmes in Hausa too for the China Radio International, while he often pairs with his Nigerian colleague, Ibrahim Yahya, who also works for the radio.
What the visiting Nigerians found most interesting in the spoken Hausa prowess of Bako was that he never came down to the country to learn Hausa. He acquired the skills by sheer interest. Even then, he was not taught in the school by a Nigerian teacher. A Chinese professor, perfect in the teaching of Hausa Language in China, put Bako through.
After conducting interview with Tukur, Bako took time to explain how he developed interest in Hausa language.
According to him, mere listening to his African colleagues speak Hausa at the radio station put him in the mood to learn the language. That was enough for him to enrol for Hausa Language course at the university.
Since then, he had been putting strong passion in everything that has to do with Hausa language. That he commands strong followership from across Africa, where the language is spoken, has upped Bako's passion.
The Chinese-Hausa receives calls from all parts of Africa on daily basis, all expressing delight in his passion for the language and the special ways he has been delivering the programmes he anchored in Hausa.
On that strength, he once visited Nigeria, on special invitation, to feature in a Hausa film.
Kano was his destination then and Bako said he fell in love with Nigeria the moment he arrived the country, "Nigerians are very warm people," according to him.
He is also looking forward to visiting Nigeria any time he has the chance.
More importantly, Bako can speak smattering Yoruba and Ibo. He even sang a Yoruba song to the delight of his listeners.
Bako has an ambition too; he wants to get on the stream with a zeal to teach Nigerians Hausa language, while not minding coming to the country to do so.
Bako's case was one of the lots of comic reliefs that the Tukur-led delegation to China enjoyed all through.
