Looking for Gaskiya Corporation

On a humid afternoon in May 2023, the photographer Eslah Yusuf and I​​ searched for the building that housed Northern Nigeria’s oldest printing press and publishing house.

Initially a translation bureau, Gaskiya Corporation was established in Zaria, Kaduna State, in 1931 under the Department of Education, Northern Nigeria. Dr Rupert East, the superintendent of education at the time and husband to Malama Dadasare, the first female journalist in Northern Nigeria, was the head of the bureau. 

Records from the National Archives, Kaduna, referenced in 50 Years of Truth: The Story of Gaskiya Corporation 1939-1991, a book published by Gaskiya Corporation marking its 50th anniversary, stated that the translation bureau operated as a literature bureau with only three African staff and Dr East in the early years. It worked this way for about seven years before more staff joined the bureau, and it started Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo, a newspaper published in Hausa. By 1939, the bureau had three publications: Labaru na Da da na Yanzu (Stories of Past and the Present), Labarun Hausawa da na Makwabtansu (Historical Traditions of the Hausa people and their Traditions), and Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo (Truth Is More Than Money). It also organized the first competition for creative writing in Hausa.  

I had written about Dadasare for Document Women in 2022. However, following a conversation with writer and owner of Tigray Coffee, Richard Ali, he suggested that I go to Gaskiya Corporation to get more information about her. This spurred my decision to go and find the corporation. My story would ultimately change direction from a search for additional information about Dadasare to digging into Gaskiya Corporation itself. 

I contacted Eslah Yusuf, a photographer and content writer based in Kaduna, to accompany me in the search. Moving around old parts of Zaria with a man who spoke the Hausa language more fluently than I did made getting access to information less difficult. One of the staff members proved this when he addressed only Eslah and acted like I was not there. On a humid afternoon in May 2023, Eslah and I​​ searched for the building that housed Northern Nigeria’s oldest printing press and publishing house. We headed to the Gaskiya area, its entrance a few metres away from Zaria City gates. On our way to the corporation, our transportation took us to the second gate of Nuhu Bahamilli Polytechnic. 

The bike men did not know where Gaskiya Corporation was...