Looking for Gaskiya Corporation

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 in50 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 startedGaskiya 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), andGaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo(Truth Is More Than Money). It also organized the first competition for creative writing in Hausa.

I had written about Dadasare forDocument Womenin 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. We remained at the entrance for a while, asking for directions to the building. We met someone who worked at the polytechnic, and he told us that the building is opposite the main gate of the polytechnic. We took bikes to the main entrance. The entrance was on the street leading to the main road, which connected the Tudun​​​​Wada Area, home to the old Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and its Annex campus, Kongo, and PZ Area, Zaria’s commercial centre. The roads were being expanded, so the air was filled with dust, and our shoes were covered in red sand as we crossed over. We spotted the signboard of Gaskiya Corporation, but the building we stared at held a different signage: ‘Northern Nigerian Publishing Company (NNPC)’. As we approached the building, many cars were parked in front of it, and the sound of people, probably workers, talking and moving around inside and outside the building.