A humanitarian with grace

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I was born in Jos. I started school there at Nagode Primary School. We then relocated to Abuja and where I attended New Capital Primary School and then Wuse 1 Primary School before I proceeded to the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Bwari, in Abuja. After that, I went to the University of Abuja for a BSc in Sociology. I later obtained an MSc in Political Economy at the Nasarawa State University in 2012.

I was posted to Kaduna for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), but I got redeployed to Abuja where I served at Trust Fund Pensions Administration. I passed out on a Wednesday and got a job on a Friday of the same week: it’s something I can never forget. My first employment was with Amana Capital Pension Fund Administrator. I headed their customer care service department. I worked with them for about three years and then went on self-development. That was when I tried to build up on my passion for events management. I did a little bit of art and delved a little bit into the makeup industry. I was a makeup artist for a short while. That was also when I started writing a lot. I have been writing since the age of 14. I wrote poems and short stories. I do fiction as well.

After that, I worked with Essential Travel and Tours and was their general manager for about two to three years. I left them and have been pursuing my personal endeavours ever since. I started B Man’s Global Services. We deal with events management, catering, souvenir packaging and so on. I have always had a passion for cooking. I just never get tired.

I always want to feed everyone. There was a point I went back to Keffi to see my parents and that was when I really realised how hungry people were. Out there, you see people walking about and doing their own things and you actually see a concentration of people just sitting and waiting and hoping to be fed. That was when I took note of the situation, and it was really heart wrenching. I couldn’t imagine that there were actually families sitting and waiting for something to eat. That was when it dawned on me that it was something I needed to do to liberate my conscience, and since then, it’s what I have been doing. It started about nine years ago: it was during Ramadan and it was around 10pm. I was lying down because I had eaten too much and I was waiting for the food to digest so that I could actually get up and pray. Then I heard a cry outside. It was a young boy crying, saying, “Please, I have not eaten since I broke my fast today.” I felt like I had cheated that kind of person because I had eaten food meant for two. So I called him in, fed him, told him to come back every day to collect food. I then mentioned it to my friend, Maryam, and she was like we could put something together and make allowances for people like that. So that’s how it all started.

For that year, we fed about 20 people every day by five of us pulling our resources together till the end of Ramadan. The following Ramadan, we decided to make it more organised. So I went out asking friends who were interested to donate to the cause. The response was very positive. We fed more than a hundred. That’s when I realised that there’s so much blessing in food. Food for one person can feed two or three. We ended feeding much more than we had anticipated and it kept growing. Thank God for the social media because it helped get the message out there and it was so overwhelming having people who do not know you sending in money.

It’s the funding. When you’re catering for such a large number of people, you need to really plan and all of our plans depend on the donations we get. There was a time, about two years ago, when Ramadan was approaching and we only had N45, 000 in the account. I was already thinking it was something we couldn’t carry out. However, two days to Ramadan, one alert after the other kept coming in, so we were always going to the market as the money came in. Sometimes the donations were high, other times they were low, but all in all, in the past seven years, we somehow pulled through.

Last year, the challenge was the crowd. We had a minimum of 350 people daily. There were children that were hungry and did not understand that there’s enough to go round for everybody. At a point we had to involve local security to put the crowd together.

Then there are critics. Not that it bothers me, it rather gives me time to reflect on the essence of why I am doing it and how to improve. Every day I post pictures on Facebook and Instagram because I want people to see what we are doing with their money on a daily basis. If we tell you we’re feeding 350 people today, I want you to see the 350 people we are feeding. Some people thought I was showing off. Others were asking me why was not giving them meat, “Why are you giving them rice all the time?” At first I wasn’t finding it easy to adjust to that situation, thinking that I’m going all the way to do this, but at the end, it didn’t really matter because I wasn’t doing it for them in the first place.

We have decided to make it an all-round year thing. We want to do it for some days on a quarterly basis, but then everything will still boil down to funds. So the more funds we have, the more we can enlarge the activities, the number of people we cater for and the number of communities we touch. To eventually have soup/food kitchens in every state in Nigeria where food will be served to needy orphans and needy children and adults too.

I am hoping we will begin to move our feeding program out of Keffi to other parts of Nasarawa State in the first half of this year... And to surrounding states by the end of the year. Hopefully, in the long run, we will be operating national wide.

I want to delve into politics. I feel that will give me the opportunity and the forum for my people and Nigeria as a whole to represent them well. I aspire to be an inspiration to my generation. I want people to be able to achieve greatness because they have me as a role model.

It was a very loving experience. I come from a nuclear family which was closely knit and comfortable. My mother was a teacher and the commander-in-chief of the home front. She made sure everything was in check.

I went to school and there was a teacher and I come back home to a teacher too. She was quite tough on us, but when I look back and see the things we have achieved as her children, I am proud of the way she brought us up.

My dad has always been saddled with the responsibility of a wider family populace, the community. He is very patient and diplomatic so he

has a way of calming every situation in the family. So it was quite nice. I am the eldest child so I had to grow pretty fast. My mum kept telling me I had to be a good example. She was always on my heels to set good records.

Challenges I have faced in life

Understanding people, in the sense that I always have high expectations because I was exposed to a lot at a very young age. Books that I was told I shouldn’t read, I read them. Movies they said I should not watch, I watched them. I found out I was a step further than expected, so I always had to make friends with people that were wiser. So understanding people has affected my relationship with people.

Fond childhood memories I cherish

I was a little bit of a tomboy. From primary school I would wear my shorts and take my bicycle from Zone 7 to Zone 6 to Zone 3. I was always on my bike and it was a hard thing for my mum. My friends were playing with dolls but I always liked my bicycle.

I was also an indoor person. If I wasn’t outside on my bike, then I was inside reading and writing. People just didn’t understand what I was always writing. We also had this guava tree and it was big with nice and succulent fruits. Many people came around for it, so we used to climb the tree and my mum would come and chase us away.

Have you published any of your writings?

Not yet: only on online journals. However, I’m putting something together and I’m hoping that in the next few months I will have my first book published.

Life lessons

To be more accepting. I remember strongly, after my sister passed away, she used to be a very openhearted person. She always saw things from the other perspective and was always willing to give people second chances, always going to sympathise with people. So when she passed away and people came for condolence, they kept saying that she was the kindest of us all. Some of the things she did for people until they mentioned it after her death. I realised then that the world on its own is just vanity and it’s what people say after you’re gone that determines the person you really are. I had to make many changes and she became a role model to me after that.

My aspirations growing up

First, I wanted to be a pilot, then I wanted to be a lawyer, then the president. There was a time I only wanted to be mother and a full-time housewife. Now, I just want to be the best of what I already am.

What my typical day is like

I’m an indoor person. In the last two weeks I have only gone out twice or thrice. My typical day is just me waking up, praying and reflecting, a lot of reading, writing and cooking. I just enjoy doing everything indoors.

My most cherished gift

Life from my parents.

Top five things on my wish list

After topping Dangote on the Forbes list (LOL), I want to get published. I want people to experience my thoughts. I also want to build on my passion: my feeding programme to metamorphose into an orphanage. No child should be a victim of hunger or war. No child should feel rejected. I want to have a family. It will make me e and my mother really happy. I also want the people around me to grow.

Favourite music on replay

Fia by Davido: because it’s my niece’s favourite song too.

First app I check in the morning/bedtime

WhatsApp, because I have clients I attend to.

Favourite fashion items

Perfumes and shoes.

What I wouldn’t be caught wearing.

Shorts.

Favourite travel destination

I love Dubai because I like eastern culture. It’s also very open and diverse.

How I relax

With good movies, good books, with NEPA and AC.

Favourite food

Everything beans: akara, moimoi, beans porridge, anything.

Defintion of style

Simple and classy.

Favourite fashion designer

I am not a label freak... Anything that suits and is comfortable is good to go. But if I have to choose for bags, then its LV.

My favourite perfume, designer shoes and bag

The One by Dolce and Gabbana. For shoes, I love Vincci because they are very comfortable and affordable. I’m not particular about bags, so anything handy.

Mum’s advice that stuck with me over the years

“When you have to do it, make sure you’re doing it the best way that you can.”

Favourite sport, colour and weather

I enjoy skipping: I can skip 1500 at a time. I love black and I love the rainy season.

Favourite day of the week

Friday, because it’s usually bright, there’s somewhere to go and someone to see.

Beauty routine

I just exfoliate, scrub, cleanse and moisturise.

Role models

The prohect Muhammad (SAW). My mother, Hajiya Aishatu B. Suleiman for her hard work, strength and resilience. My father, Alhaji Balarabe Suleiman, Yeriman Keffi for his patience, peace making ability, open heart and gentlemanness My late sister Fatima. She taught me kindness and forgiveness. She was an embodiment of love. She was a joy giver who strongly believed giving. I saw life in a different perspective after she died in 2013. May her aouk rest in peace.

Looking back, what I would tell a younger me

Do not fear. I realised I have a lot of things I would have done but I was having the fear to launch and the fear to feel and that held me back a lot. There are a lot of things I could have done then but didn’t do. I would have told myself to go after those things regardless.