When colleagues and former students gathered this week to celebrate Malam Bala Muhammad’s retirement from public service, the occasion brought together people from different stages of his long career.
There were journalists, academics, former colleagues and students of the Department of Mass Communication at Bayero University, Kano.
For many of them, Bala Muhammad is not remembered simply as a journalist or lecturer. His career has crossed several parts of the communication profession, from international broadcasting and newspaper journalism to government communication, consultancy and university teaching.
Bala is a journalist, broadcaster, teacher and communication consultant. His professional career has taken him from Kano to Cairo, London, Durban and Abuja.
His students at Bayero University often call him “Grandpa”.
The name has followed him through several generations of students and reflects the relationship he has maintained with those he taught.
In the classroom, he has often drawn on his experiences in newsrooms and broadcasting stations to explain the realities of journalism.
His own journey into the profession began at Bayero University, where he studied Mass Communication and obtained his BA in the 1980s.
He later pursued postgraduate studies at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he was awarded a competitive African Graduate Fellowship.
He also studied at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
His other qualifications include a Post-Graduate Certificate in Telecommunications Reform from the University of Westminster, London, and an Advanced Public Relations Management Certificate from the London Corporate Training Institute.
His professional career later took him to some of the major international media organisations.
Before his government appointments, Bala worked with the BBC World Service in London, serving in both the Hausa Service and English to Africa.
He also worked with Radio Deutsche Welle, known at the time as the Voice of Germany.
His work with the Hausa Service of Deutsche Welle took him to Cairo, Kano and later Durban, South Africa.
In London, he worked as a radio producer and presenter with the BBC.
His experience was not limited to broadcasting.
He wrote for The Guardian in Nigeria, Al Ahram Weekly in Egypt and Impact International in the United Kingdom.
His long association with Daily Trust also gave him a familiar place among Nigerian newspaper readers.
For 15 years, from 2006 to 2021, he wrote a Saturday back-page column for the newspaper.
His columns covered politics, governance, education, culture and social issues.
He also served on the newspaper’s Editorial Board during the period.
Bala later moved into government communication.
In 2000, he served as Deputy Chief Press Secretary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He subsequently worked as a World Bank Communication Adviser based at the Bureau of Public Enterprises in Abuja.
His government experience also took him back to Kano.
He became the pioneer Director-General of the Kano State Directorate of Societal Reorientation, popularly known as A Daidaita Sahu, under the administration of former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.
He also served as Special Adviser on Strategic Communications during the administration.
Outside government and journalism, Bala worked as a communication consultant on projects involving organisations including the World Bank, DFID, UNDP, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Government of Japan.
His consultancy work covered public information, media strategy and development communication.
But after years in newsrooms, government offices and international organisations, Bala returned to the university environment.
At Bayero University, he became part of the Department of Mass Communication, where he taught journalism, media writing, communication arts, reading culture, digital media and media ethics.
For his students, his professional experience provided lessons that could not always be found in textbooks.
A discussion about a news story could lead to an account from a newsroom where he had worked.
A lesson on broadcasting could draw from his years behind the microphone at international radio organisations.
That connection between professional experience and classroom teaching became a defining part of his relationship with students.
Former students have gone into journalism, broadcasting, public relations, development communication and other areas of the media industry.
Many continue to return to him for advice long after leaving the university.
Bala’s ability to work in English, Hausa and Arabic has also been part of his professional life, particularly during his years working across different countries and media organisations.
His career has therefore moved through several areas of communication without being confined to one.
He has worked as a journalist, broadcaster, newspaper columnist, government spokesman, communication adviser, consultant and university lecturer.
From Bayero University to the BBC, from Deutsche Welle to newspaper columns, government offices and international development projects, his working life has largely remained connected to journalism and communication.
His retirement therefore closes one chapter of his career.
But for the colleagues and students who gathered to celebrate him, it was also an opportunity to reflect on the different places and institutions through which he passed.
For many of them, Bala Muhammad’s career is also part of their own story — as colleagues, students, readers and, in some cases, professionals he helped prepare for the media industry.
