CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Ahmad Aminu has been too frightened to advance his formal education. Though the 17-year-old finished secondary school and would like to go to college near his village in Zamfara state, this region of northwestern Nigeria bears the brunt of attacks by bandits who kidnap students for ransom.
“All the big schools are in the forest,” Mr. Aminu says by phone in Hausa, the dominant local language. “So many of us aren’t willing to take that risk.”
Last year, for example, armed gangs stormed three hostels used by Federal University Gusau on the outskirts of Zamfara, abducting a few dozen students. Earlier this year, a boy was killed and two people were kidnapped in an attack on Mr. Aminu’s remote village, Dalba. “The bandits almost entered our home,” he recalls. “It was about midnight, when most people were asleep.”
But for the past year, Mr. Aminu has found a different way to further his education. Using the Flowdiary e-learning platform at home, he has been able to take – for free, or at very little cost – courses in various digital skills in Hausa. He is becoming a well-known graphic designer within the community surrounding Dalba.
“The payment depends,” says Mr. Aminu, the excitement clear in his voice. Designing an invitation card, for example, earns him about 2,000 Nigerian nairas, about $1.25; doing video editing, up to 3,000 nairas.
“In a month, I make as much as 30,000 naira,” he says. “I really thank God.” His mother makes almost 50,000 nairas a month running a convenience store from their home, and his brother earns the same installing solar panels.
Mr. Aminu is the sort of student whom Muhammad Auwal Ahmad had in mind when he created Flowdiary two years ago as a 23-year-old attending Federal University Gashua in northeastern Yobe state. He says Flowdiary now has more than 8,000 students enrolled from far-flung, impoverished areas across northern Nigeria; on average, almost one-fifth of those are active weekly users. The platform’s name refers to opportunities flowing to young people who might not normally have them.
“We have students from regions affected by terrorism and banditry … that we train and mentor,” Mr. Ahmad says, noting that students who speak only Hausa struggle to find online courses in digital skills in their language.
An early dream fulfilled
Mr. Ahmad’s dream began in Bayamari, a village in Yobe state that has only two small schools, a health center, and a police outpost. As a curious tween growing up there, Mr. Ahmad started researching digital technology when his father brought home a mobile phone and, later, a computer. Gradually, Mr. Ahmad started troubleshooting and soon had ambitious digital goals.
