PROF. NORA LADI DADU’UT is a seasoned academician, language translator, philanthropist, bridge builder, a grassroots developer and a woman that knows the plight of her people; with a big heart for youth development, women emancipation & empowerment, education, health and general wellbeing of the masses. 
In this epoch interview with NANYAH ANDREW DAMAN of the NEWSGATE MAGAZINE and DANIEL KURA of the NEWSPARROT NEWSPAPER, she bears her mind on what motivated her to contest the Plateau South Senatorial Bi-Election and reels out what she intends to achieve if voted into office. Here are the excerpts as compiled by KAZI NANYAH.

For the sake of our readers, can you give us a detailed biography of yourself?

I am Prof. Nora Ladi Dadu’ut. I was born on the 10th of May, 1953 in a small village called Kwalla, Quaán Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State. I am the fourth child of my father, who was a Chief of Kwalla who happens to be polygamous. I am the fourth out of 26 Children.
I started going to school on my own without being registered because I felt it was a place for me to go and play. After two years in the Primary School in Kwalla, a teacher got interested in me and took me to a Primary School, run by the Catholic Mission in Shendam where I spent two years after which they took me alongside four other girls that were also doing well in class to complete my Primary at the St. Theresa’s Primary School in Jos.

They did not even allow me write the Primary School Leaving Exam because they said i was doing very okay. So they took me to Fatima Secondary School in Minna where I completed my secondary education in 1970. I was the head girl of the school and that was where I picked my rudimentary experience in leadership.
After that, I went to School of Basic Studies, Zaria; then the faculty of art was in Kano, so I moved to Kano, which is now Bayero University where I completed my degree. While there, I was made the Leader of the Female Hostel and head of our journal in the French Department.
While in School, before you get your degree, you have go for a one year language immersion, the call it language drills. I had to spend one year in Senegal to acquire the language skills before we were taken to France for six weeks. I came back to complete my degree in 1976 and got married in 1977 to Mr. John Dadu’ut who just completed his studies in Birmingham as a Chartered Accountant.

I have four children with Mr. John Dadu’ut. First, Jonathan who is a Civil Engineering in Canada, Noah who is a Pilot in Florida, Jummai who is a Medical Doctor at the University of Morgan in Maryland, USA and the last who is with me here, Judith who teaches sculpture in the University of Jos. I thank God sincerely for that.

After my first degree, I went for my Masters in France and upon return; I was made a School Principal, before moving to the Educational Resource Centre, Ministry of Education where I coordinated language activities with the French Embassy. I felt it was important to introduce the Allianse Francaise in Plateau State since we used to take some of our students to Kaduna to write International Exam if they wanted to get employed with French companies or study in French Countries or French speaking countries. So I decided that I have an obligation to secure such a centre in Plateau State.

So, I established Allianse Francaise which is still functioning and offers language courses, especially French for job proficiency and for students who want to study outside the country.
 In fact, it was through that; my daughter who was in medical school and enjoyed learning French got a scholarship from the French Government to study for her masters in France. I was happy and many other students who never had any knowledge of French, learnt the language and got scholarships into various programs.

After my Masters, I did not want to just remain a school principal and a teacher, I wanted to also improve and further my studies. I registered for my Doctorate at the Ahmadu Bello University and completed in 1991. It was after my PHD that I was transferred from being a Principal to the Educational Resource Centre where I found this centre. After 12 years of service with the Ministry of Education, I decided to move to the University of Jos in 2005. Since then, I am constantly writing papers and articles in journals; seminars and conferences; the last one was in Australia where I presented a paper on Environment and Francophone Writers.
Due to my work, I have so many commitments, including some in the church, wherever I go, there are instances where I am called to interpret; either from French to English or English to French, depending on which comes first. Particularly is the Knight of Saint John International. I had been a leader at home but in 2018, I was elected the Second Vice President worldwide because of my track record, especially in translation. It exposed me to various cultures and civilizations all over the world. I teach African and Caribbean Literature in French and of course, teaching the literature also means teaching aspects of the language.
When I was made the Head of Department of the Foreign Languages, I had to bring in an extra person from the University of North Carolina to impact on our children, so that we can share knowledge and cultures. The resource person came and the students loved it.

I also organized what we call post graduate seminar workshop for our post graduate students who are in the North-Central Zone because I was the Assistant Secretary for Nigerian Universities French Teachers. So, I was saddled with the responsibility of organizing the workshop where we teach the students how to write, organize and conduct their research. You have to write, if you don’t write, you’ll perish and that is what I have been doing since I was elected the assistant secretary. At the end of my tenure as the assistant secretary, I hope the workshop continues since we were not able to hold the seminar workshop last year.

Coming back to my discipline, my interest in French has opened me up to a wider area and my experience and exposure has helped me to articulate my interest at home.  Reason being that; areas that are not being emphasised here, I feel they need to be emphasized and priotized. For example, in Australia where I was invited to present a paper and was sponsored by TETFund, I saw that the lecture rooms were set up to look like you are in the House of Assembly. Every child has a desk with a phone and everything that was necessary for learning which made the lectures quite easy for both the student and the lecturer. I feel we should replicate same here; our language labs should have the same setting so as to encourage the students and enable learn the languages in a conducive environment.  When you speak an extra language, you will have more friends because it builds relationships and trust easily. That is why I feel this language value should be emphasised and provided so as to motivate the students.
This is part of the reason why I feel I should leave the class room and use the little energy left to serve my people. I have been working outside, interpreting, going for conference and teaching in the classroom but let them see the other side of me too. Where I was commanding, monitoring, disciplining; let the people outside now tell me what they want me to do and working together with the people. Therefore, I want to test the ground and have a feel of being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Also, as a woman, let there be an opening whereby women are given chances to lead rather than always celebrating the men. Women have always been supportive, giving all their time and talents to ensure that me get to that level but at least give a woman one year out of fifty years and see how she will perform. As women, we have the talents and can achieve even more when the men agree and support us. Most times, our [potentials are wasted, men don’t even know what we have or even value it. I may be generalizing but the opportunities given to women are negligible to contribute their quota.

We talk of Hon. Beni Lar who is a young woman with great talents and everybody can see what she has put in to help the community and people appreciate it.  I am an older person and maybe, if the people add me to her, we would have a greater chance to make more impact on the lives our people.

The Southern Senatorial Zone is an agro based district, our people love farming and I call it the balcony of Plateau State where you can sit, eat and relax; as such we need to use and explore our talents. How much can we produce with our bare hands if we don’t provide improved, mechanised farming methods to them? How do we get extra sources of energy apart from the firewood the women are always struggling with? This is the situation I see here every day. Go to Langtang South or the Northern parts of Qua’an Pan for example; you will see how people are struggling to get even water. Go to Wase and in fact, the whole of Southern Zones, there is the problem of water which is very important.
It is the women and children that are more exposed to these things. I don’t know who designed it but it is the woman that must wake up very early to go and fetch water, sometimes, the children too. They have to get water before they come back to prepare the meal before going to school, the farm or engage in their petty trades.

Specifically, if you have food that comes to the table easier, you would live a healthier life but because they spend all their energies on the farm, they produce less and do not give them enough to take care of themselves and the children as well as for their health.

When we talk about health, the woman again is at stake. Maternity issues abound with young women dropping out of school because of early pregnancy and rape, which belittles the dignity of the girl and maybe ends her life career there. Whereas if a woman comes in, we should be able to articulate these concerns because I am a woman and I feel what these women have been enduring all these years. And you know that we are the majority when it comes to numerical voting strength.

During an election where there is a female aspirant and all the women decide that this time, we will only vote a woman in, the man can never win. But we always consider and see that there is no need for us to go ahead of the men but we can work together jointly to get to our target. However, if we don’t work together and the man takes the lead, let them look back and see the need for working along with the women. If the women are neglected then something is wrong.
I always say that you have to mix different ingredients in other to make beer or malt for the real taste to come out. And if it is only the man, or only the woman, then there is something wrong. Both must be in partnership to achieve a better result.

If elected, what will you do for the people of Plateau South?

I have an NGO called Society for Community Concerns which I founded in 2004 with just about 12 members who are my age grade and who also come from rural backgrounds like the southern zone.  This NGO looks at all the areas that I have mentioned; water, health, education.
When you talk of southern zone, water is key. Why can’t we have what we call surface tanks in each household?  We can collect rain water during the rainy season and save the much we can so that it could run the household for maybe few months after the rainy season and help curb the problem of water scarcity. The topography sometimes hinders the sinking of boreholes and wells.

The PADP should know where to sink a well or a borehole but I can tell you that where I am in Lardang, we have tried all round where we live to sink a well and up till date, we could not get and as such, we resorted to the used of the surface tanks.   Under our watch, we will do our best to provide surface tanks for them jointly. It may not solve the problem completely but at least, it will go a long way. This is nature and you cannot change it. If the place you are living has no water feature, you cannot change it but you can improvise. And when you have water, it is easier to maintain cleanliness which has a direct toll on the health of the people. When you have a healthy household, the need to visit the hospitals will reduce.

Next, is the essential issue of food. The senatorial district is agro based and virtually everything you plant there grows. God has blessed that district with vast, fertile land. I believe if I find myelf in the senate where laws are made; such laws should not just be made but also interpreted and implemented. I believe that the executive arm of government should be pushed in that regards. I will raise my voice to ensure that laws are implemented, especially laws that have to do with agriculture and our zone. Having mechanized farming in that zone will boost food production and help us achieve food security.  So, definitely, I would encourage mechanized farming and of course education.

Can you comment on Nigeria’s 21 years of uninterrupted democracy?

My knowledge of democracy is equity and fairplay for everybody. From my perspective, i think what you mean by uninterrupted democracy is the lack of military interference. As they say, when you say there is peace, it is the absence of peace; so if we mean uninterrupted democracy because the military have not intervened, I would say yes. But the real meaning of democracy has it come to play in our lives and is it evident in our lifestyles?
I can still see that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, is that democracy? If the girl child is asked to stay at home so that her brideprice would be used to pay the fees of her brother, is that democracy? This is educational democracy I am talking about but can we really call it democracy? If I get a job because I am qualified and somebody else doesn’t get a job even if he is better qualified than me, is that democracy? That is how I want us to look at it.
For me, it is uninterrupted democracy because the military is absent but the for democracy per se, we still need to work harder, close ranks to have a sense of fairplay and equity in terms of opportunities and access to resources, budgeting, health facilities, Federal Appointments and Federal Allocation of Projects. I don’t think we have achieved such level of democracy in my opinion.

Maybe those that are there now are doing their best but we may have some stumbling blocks because it does not get to the grassroots. When you go to the grassroots and you feel they have enough to eat, but if they don’t have enough, it then means that there is no democracy in certain quarters. A situation whereby some persons don’t have access to healthcare facilities while others have more than one, it means that there is no democracy.

On the whole, it is still better to have 21 years of uninterrupted democracy than to have the military at the helm of affairs.
They say that a golden fish has no hiding place. Based on your biography, one can say that Plateau South would be blessed to have you as its representative at the National Assembly. However, most people would come and make promises and once elected, they renege on their promises. How can you convince the poor masses that if they entrust you with their votes, you will not go back on your words?
This question is one that many people in the media want to ask mainly because it is what people say. It is true because as a person, I have said something concerning negligence of duty as part of our representatives.

For now, I don’t make promises. I just tell people who I am, what I have done, what I can do and how to go about it. I don’t make promises of bringing aeroplane, build schools, health facilities, food and make you happy. I will tell the people that it is our project; we will sit down, map out our concerns and our needs together so that we will get them done bit by bit.

All these projects we are talking about, it is the executive that takes care of it. The legislators should be able to work and operate with the executive arm in order to achieve these projects. For me, if I get elected by the grace of God, I will go the executive and tell them, these are the needs of the people in Plateau South, this is what the law says, and what are you doing about them? I can now tell the executive areas I am interested in and willing to support with the little I have.

For now, I don’t make promises. I tell the people that I am a woman who just came out of the classroom, I am willing to serve, and what can we do together? I am not promising to bring a railway station but look at Beni Lar, how does she do it? She is a successful legislator but you can only assess and rate when I get there.
Those who make promises and don’t come back, maybe it is an oversight, I cannot say but I don’t see myself making promises before I get there. It is when I am there that I can make promises based on what I have and what the people need. When you vote me and I get there, I can then come back and make promises to you that are achievable. For now, I don’t even know the road that leads to the chambers of the national assembly.

Can you comment on any issue that bothers which needs urgent attention; be it local, national or international issue?

The youths! The Youth as a body is major and critical issue in our country, if not the world at large. They are zealous and anxious with most of them either unemployed or dropped out of school. It is very few that excel and the number is negligible. These are the issues surrounding the youths.

After graduation, the youths come back to the labour market, so how do we engage them to be meaningfully so that they would be useful to society is one of the courses I will champion in the senate. We need to map out certain things that will engage the youths. I have a textbook which I wrote alongside three of my colleagues. It has a workbook and a CD and after selling it all over the country, we share the proceeds and I use my own share to put up a structure in Kwalla called the Good Samaritan Guest Inn; w ith six rooms, a kitchen, a small place where they can learn computer and I don’t get a dime from that place. Right now, the place is managed by a widow and what she gets, she uses it for the children.

When I opened it in 2013, I put some youths there. How much recharge card can one sell in a day to be able to feed himself/herself?   Also, youths in Kwalla that are jobless do go to facility to do one job or the other and get stipends at the end of the month, be it security, bartender, cleaner, cook, etc. It helps them stay busy and end fund some people’s education.  You manage that until something better comes along. I did that because I have concern for them. And as they move forward, others come in because it is just an opportunity that serves as a string board. I have helped so many of them to gain admissions into various higher institutions of learning.

The youths are my major concern and how we can get them to be more productive, stay off drugs, arm robbery, rape, and abuse and be responsible citizens of the state. I would want the youths in Plateau South to key into cooperative farming, from there, they can get enough money to sponsor themselves in school and better their lives. This will also enable them to be self reliant and self sufficient.
As a mother, the youths are my major concern. A father can get angry and disown a child but it will not work for a mother. So, let a woman have a chance.

Lastly, what does it mean to be a Dame of the Catholic Church?
Jesus I trust in you. A knight of Saint John in the Catholic Church is an organized organization which started in 1048AD in the small Island of Malta. The crusaders organized themselves to rescue and defend pilgrims who were attacked on their way to the holy land. They called themselves hospitaliers and they used swords to defend the pilgrims. That is why they were called knights and their first office is in Jerusalem. If you are going through the Stations of the Cross, you will see an emblem of the Knight of Saint John’s office. But now, our base is in Maryland, USA. Every two years, we go for an international convention with people all over the world. But here at home, I have been the President, Secretary, Supreme Subordinate and now Supreme.

It is a social religious organization which has charity groups to the church and to the less privileged. It is also our duty to defend the church now, even though not with swords now but with the bible by preaching the gospel. Our key words are treasure, talents and time. You must commit your treasures and your talents; take your time to work for the church. The title of Dame came in because the Pope awarded me the highest medal. We have Knights of different categories and then we have medallists of different categories. Dame simply means Lady. I was given that award in 2007 during the celebration of our 100 years anniversary of the Catholic Church of Shendam Diocese.  I was the only one from the Ladies of Knight of Saint John, after that Pauline Tallen was also given but as a Lady Knight, not a medallist and she is also a Dame of Saint Gregory the Great of the Church. Last December, Our Governor, Simon Bako Lalong was also awarded a Knight of St Gregory.