WOFAN,How Dr Salamatu Garba is turning human-capacity development into a lasting legacy

By Lamara Garba

In the long journey of nation-building, there is a significant difference between talking about social change and actually creating opportunities that make change possible. There are institutions that make promises about human development, and there are organisations that translate those promises into tangible opportunities.

The Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), under the leadership of its Director, Dr Salamatu Garba, belongs firmly to the latter category.

Through its interventions, WOFAN has demonstrated that one of the most enduring investments a society can make is an investment in people, knowledge and human capacity.

This philosophy has found a remarkable expression in the organisation’s relationship with Bayero University, Kano, where WOFAN has supported several dozens of teaching and non-teaching staff to advance their careers, acquire new knowledge, strengthen their professional capacity and contribute more effectively to society.

At first glance, such support may appear to be another institutional intervention. But its significance goes much deeper.

It reflects a belief that education is not an expense but an investment; that knowledge is not merely a private possession but a resource that benefits society; and that when one person acquires the capacity to do more, many others can ultimately benefit.

As the saying goes, when you light another person’s candle, you do not make your own light dim. You simply create a brighter environment in which everyone can see more clearly.

Building the people behind the institution
For an institution such as Bayero University, Kano, where teaching, research and community service are central to its mission, continuous capacity development is not a luxury. It is essential.

Universities cannot remain relevant by preserving only yesterday’s knowledge. They must continually expose their people to new ideas, technologies, methodologies and intellectual frontiers.

This is why WOFAN’s support for university staff deserves recognition.

The significance is not merely in the number of beneficiaries. Every staff member supported represents a potential multiplier.

A lecturer who gains new knowledge can transfer it to generations of students. A researcher who develops new expertise can generate ideas capable of influencing policy or addressing community challenges. A non-teaching staff member who receives professional development can improve institutional efficiency and service delivery.

The impact, therefore, extends far beyond the individual beneficiary.

It is the African philosophy of “I am because we are” expressed through modern institutional development.

A leadership philosophy centred on opportunity
Dr Salamatu Garba’s approach to development appears to be rooted in a simple but powerful principle: development is ultimately about creating opportunities for people to become better equipped to improve their own lives and those of others.

It is not about standing at the centre of attention. It is about creating opportunities for others to stand taller.

There is also a broader social dimension to this philosophy. It represents a form of social investment that transcends party politics and electoral considerations. It is the politics of empowering citizens, strengthening institutions and expanding opportunities.

At a time when Nigeria’s education sector continues to confront funding challenges, infrastructure deficits, unemployment and the loss of skilled professionals, investments in the people who keep institutions running deserve serious attention.

Nigeria cannot build a knowledge economy with buildings alone.

Laboratories, libraries, lecture theatres and other infrastructure are important, but the most valuable asset of any educational institution remains the quality, capacity and imagination of its people.

Why the WOFAN-BUK relationship matters
WOFAN’s engagement with members of the Bayero University community carries a message that extends beyond its immediate beneficiaries.

It says that development must begin with people.

It says that the classroom must remain connected to society.

It says that knowledge should have the opportunity to travel from the university to the farm, marketplace, community, public institution and policy arena.

And it reminds those with the capacity to help others rise that they have a responsibility to do so.

For Bayero University, the relationship also demonstrates the importance of partnerships between universities and development organisations.

Universities do not exist in isolation. They operate within a wider ecosystem involving government, industry, civil society, development agencies and communities.

When these institutions work together, the boundaries of what is possible become wider.

WOFAN’s engagement offers a useful model in which a development organisation looks beyond its immediate programme beneficiaries and recognises the university as a strategic partner in producing and disseminating knowledge.

That is an important lesson for Nigeria.

Our universities need partners who believe in them. Researchers need opportunities to sharpen their skills.

Administrators need exposure to contemporary practices. Young people need mentors and institutions capable of preparing them for a rapidly changing world.

Development organisations, in turn, need universities capable of transforming knowledge into practical solutions.

The circle becomes complete when these interests meet.

The multiplier effect of human-capacity development
Perhaps the most compelling argument for WOFAN’s intervention is its potential multiplier effect.

Societal transformation is rarely achieved through one dramatic gesture. It is built gradually person by person, opportunity by opportunity.

One staff member supported today may train hundreds of students tomorrow.

One researcher empowered today may develop an intervention that improves thousands of lives.

One administrator equipped with new skills may help an institution serve tens of thousands of people more efficiently.

This is how seemingly modest interventions become instruments of transformation.

The return on investment in human capacity cannot always be captured in immediate financial figures. Its dividends may appear years later in professional achievements, new ideas, improved institutions, better services and the lives of people touched by those who benefited from the original intervention.

That is the beauty of investing in knowledge: it multiplies.

A legacy measured in people
In an age of public relations, where institutions sometimes announce more than they accomplish, WOFAN offers a reminder that credibility is ultimately earned through action.

The most convincing evidence of an organisation’s impact is often not a press release, but the difference it makes in people’s lives.

WOFAN’s support for university staff speaks to a leadership philosophy that places people at the heart of development.

It asks not only, “What can we achieve?” but also, “Who can we help become capable of achieving more?”
That distinction is profound.

For Dr Salamatu Garba, the work therefore goes beyond managing an organisation. It is about cultivating possibilities, making the road easier for others to travel and understanding that society advances when its people are given the tools to advance themselves.

That is the essence of walking the talk.

Talking about education is easy.

Investing resources in education is different.
Speaking about human-capital development is easy.

Investing in the people who carry institutions forward requires conviction.

Celebrating knowledge is easy. Creating opportunities for people to acquire more knowledge requires sacrifice.

WOFAN has chosen the harder path.

It has chosen to walk.

Beyond the grant

As Nigeria searches for pathways out of unemployment, poverty, institutional weakness and underdevelopment, stories such as this deserve attention because they offer a different narrative about what is possible when compassion meets capacity, leadership meets responsibility and resources are directed towards people.

The story of WOFAN and Bayero University is therefore more than a story of institutional support.

It is a story about the philosophy of giving, the importance of strategic partnerships and the possibilities created when people are empowered to fulfil their potential.

Dr Salamatu Garba’s intervention reminds us that leadership is not always found behind a podium.

Sometimes it is found in the quiet decision to support someone’s training, academic journey or professional development to open a door that might otherwise have remained closed.

And when that door opens, the beneficiary may not be the only person who walks through it.

Students, families, communities, institutions and future generations may follow.

That is why the work matters.

That is why the gesture is bigger than the grant.

And that is why the investment is bigger than the individual.

The true measure of leadership

In the final analysis, societies are remembered not only for the monuments they build, but for the people they empower.
Dr Salamatu Garba appears to understand this.

She has chosen to invest in people.

She has chosen to strengthen knowledge.
She has chosen to nurture capacity.

And in doing so, she has demonstrated a simple but powerful truth: the greatest measure of what we possess is not what we keep, but what we help others become.
That is the philosophy behind the walk.

That is the meaning behind the talk.
And that is the story of WOFAN: Walk the Talk.

Lamara Garba is Director, Public Affairs, Bayero University, Kano.