I didn’t ask my parents for money as a law student – SGF

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has said he did not ask his parents for money as a law undergraduate.
He said he paid his way through school because he acquired business skills as a student that enabled him to earn money.

“All through my university days, I had no need to ask my parents for money because I had become self-sufficient.

“By the time I was in Part 2 going to Part 3, I had already started work and earning money,” he said.

He recalled how he became an entrepreneur as a schoolboy.

The SGF said he joined other students to grow crops and then organise their sales.

Mustapha spoke as a special guest during the Hong Economic Summit, which took place at his alma mater, Government Secondary School (GSS), Hong.

He said: “In the 1970s in this school, we grew everything that we ate, from soya beans to eggs, to vegetables like cucumber, carrot and lettuce.

“We started a Young Farmers Club. We raised pigs here. Every time we wanted to sell our pigs, we would slaughter them.”

He said he had a cut which left a permanent mark on one of his fingers.

He recalled how he became a commissioned agent while still in school.

“I think I was in Form 3 then, at age 13 or 14; our principal allowed me.

“When holidays were approaching, it was my duty to organise trucks that would take people (with our school produce) to Jos, Gombe, Yola, Mubi, Kano and the rest.”

He said he became a consultant to a firm which paid him a good salary while he was studying Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Mustapha urged the youths of Hong who constitute his Kilba (Huba) ethnic group and for whom the economic summit was organised, to venture into businesses of their own and not to wait for 9 am-5 pm jobs.

Adamawa State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Dr Umar Pella, who was the guest speaker, urged Hong people to seize opportunities to break the paradox of being well-educated and endowed with resources but struggling with poverty.