By Andrew Abah
Former director general of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Al-Hassan Yakmut, has ascribed his lowly journey from a volleyball player from Plateau State to the apex of Nigerian sports to hard work, determination and service to humanity.
“As a 16-year-old and then in Form 3 in secondary school in 1977, I featured in the Plateau State Sport Festival and my performance attracted a rave review by the Plateau State-owned newspaper, Standard of Jos,” offered Yakmut about his humble beginning.
“That brought a lot of attention to my secondary school and it was a most exciting period I haven’t forgotten. It made me to work harder and that actually was the genesis of my interest in sports.
“Thereafter at the Bendel 1981 National Sports Festival, I set the junior national record in shot put and also won gold in discus and volleyball which made me a triple gold medallist at the event.
“The then governor of the old Bendel State, Ambrose Ali, congratulated me and a complete page in a newspaper was dedicated to me. The social path of it was that a lady gave me a peck which made me not come out from my hostel the next day.
“As a village boy coming from a missionary school, I thought I was defiled not knowing that it was an innocent peck.”
Success fuelled young Yakmut’s determination and by 1983, he became vice captain of Super Star Volleyball team Kano. The team emerged Nigeria’s best and third best in Africa by 1990.
On the flipside, Al-Hassan, meaning ‘the good one’ in Arabic language, and Yakmut, meaning ‘courageous’ in his native Mangu language, is living his name. He’s heavily into social and charity work with tens of widows, orphans and under-privileged under his wing.
“I am very serious about charity. I have been sponsoring 15 Christian widows in Bokkos for five years, five Christian widows in Jos for two years, another 12 Christian widows in Abuja for three years and 15 Muslim widows in Kanam local government in Plateau State. My concern in the society after sports is caring for the less-privileged, widows and orphans.”
The tall sporting administrator, who served in different capacity at the National Sports Commission from 1990 to 2016 when the NSC was scrapped by President Muhammadu Buhari, travelled down memory lane: he joined the NSC in 1990 and became the DG in 2015. He spoke extensively about his work at NSC, sharing his thoughts on Nigerian sports, sports ministers, his staying power, charity work and Tokyo Olympics. He spoke with our Abuja Correspondent, ANDREW ABAH. Excerpts:
SPORTS UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS
In 2015, something exciting happened and that was when I was the DG of the NSC. We went to Trinidad and Tobago for the Commonwealth Advisory Board. It was my first appearance. Before then the people were excited about my CV and wanted to know if it was true that I had all that was in my CV. Before the meeting, there was a conference on anti doping for the Caribbean and we were asked to attend. I made an observation, that observation made the headlines in the newspaper of Trinidad and Tobago. After the presentation of a professor titled Integrity of Sports on Drug Abuse: Drug Misuse or Use of Enhancement Substances for Performance, I observed that and said that integrity is intangible but visible. It was just a mare statement that came from revelation of my thought but the meeting took that message strongly and that became the theme for the meeting. The journalists there escalated my thought. After the meeting, the Secretary approached me and said ‘Mr.Yakmut, we are impressed because you are actually what you said you are.’
That same year, I was invited to Bahrain as a guest of the Athletics Federation. Bahrain wanted me to raise a team for Qatar 2022 World Cup starting from 2016 so that they can qualify. After just 30 minutes with them, they were convinced that I can advise them with players around them and with arrangement on how they can be citizens. That was an exciting moment in sports for me. I have them in different forms; some are active, some administrative and some international. So far, so good my life in sports was life well spent.
SUPER SPORTS MINISTERS
This is a very difficult question and highly complex. If you are familiar with psycho sciences you know that there is no particular actor that has the same character with the other, not even identical twins. I would rather say all the principal actors I have worked with have unique and distinctive natural abilities which mostly had positive impact to some extent.
In the opening remark of my CV, it is stated that I am one person who is endowed with insatiable appetite for education that is beneficial to humanity. Which means service to humanity is the best work of life.
In term of food and drink, my favourite food depends on where I find myself. I drink water (laugh) but my favourite drink is ‘fura de nunu’ (Yoghurt) and fruit drink. No palm wine, no soft drink.
RELAXATION
I find it difficult to relax, but medically I have been asked to reduce the number of hours I work and be in the company of friendly people. For me to relax is to be involved in charity.
LIFE AFTER CIVIL SERVICE
I have prepared myself to be a visiting lecturer in any university in the north central and a full time farmer.
FAMILY LIFE
I came from a large family, royal one for that matter. My father is a village head of Chanso of Mangu local govt, the tribe is Pyem –Chiefdom. My elder was at a time the village head but right now it is my cousin that is the village head.
My dad had three wives and 33 children. I was number six for my mother and number 16 in the family but right now I am the first male child in the Yakmut dynasty. I am personally married with two wives.The first wife is a lawyer; she has five children:three boys and two girls. The first two children have Masters Degree in Economics and International Relations and the third is a student of Architecture in Baze University, Abuja.
My second wife who just graduated from Kano State University in Science and Technology has two children; all boys.
I love to be with my family. My son was the best sports student at Family Royal Academy Wuye, Abuja, just like I was in my 1979. He refused to go professional, though I had exposed him to Reading Academy in England during the summer break.
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