After 30 years, WhatsApp reunites the BUK 92 class.
When members of the Bayero University Kano (BUK) graduating class of 1992 came together to commemorate their 30th anniversary of leaving the “great fortress of learning,” it was like going home after a long absence.
Initiated by the establishment of a WhatsApp group in April 2016, the BUK 92 forum has spent approximately N20 million between 2016 and 2022 on, among others, impoverished students, ailing people, the underprivileged, and prisoners.
Speaking at the 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner, the forum’s chairman, Mr. Muhammad Dahiru Sa’ad, revealed that since its founding, the organization has consistently donated money and goods to various orphanages, helped flood victims, released prisoners, provided start-up capital for them, and helped some of its members who have medical issues, among other humanitarian endeavors.
According to Dahiru Sa’ad, the Forum wants to give back to the community that helped shape their future by proposing to build a more permanent facility at BUK.
“Since our coming back together in 2016, we have paid scholarships, tuition fees for needy students, ransom for abducted comrades, covered medical expenses of the less fortunate, bailed out awaiting trial convicts and minor criminals, among other interventions, ranging into millions,” he stated.
Engr Rakiya Abubakar discussed the group’s establishment through WhatsApp, saying: “After the reunion via WhatsApp group, we have been able to cultivate and preserve the numerous ties we created more than 30 years ago via this medium.
“We communicate via the chat platform and raise money and other types of support for the community, the school, and the members. Some of our former classmates, some of whom we have not seen since 1992, have been able to be located thanks to the site.
“We have been able to connect to one another and help one another because of this Group. Saying that our WhatsApp group is the lifeblood, the foundation, and the very soul of our many interventions in society and the community would not be out of place.
Dr. Kabiru Said Sufi and Dr. Dahiru Sani, two other presenters, emphasized the need of the online group for staying in contact and agreed that maintaining the Forum without it would be very difficult, if not impossible.
According to Sani Kankarofi, who is also the chairman of the organizing committee for the Class 92’s “30th Anniversary Celebration,” the event was historic.
“Up to this point, our forum has been able to impact everyday life, and one of our priorities or areas where we set emphasis is in attempting to help needy kids so that they may further their studies,”
