Shehu Sani, a one-time senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, has purchased books worth N2 million at Zamani Bookshop, for distribution to public primary schools in Kano State.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the Zamani Bookshop, established in 1950, is one of the oldest and few surviving book outlets in Nigeria.
Speaking when he visited the bookshop, situated at Church Road, Sabongari, Kano on Friday, Mr Sani said he patronized the bookshop to appreciate the founder, late Pa Abraham Amutsan for his immense contribution to education development in the state and beyond.
According to Mr Sani, Zamani Bookshop founder had planted a legacy that helped in “dispersing knowledge to the hearts and minds of thousands of pupils students and people in Kano state and beyond”.
The activist noted that he was in Kano to support Zamani Bookshop as it stands resilient among its cohorts that could not survive the test of time.
He said supporting Zamani Bookshop is “supporting history, legacy and resilience”.
“I am not just a politician, but also an activist and an author. An author means someone who writes books. And I also read a lot of books. So I am today paying a special courtesy visit to this Bookshop, one of the first, if not the first, in Northern Nigeria.
“A Bookshop that was established by the patriarch of your family in 1950. Today we are in 2025, which means that this Bookshop has been here in the last 75 years. For us to know what 75 years is, is that the

next 75 years will be in the 22nd century.
“So, I’m here for two reasons. First of all, to appreciate your father for what he has planted, and the knowledge he has dispersed to the hearts and minds of thousands of pupils students and people in Kano state and beyond.
“This is a Bookshop, even though we are not from Kano, it is a bookshop that we know is part of history, and as young people, we have passed by and see it being resilient for decades,” Mr Sani said.
He commended the hiers of the bookshop for continuing with the business at the time when, according to him, “not many bookshops have today survived because either those who founded them have gone and the family have not continued with the business, or those who establish those bookshops have shifted to other businesses. Or technology has taken over this kind of businesses”.
“I am here to appreciate your father, but i will also appreciate you for keeping alive that history, that heritage for over 75 years,” he added
Mr Sani advised the operators of the bookshop to accept modernity by employing modern technology into the business.
The senator said the donation of the books would also revive reading culture among students from the grassroot.
He disclosed that the partnership with Zamani Bookshop would continue beyond Kano, adding that he would also attract some agencies and establishments to patronize the company, aimed at supporting it to survive.
He stated that he had engaged Zainab Nasir, Executive Director, Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious diseases and Social Vices, YOSPIS, for the distribution of the books to the schools.
In her remarks, Ms Nasir expressed delight for the gesture, saying that it would go a long way in reviving book reading culture among students in the state.
According her, as youth embrace internet and mobile applications as their reading tools, there are books that are yet to be uploaded online, calling on them to be reading books for better understanding.
The activist also called on wealthy individuals to emulate Mr Sani in patronising Zamani Bookshop and distribution of books to public schools to support the development of education in the state.
While commending Mr Sani for the gesture, Ms Nasir assured of judicious distribution of the books.
Speaking, the manager, Zamani Bookshop, Raphael Ogbodobri, expressed appreciation to Mr Sani for identifying with their investmeny to offer support.
Visibly delighted, Mr Ogbodobri thanked the former lawmaker and promised to heed to his advice on deployment of technology in running the bookshop.
Mr Ogbodobri said he would work with Ms Nasir to sort out the books needed for the pupils based on the Kano State education curriculum.
He also called on the general public to emulate Mr Sani in order to save bookshop business from collapse.
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