Among the many benefits of my Flame Tree Fellowship was the gift of friendship with Hussaini (officially misspelled as ‘Hussani’). I believe he is the best of us. You can read the recently released Flame Tree Anthology to ascertain my claim. His “Gold-Plated Boy”, the 11th in Ivor W. Hartmann’s ZamaShort series curated by the prestigious Story Time, places him alongside some of Africa’s best contemporary writers. He joins the quintessential T.L. Huchu (author of the 7th story in the series, “When Two Sorcerers Collide“) and Dare Segun Falowo (author of the 6th, “Sindi Fair”).
Abdulrahim’s work is dominated by a fascination with children and adolescence, their coming of age and the social punishment awaiting them in Nigeria’s dysfunctional system. His award-winning “Arewa Boys” and forthcoming “Arewa Girls” offer poignant explorations of this deep-rooted concern, portraying children and youth as victims of a society plagued by a profound absence of purposeful leadership.
In a brief note introducing this nearly 7,000-word story, Abdulrahim explains his fascination with random titles and their power to inspire his writing. He is not alone in this—most creators would relate. Yet, conceiving a title is one thing; constructing a story that does it justice is another. I, for one, have lost count of the titles I’ve fashioned from others’ work, only to fail at producing even an outline, let alone a readable draft. “I can’t remember exactly why I wrote ‘Gold-Plated Boy’ or how the flesh of the story came to me,” he writes. “But one thing I recall vividly is that the title was the first thing I jotted down, before all other aspects of the story fell into place.
In the note, Abdulrahim cites his “basic desire to tell a good story” and the influence of Cyprian Ekwensi. The specific desire to write this one, however, was stirred by Aia Järvinen’s Coin-Operated Body. In response, he forges a unique marriage between divination and technology, giving us the “Gold-Plated Boy.” He also acknowledges the influence of Pemi Aguda and Lesley Nneka Arimah in this creation process, situating his work alongside leading voices like Wole Talabi, who also explores the fusion of African traditions and technology.
To save her failing buka, the widowed Mama Blessing – while raising a daughter and stepson – seeks help from Mallam Idi, a local shaman. His prophecy seems impossible: she will possess a gold-plated culinary droid that can guide her to prepare the town’s most delicious food. When the prediction comes true, Mama Blessing gains the prosperous business she wanted, though not without a hidden price.
In this story, Abdulrahim explores the moral dilemma of acquiring new friends to match an elevated social status. It forces the reader to question whether these individuals are friends with the person or merely with their status. Abdulrahim’s narrative suggests he believes it is most often the latter.
Mama Blessing’s pursuit of prosperity, murky between need and greed, leads her to manipulate and throw her stepson under the bus. (He is introduced with delightful alliteration: “she found Nanpak taking a nap.”) She had treated him with indifference until she saw a chance to put him to “good use.” Ultimately, she discovers too late that avarice has layers; her own is just the surface, and she is merely a pawn. The Police and her droid manufacturers are players, too, in this ruthless system.
In this story, Abdulrahim’s concern for Nigerian children is palpable. We see the orphaned Nanpak, devoid of care or future, while Mama Blessing dreams only of a life abroad for her own daughter, Blessing. Nanpak’s neglect is not merely incidental; it becomes a necessary part of the plan to fulfill Blessing’s dreams. This family serves as a microcosm of a grotesque national reality: the public servant who steals funds meant for education and infrastructure to send his children to Harvard.
While the narrative style is straightforward, the imaginative brilliance behind its world – complete with half-human, half-machine culinary droids – is nothing short of genius. Hussani Abdulrahim remains a delight to read, a writer clearly ahead of his time and one of Africa’s most compelling writers to watch.
Hussani Abdulrahim’s “Gold-Plated Boy” is available for pre-order here.
Ahmad Mubarak Tanimu
Ahmad Mubarak Tanimu is a freelance book reviewer and fiction writer based in Kano. In June 2024 he was selected for the Flame Tree Project that aimed at bringing new voices in Northern Nigerian literature, facilitated by two past winners of the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Chika Unigwe. He was a finalist in the book review contest of the festival books of the 26th edition of Lagos Books and Arts Festival (LABAF)
