Ibrahim Sheme is a bilingual Nigerian writer, journalist, filmmaker, translator, publisher and public servant. He is proficient in writing in both English and Hausa languages.
Born in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, he was educated at Government College, Kaduna, and Bayero University, Kano, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication. On graduation, he received the prizes for both the best graduating student in his department and the best graduating student in the university. He obtained a master’s degree in Communication Studies from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
He is currently (January 2025) about to defend his PhD study in Mass Communication at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
Sheme’s foray into journalism formally began during his undergraduate days when he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Bayero Beacon, the official campus newspaper published by his university. Earlier in his secondary school days he had contributed short stories, poems and other pieces to the Sunday New Nigerian.
After the mandatory one-year national service in Port Harcourt, where he was a reporter and features writer for the Rivers State government-owned Nigerian Tide newspaper, he subsequently worked at various times as a reporter and editor for many news publications, including The Reporter, Nasiha, Rana, Hotline, and New Nigerian in Kaduna, and Leadership newspaper, Abuja, for which he was the longest serving editor to date and its pioneer Editorial Director.
He also contributed pieces to The Guardian, Nigerian Standard, The Triumph, Nigerian Tribune, Citizen magazine, etc. Sheme was the pioneer literary editor of the Weekly Trust, drawing a sizeable readership with his two-page column, Bookshelf.
He was one of the founders and the pioneer Editor-in-Chief of the Public Agenda, a weekly newspaper based in Kaduna. Much later, he and others founded Blueprint, the Abuja-based daily, which he served as pioneer Editor and later Editor-in-Chief. He was also instrumental in the founding of its vernacular weekly tabloid, Manhaja.
Earlier, he had co-founded Fim, the popular newsmagazine covering the Hausa film industry known as Kannywood, and served as its publisher and editor-in-chief for many years. Fim is still operating online in its website, www.fimmagazine.com.
Sheme has authored several books of prose fiction, drama and poetry, as well as the official biography of the number two man in the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, and the official biography of the leading Hausa singer, Alhaji Mamman Shata and the biography of a popular female musician, Hajiya Uwani Zakirai.
His books include:
- Kifin Rijiya (lit. The Ignoramus); Nationhouse Press, Kaduna, 1991
- Nura Sadauki (Nura the Brave); Nationhouse Press, Kaduna, 1991
- Sakin Wawa (The Fool’s Ex-wife); Hotline, Kaduna 1993
- The Malam’s Potion and Other Stories; Informart, Kaduna, 1999
- Cramped Rooms and Open Spaces: An Anthology of New Short Fiction (from Association of Nigerian Authors); 1999
- ‘Yartsana (The Doll); Informart, 2003
- Ilmi Mabuɗin Tafiya (Education is Key to Travel; a travelogue on the author’s sojourn in Israel and Occupied Palestine); Informart, 2005
- Shata Ikon Allah! (Biography of the renown Hausa singer, Mamman Shata); Informart, 2006
- Bango Ya Tsage (a translation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart); unpublished
- Tarihi Da Waƙoƙin Uwani Zakirai (biography of a female musician); Informart, 2023
A literary and film critic, he has reviewed a great number of books and movies in newspapers and blogs, interviewed many authors and engaged in debates on Nigerian and African literature and films.
Sheme has also produced movies in Hausa, including Gagarabadau (Unbeatable), Daren Farko (First Night) and a horror flick, Fargaba (Fear).
As a publisher, he founded Informart, a company that published the books of scores of Nigerian writers.
He once served as the National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the Secretary of its Kaduna State chapter. At the 2023 National Convention of the association, held in Abuja, he was honoured with the award of Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors (FANA) for his contribution to Nigerian literature.
He is a member of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN-IFRA).
Sheme was the pioneer Deputy Director of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, the forerunner and owner of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
He is currently the Director of Media and Publicity, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).