"To become successful in anything, you need to first of all love what you do and have a strong passion for it. You also need to build up your skills, read widely, study your craft, and keep on setting bigger targets for yourself."

"Growth is a gradual process and you must aspire to it every day. This must be backed with a strong determination to succeed."

"Believing strongly that God has given you all the abilities you need, you can be anything you want to be."

"Majority of people that messed up their lives end up becoming wasted... There are exceptions though... So I am not the one punishing men in my novels, life treats them accordingly."

"There have been more than 70 studies done on my books at various levels of education-NCE, Bachelors, Masters, Diploma etc. Many of these students are fascinated that Hausa writers have such great ideas... This is great that we contribute in positive ways to our society’s attitudinal change and by extension national development. Writers are diamonds. We crystalize societies."

"We are talking about a woman who realized early on in life that she had to be improvisational in her approach to life. In spite of a really rough start, she went on to help invent the Soyyaya literary phenomenon."

"Just as Yakubu fought her way to getting an education and becoming a successful writer, she isn’t one to wait for ideal writing conditions."

"I don't buy the idea of early marriage because I had to push myself to understand the little English I'm speaking with you. If I hadn't pushed myself, I wouldn't have understood any English. I really desire our daughters in the North to be well educated. I have only two daughters and I want them to have quality education."

"...I tackle issues that some people and writers are afraid to talk about. Before, some old people like my mother's age mates think that their husbands are second to their God but I let them know that their husband is their mate, friend and whatever. Before, it was not like that and because that belief is still dominant in the northern states, whenever you touch that area, men don't like it."

"We are Muslims and we have rules in Islam for marriage and so on. But sometimes, our culture dominates the religious dictates and culture and religion are different. So, I fight because I want to stress that culture and religion are different. Probably that is why I'm called a controversial writer."

"I am not disputing the fact that some writers have crossed boundaries in their writings. Yes, some have gone the extra mile to be explicit. That is very, very wrong. I hope they will stop one day. But why are people only worried about Hausa novels? What about the English and other literature in which many things that shouldn’t be told are written bare! I advise parental control over reading."

"I felt the snippet of my new movie will set the tone for my speech. We are talking about women, so we have to talk about girls because they grow up to be women."

"Hey you…yes you!Don’t let anything or anyone stop you on your journey to greatness! Go at it with everything!"

"Reason dictates that when you make a mistake, there’s always a bunch of people on the side-line who will get on your case and try as much as they can to put you in check."

"The fear of being called a bloody hater hangs like a garrotte around our neck. We don’t want to be choked so we nod and agree: “yes, you are a fantastic actress!” When in reality she is nothing close to being fantastic."

"So how do we improve as a people? How do we strive for excellence when, as a matter of fact, people get celebrated for being wack, uninspiring and unexceptional? How do we deliver?"

"We are a growing generation of zombies, we find it hard to truly express how we feel about anything"

"Now the word “hate” has gone beyond just a few neighbours who think little of you. With the help of social media and the revelation of everything under the sun, hate is the new middle name for anybody who breaks a sentence with the word."

"My first introduction to the existence of haters was in rap music."