Portrait: Boukaré Nikièma, a self-made mechanic always eager to learn

Boukaré Nikièma, affectionately known as Bouba, is one of the candidates for the Bachelor’s degree of the Class of 2024. But for this mechanic, the Bachelor’s degree in Vehicle Maintenance, obtained after studying at night school, is the culmination of a journey full of difficulties. In fact, Boukaré Nikièma passed the Primary School Certificate (CEP) in 1993. But due to lack of funds, he would not be able to continue his studies. He had to attend a trade apprenticeship center.

He chose mechanics because it was a profession he had always loved. Unfortunately for him, the center did not offer mechanic training. He was then forced to learn another trade and chose welding. For four years, he studied exactly this profession, but it did not succeed in making him forget his love for mechanics.

After completing his welding apprenticeship, Boukaré Nikièma left the center and decided to learn the profession that really fascinated him, that of a mechanic in a local garage.

After a few years of practice, in 2006 he opened his own garage, called “Garage de l’évolution”, with a modest amount of 300,000 FCFA. His colleagues tell us that the difficult beginning will help shape his character as a fighter. Moreover, when it comes to work, they are all in agreement and Buba loves a job well done. Adjaratou Nikièma is a student of the Motor Vehicle Repair Specialization High School of the Centre Region and an intern at the Garage de l’évolution. After spending some time there last year, she decided to come back during the holidays in 2024 to learn again from this boss whom she considers a good but strict one. Today, the forty-year-old has ten permanent employees and two interns in his garage.

Returning to school after 17 years

If Bucaré Nikièma really succeeded in opening his own garage and doing what he was really passionate about, there was one thing that was always close to his heart and that he could never forget: learning. In 2010, 17 years after obtaining his primary school certificate, Mr. Nikièma returned to school and enrolled in the sixth grade evening class. As he himself said: “I gave up because my parents couldn’t afford it, but now I can pay for the tuition myself, why not go back to school? »This is where the real obstacle course of reconciling professional, family and academic life began. After graduating from the fifth grade, when Buba was in the fourth grade, he suffered a work accident in his garage. He was bedridden for almost a year. When he started working again, he had to work twice as hard to get his garage on track. Finally, five years after the fifth grade, Buba entered the fourth grade in 2017, and then the third grade, where he obtained the BEPC with flying colors.

For his future, he decided to go into the technical field. He looked for a school that offered night courses in the technical field, but he didn’t find one. So there was a blank year. The next year, he learned that the Central Region Vocational High School offered night courses in automotive maintenance. He enrolled, and two years later, he passed the BEP exam with flying colors. He signed up for bac pro 1 and decided to take the CAP for this course, since he received his technical education through the BEPC and not the CAP. He will also succeed in obtaining this diploma. The following year, in 2024, he passed the Bachelor of Science in Motor Vehicle Maintenance with flying colors. “To pass the BEP, your BEPC or CAP must be two years old. In 2022, I passed the BEP and I got it. Then you have to pass the Professional Bachelor, which is subject to the BEP and the BEP must be two years old. So in 2023 I couldn’t take the Professional Bachelor program, but I took the Professional Bachelor 1, which is the first part of the program. I told myself that since I didn’t start my technical education with the CAP, but with the BEPC, I would finish the CAP without taking the CAP course. When I submitted, during the exam, I composed and it worked. In 2024, two years after the BEP exam, I could take the Bachelor and that’s where I succeeded,” explains Mr. Nikièma.

Buba owes this journey to his determination and thirst for learning. For him, everything is possible for those who believe in their dreams. You just have to provide yourself with the means to achieve them through an unwavering will. He revealed to us that this is also why he never considered reconciling his professional life and studying to be an insurmountable obstacle.

As proof, he always did everything he could to not miss classes, even when he felt tired sometimes. “It is true that we often feel anxious at work and even at home, but despite this, because of my will, I always found a way to overcome difficulties and go to class. My teachers can testify that I did not miss classes. I was sometimes late, but I never missed classes. It was the motivation and desire that brought me back to school, and there was no reason to give up just because it was difficult. Life is never easy, we have to become stronger,” he encouraged.

This discipline that he imposed on himself and this permanent desire to learn were witnessed by Jean Hubert Sawadogo, a retired civil servant and client of Garage de l’évolution for many years.

Mr. Sawadogo said Buba has always been an exemplary mechanic who completes his work with professionalism and seriousness, which has earned him the loyalty of the garage. When he learned that his mechanic had returned to school, it was natural for him to give him moral support. “My heart was warmed when he told me that he was going back to school because it is not common anymore for people to continue their education after completing their studies. Continuing education is sacred. I came the day before yesterday to find out the results, imagine my joy when I knew that everything went well. I testify that it was a mechanic who convinced me and seduced me,” he advised.

Bouba’s childhood friend and collaborator, Soumaïla Kabré, who has worked as an auto electrician at Garage de l’évolution since 2008, says he is proud of his friend’s professional and academic career. Mr. Nikièma believes that this trip is the result of his seriousness in everything he does. “We have known each other since childhood, he studied mechanics and I studied electricity. For years he had said he wanted to return to his studies. I encouraged him. He started again and, thank God, he passed all the exams. He is very strong when it comes to mechanics. He knows how to combine theory with practice,” says Mr. Kabré, stressing that during his work the garage’s customers always leave satisfied.

It is not just individuals who are satisfied with Mr. Nikièma’s work. He often bids for public contracts for the maintenance of the state’s fleet vehicles. He always receives positive feedback. Unfortunately, the days when it could bid for public contracts may be over, as a decree signed in 2023 now requires companies that wish to bid for public contracts to obtain approval. Mr. Nikièma believes that this regulation is disadvantageous to small businesses like theirs, as the process of obtaining approval, which is valid for three years, is complicated. He therefore calls for small businesses to be exempted so that they can grow and upgrade.

Opening of training center

With a professional bachelor’s degree in hand, Boukaré Nikièma couldn’t continue his studies in motor vehicle maintenance because there were no such courses in Burkina Faso. So he planned to take online courses in France. But first, he had to train in English. That’s what he’s doing now.

Mr. Nikièma believes that a thirst for learning is necessary if one wants to develop in a certain field. That’s why he has no limits and aspires to open a mechanics training center one day. “If I decide to go back to school, it will be to gain knowledge, to acquire knowledge, skills and people skills. So, I won’t stop there. I want to take some additional courses and think about opening a training center where I can pass on my knowledge to young people interested in motor vehicle maintenance,” he says.

While waiting for the center to open, the father of four has been able to develop another related activity thanks to his hard work, which is vehicle leasing. An activity that has unfortunately slowed down due to the security situation in Burkina Faso. It also sells spare parts for cars and plans to sell used cars in the coming years.

Justin Bonkungu

Lefaso.net

Photos and videos: Ange-Auguste Paré