In 2013, the United Nations declared Malala's
birthday, July 12, Malala Day as she addressed
the U.N. General Assembly in New York. This
year she is in Nigeria for Malala Day, which is
being celebrated Monday, two days after her
17th birthday.
Over the weekend, Malala met some of the
schoolgirls who managed to escape Boko
Haram and the families of the more than 200
girls still missing. Outrage at the mass
abduction inspired the social media campaign
#BringBackOurGirls , with Malala among the
global faces photographed holding a sign with
the hashtag.
She met with Nigerian President Goodluck
Jonathan on Monday in the capital, Abuja.
Nigerians and others have accused the
government of not acting swiftly or efficiently
enough to protect the girls who were abducted
from Chibok. But the military has defended its
response saying its soldiers have to enforce a
state of emergency across Borno state, where
Chibok is situated -- an area of more than
90,000 square kilometers (34,750 square
miles).
After her meeting with Jonathan, CNN asked
Malala if he had said whether any progress had
been made in finding the girls.
"As you all know, in politics nothing is clear. In
the circumstances nothing is clear really, but the President
did make promises, and the President said that he feels that
these girls are his daughters," Malala said. She added that
Jonathan had said he would meet the parents of kidnapped
girls and provide support to those who had escaped Boko
Haram.
Jonathan told Malala that the government "was definitely
doing everything possible to ensure that the girls were
rescued alive and safely returned to their parents," his office
said in a statement.
"Terror is relatively new here and dealing with it has its
challenges. The great challenge in rescuing the Chibok girls
is the need to ensure that they are rescued alive," he said.
"We have had teams from the United States, Britain, France,
Israel and other friendly nations working with us here on the
rescue effort and they all appreciate the challenges and the
need to thread carefully to achieve our purpose."
Jonathan also thanked Malala for "your efforts to change
the world positively through your powerful advocacy for
girl-child education," the statement said.
Malala later gave a speech to mark Malala Day to an
audience that included advocates from the
#BringBackOurGirls campaign and some of the schoolgirls
who had escaped Boko Haram.
Malala said she had told the President: "You need to fulfill
your responsibilities."
She also issued an appeal to the militants.
"I ask Boko Haram to stop misusing the name of Islam,"
she said. "Lay down your weapons, release your sisters,
release my sisters and release the daughters of this nation."
A country "becomes powerful when its people become
educated," she said. "Let us not forget that one book, one
pen, one child and one teacher can change the world."
In May, Malala told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that women
were targeted by those who feared a society in which
women are empowered.
Malala's activism started after the Taliban banned girls
from schools in Pakistan's Swat Valley in 2009. She
anonymously blogged for the BBC in opposition to that order
and became an open advocate for girls' education.
her visit coincides with her 17th year birthday
which is also Malala Day, a day set aside by the United
Nations for the world to focus on putting all girls to
school.
The visit of this global voice of resistance against
anti-western education to Nigeria is significant for plethora
of reasons, few will suffice.
Firstly, it is apparent that the agitation for the release of the
Chibok girls has gone down. We seem to had resigned to
fate given the body language of the federal government
which suggest indecisiveness and disinterestedness in the
matter. The media, especially the main stream media
seems to have moved on to more news worthy issues.
Evidently, the visit of Malala has reawaken international
consciousness to the precarious condition of the abducted
girls. It has re-ignited the agitative spirit of
the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners who have
been serially intimidated, insulted and blackmailed by the
forces of retrogression.
Secondly, the Nigerian president who in the last three
months have been exuding a nonchalant disposition in
rescuing our girls has suddenly demonstrated modicum of
responsibility. The President has finally pledged to meet
with the relatives of the girls and to provide scholarship for
the girls, he has equally promised to launch a Support Fund
for victims of terror. Malala herself has pledged a
contributory sum of $200.000 to the education of the Chibok
girls. These are appreciable steps towards assuaging the
restive mood of the parents of the girls and the nation.
Thirdly, Malala's visit has once again brought to the fore
the cancerous character of the Nigerian state. It has placed
our nation on the global map of failing states. Ours is a
nation of lost glory, a nation destitute in conscience, justice
and responsible leadership. It has exposed the crass failure
of our institutions in protecting the poor, weak and
vulnerable. It has shamed the Nigerian political class
whose penchant for corruption, tyranny and ethno-religious
chauvinism has driven our nation to the precipice.
Lastly, this epochal visit will to some extent undermine the
atavistic and imbecilic doctrinaire of the murderous Boko
Haram sect. Being herself a Muslim girl from the Middle
East, a part of the world where the orgies of Islamic
extremism appeals to many, and having survived the
onslaught of the Taliban, a radical Islamic sect, which like
Boko Haram, is opposed to western education, especially
by women and girls, Malala is most eligible to send a
message to the women and girls in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa
and other warring places in the North where Boko Haram
has succeeded in intimidating women and girls out of
school; a message that western education is not evil, a
message that Muslim women and girls have the right to
education, a message that it pays to educate the girl child.
As a people and nation, it is advisable for us to utilise
Malala's visit for self-censorship, the leadership of this
country should be circumspect. Let us ruminate on why it
took the visit of Malala for President Jonathan to make
commitment of meeting with the parents and relatives of the
Chibok girls.
The federal government and the opposition should desist
from dancing on the graves of those innocent Nigerians
who have been murdered by Boko Haram. The dirty politics
must stop now. Those sponsoring Boko Haram must be
identified and brought to justice. To Malala, be rest assured
that your place in history is secured. #BringBackOurGirls.
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