The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Malala

  • Teenage Network founder selected as Malala fund education champion

    Teenage Network founder selected as Malala fund education champion

    Founder and Executive Director of Teenage Network, Olanike Timipa-Uge, has been selected for the Malala Fund Education Champions Grant, Cohort 8, in recognition of her bold advocacy and leadership in advancing girls’ right to quality, safe and inclusive education in Nigeria.

    Through sustained, evidence-based programming, Olanike’s advocacy led to the formulation of the School Re-Entry Guideline for Adolescent Mothers in Nasarawa State, a landmark policy that affirms the right of young mothers to return to education without discrimination. 

    Her work also led to the development of the Sexual Violence Reporting and Management Framework for Schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), strengthening how schools prevent, report, and respond to cases of school related sexual violence.

    The Education Champions Grant supports grassroots leaders whose work is producing systemic change for girls facing barriers such as early pregnancy, sexual violence, and harmful social norms. 

    Olanike’s selection reflects her ability to translate community realities into policy action that protects girls and keeps them learning.

    As a member of Cohort 8, she will receive multi-year grant support and join a global network of education champions committed to ensuring every girl can access 12years of safe, quality education.

    The recognition places Teenage Network on a global platform, amplifying its work to ensure that no girl is denied education because of violence, stigma, or circumstance.

  • Malala seeks emergency in education sector

    Malala seeks emergency in education sector

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday received Pakistani rights activist for girl-child education and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai at the Presidential Villa.

    The 20-year-old Malala, who was accompanied by her father Yousafzai and other members of the Malala Foundation, arrived at the presidential villa at about 5.30 p.m.

    The young female activist survived gunshots on her head by the Taliban for campaigning for girl-child education in Pakistan.

    She visited Nigeria in July, 2014, to campaign for the release of abducted Chibok schoolgirls, meeting with then President Goodluck Jonathan and parents of the more than 230 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

    Malala urged the declaration of state of emergency in the education sector

    She said: “It was a very good meeting. We had a fruitful discussion with His Excellency, the Acting President.

    “I highlighted on the need to scale up education, that the government should declare a state of emergency in education because education of girls and boys in Nigeria is important.

    “The federal, state and local governments need to be united on this.” she added

    According to her, she also spoke on the child right act.

  • Malala to become youngest UN peace messenger

    Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is to become the youngest United Nations Messenger of Peace, the organisation’s chief said on Friday.

    Yousafzai, 19, will be appointed on Monday by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and will help to promote girls’ education around the world as part of her new role.

    The Pakistani education activist came to prominence when a Taliban gunman shot her in 2012 as punishment for campaigning for girls to go to school, which defied the militant group’s ban on female education.

    Yousafzai has since continued campaigning on the world stage and in 2014 became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

    Guterres said in a statement that “even in the face of grave danger, Malala Yousafzai has shown an unwavering commitment to the rights of women, girls and all people.”

    The UN chief said, “Her courageous activism for girls’ education has already energised so many people around the world.

    “Now, as our youngest-ever UN Messenger of Peace, Malala can do even more to help create a more just and peaceful world.”

    The Pakistani girl, who received medical treatment in Britain where she had since studied, had also set up the Malala Fund to support girls’ education  in developing countries.

    NAN

  • Buhari to Malala: FG working to secure Chibok girls’ release

    Buhari to Malala: FG working to secure Chibok girls’ release

    President Muhammadu Buhari has said the government is unrelenting in its efforts to ensure the safe return of the remaining Chibok girls.

    The President, who was apparently responding to a letter written to him by Ms. Malala Yousafzai, the Co-Founder of the Malala Fund, said while he cannot divulge the details of ongoing negotiations to secure the release of the school girls due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations, assured on the doggedness, commitment and sincerity of the government to ensure the return of the girls and others still in captivity.

    According to a statement signed by the media aide to the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, the President also said Boko Haram will not be considered defeated without the rescue of the remaining Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by the insurgents.

    In the letter, dated January 10, 2017 and signed on his behalf by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the President said the gallant troops of the Nigerian military have recently scored a great victory by seizing control of the Sambisa Forest, the last stronghold of the Boko Haram elements who are responsible for the girls’ abduction.

    He, however, said that in line with his pledge that Boko Haram will not be considered defeated without the rescue of the girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by the insurgents, the military, the State Security Service and the other security agencies are intensifying efforts to ensure freedom for all those who remain in captivity.

    On the welfare of the 21 Chibok girls who regained their freedom on October 13, 2016, the President said the government has taken over the responsibility for their personal, educational and professional goals and ambitions in life.

    ”They are being given comprehensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support, and anyone who has seen them in recent times will attest to the fact that their reintegration back to the society is progressing well. The Federal Government believes that it is not too late for the girls to go back to school, and everything will be done to ensure that they continue the pursuit of their studies,” he assured.

    President Buhari commended Ms. Malala for her continuing caring disposition towards the release of the girls who remain in captivity and the welfare of those who had regained their freedom, adding, ”there is no better example of the fact that we are all linked by our common humanity.”

  • Malala, Obaji are education champions

    Malala, Obaji are education champions

    Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai and Nigerian activist Philip Obaji are among eight education advocates named by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) as champions.

    The young activists are joining a group of global education advocates, adding their voices to support the GPE’s work in almost 60 low-income countries to ensure every child receives a quality, basic education.

    As GPE Champions, Malala, Obaji and other advocates will be speaking up for the rights of children, to an education and urging governments, business and civil society to work together to fulfill the long-standing pledge of delivering education for all.

    Malala, who last year became the youngest ever Nobel Prize Winner, said on GPE website: “Education is the right of every girl, every human being. I’m proud to be a champion for the Global Partnership for Education.

    “I believe all countries can do more, rich countries must do their part and keep their promises, and developing countries must give more of their own budgets to education.”

    Similarly, Obaji, who won The Future Africa Awards Prize in Education last December, said: “As a children’s rights activist, I’ve worked with the most violated, traumatised and forgotten children in northern Nigeria.

    “I have seen children physically and mentally tortured, forcibly conscripted into armed groups, and forced to leave their homes. But I have also witnessed the transformative power of education.”

    Obaji also added that the GPE has helped many developing countries, including Nigeria, take the right path in their education systems.

    “As a result, millions of children are back in school, and funding is increasing for education in many places.”

    Besides Nigeria’s Obaji and Malala, the team of advocates who are championing the GPE course include, World At School co-founder, Chernor Bah; Dutch Youth Representative to UNESCO, Frits Brouwer and UNICEF Australia Young Ambassador, Hayley McQuire.

  • Malala pleads for Chibok girls’ release

    Malala pleads for Chibok girls’ release

    •300 days after

    Nobel prize winning education campaigner Afghanistani Malala Yousafzai yesterday called on world leaders to do more to free the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, who have been in captivity for 300 days.

    Writing on her website she said: “If these girls were the children of politically or financially powerful parents, much more would be done to free them.

    “But they come from an impoverished area of northeast Nigeria and sadly little has changed since they were kidnapped.”

    “Nigerian leaders and the international community can and must do much more to resolve this crisis and change their weak response to date.

    “These young women risked everything to get an education that most of us take for granted; I will not forget my sisters.”

    Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State last April, triggering global outrage expressed through the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Although a few girls managed to escape during the kidnapping, 219 of the girls remain missing.

    Women who have escaped Boko Haram tell of the brutalities they experienced at the hands of the militants, including forced marriage and being sold into sex slavery.

    Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau also said in one of the videos the sect posted on you tube that he would “sell the girls” and marry them off.

  • No longer a numbers’ game

    Politics worldwide is a game of numbers. There is nowhere the numbers’ game is at play than during elections. Elections are won and lost on the strength of votes. What is usually required to win is simple majority except otherwise stated. Contestants know this rule well. This is why they strive to get the highest number of votes cast in order not to create doubts about the winner of an election.

    In any transparent electoral process, knowing the winner is not difficult since the results will be declared in the open. But in some cases, losers find it difficult to accept defeat. They do all they can to upturn the result. Where they cannot have their way, they turn their loss to ‘victory’ by laying claim to an office that does not belong to them.  This is at the individual level. At the institutional level, they use their minority to oppress the majority.

    What then is democracy if we cannot play according to the rule? What then is democracy if the majority cannot have its way? What then is democracy if the minority cannot bow to the majority? What is happening in the polity calls for concern from all people of goodwill. If we keep quiet because what is happening favours us  one way or the other,  we will be doing damage to the bodypolity.

    Democracy should not be a matter of life and death. It is high time  our politicians changed their attitude towards the game. They should not be desperate to win at all costs. When they lose, they should concede defeat and congratulate the winner  rather than try to destabilise the country through their tantrums and wild allegations of rigging and all  what not. It is only those who have come to see politics as a means of livelihood that behave this way.

    ”If I do not have it, nobody will”, this is what their body language usually says. This is why a governor will lose an internal  election and fight tooth and nail to retain his seat as the head of the group. The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) is an association of governors cutting across party line. The 36 state governors meet under its umbrella, with one of them as chairman. Who becomes chairman used to be by agreement and not by  election until the Presidency started interfering in its affairs.

    The group became an object of interest to the Presidency following its Chairman, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s spat with the First Family. To get back at Amaechi whose first tenure was then expiring about two years ago, the Presidency infiltrated the NGF to get him voted out, counting on the support of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, who are in the majority. Amaechi carried the day because he enjoyed the confidence of his colleagues irrespective of party affiliation.

    He won by 19 votes to Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang’s 16. Till today, Jang continues to parade himself as NGF chair despite losing woefully in that election. He is being encouraged by the Presidency, which recognises him as NGF chair, but treats the validly elected Amaechi as leper because of his feud with the First Family. What kind of democracy are we practising if our leaders cannot abide by the outcome of such a minor election? Will they allow the people’s will to prevail in the forthcoming general elections?

    This kind of absurdity is also playing itself out in Ekiti State where the minority is lording it over the majority in the House of Assembly. Power changed hands in the state last October 16 with the swearing in of Governor Ayo Fayose, who won the June 21 election. The 26-man house is controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC); while Fayose is of the PDP. Since he assumed office, he and some of the lawmakers have been having issues. There have been allegations and counter-allegations. Whatever the problems are, we pray that they sort them out soon.

    In the meantime, we are bothered by the impunity going on in the state under the guise of legislative work. Seven of the lawmakers, who are members of PDP, have been ‘legislating’ on behalf of the house, while the majority has been chased out of town . To have their way, the seven lawmakers are being protected by the police. They are given cover to sit and perform other ‘legislative’ duties suitable to the needs of the governor. First, the seven removed the speaker and other principal officers at an awkward hour. We leave them to the court to determine the propriety of their action.

    With the coast clear, Fayose promptly sent a list of would-be commissioners to the house, sorry his seven sidekicks. Without wasting time, they confirmed the commissioners. A few days ago, they approved the 2015 budget. Fayose is riding on high with his men in control of the house. But, has he stopped for a minute to think over the legality or otherwise of what the seven lawmakers are doing? Does it portray Ekiti State, the land of honour and fountain of knowledge, in good light that seven lawmakers are running rings around their 19 other counterparts?

    We hear of the majority having their way and the minority having their say. But, in our clime,  the reverse seems to be the case. Is politics still a game of numbers?

    Malala’s country again

    MALALA Yousafzai survived a gun attack on October 9, 2012,  to become the poster-child for girl education globally. When Taliban gunmen shot her in the head in a school bus, they never knew that they were changing the course of her life through their dastardly act. Today, Malala is a Nobel laureate having won the the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.  Rather than repent, these mad men, like their Nigerian counterparts, Boko Haram, have continued to wreak havoc on school children. Tuesday’s attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Northwest Pakistan, in which 145 pupils were killed,  is despicable. Why will any sane man shoot a pupil? For going to  school? Is it a sin to seek knowledge when Prophet Muhammad, in his life time,  admonished Muslims to seek knowledge and to go even as far as China for it? We pray that God touches the hearts of these self-styled jihadists to know that what they are doing is evil. Like Malala said in her reaction, the world mourns these children, ”but we will never be defeated by terrorists”. Never.

  • Malala to star in Nobel ceremony

    Malala to star in Nobel ceremony

    Malala Yousafzai picks up her Nobel Peace Prize today, but the youngest ever laureate already has an even more startling memento from her young life: the blood-soaked school uniform she wore when shot by the Taliban.

    The 17-year-old Pakistani known everywhere as Malala shares the peace prize with the Indian campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, 60, who has fought for 35 years to free thousands of children from virtual slave labour.

    Their pairing has the extra symbolism of linking neighbouring countries that have been in conflict for decades. After being named, Malala said she hoped both states’ prime ministers would attend the prize-giving ceremony in Oslo.

  • Jonathan, Malala and the loud silence in Chibok

    Jonathan, Malala and the loud silence in Chibok

    IT is exactly 187 days since the Boko Haram insurgents abducted over 200 girls in a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. Since then, it has been one farcical tale after the other as close relatives of the abducted girls chew their pain. Six months into the tragic tale, no one can say for sure if the girls would ever reunite with their families. Right in our faces, 217 girls just vanished. At the height of the bringbackourgirls protest, the authorities gave us a glimmer of hope. They said rescue efforts were ongoing and confirmed ‘sighting’ the girls. Three months after the little Pakistani girl-child activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Malala Yousafzai, invaded the almostdead conscience of the leadership, that hope painfully pales into hopelessness.

    It is sad that those who have chosen to put their integrity on the line in a determined effort to nudge the government into action in a strident cry to free the girls have become the butt of atrocious abuse and blackmail by the bootlickers in power. It was so bad that a serving Minister, who has not added any value to the ministry she superintends since taking the oath of office, would be the one to confront Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili with the warped fallacies of how the nation’s education system crumbled! Well, in times like this, it is not uncommon for people to twist the tale to wag a tail. Even at that, could that be enough justification for the government’s impotence and seeming unwillingness to rescue the innocent girls from their bloody captors? As days run into months, the tragic realities of what the abduction portends for a nation still living in denial of the incompetence of its leadership tugs the soul.

    And then, I ask: what has changed since that Malala visit to Aso Villa? Have they brought back the girls? No. Has the failure to rescue the girls affected the do-or-die politics in which some persons are falling over one another, begging a ‘reluctant’ President Goodluck Jonathan to throw his hat in the ring and contest the 2015 general elections? No. Is there any evidence to show that any of the parties, including the opposition, has unveiled a convincing policy directive on the best way to tackle insurgency beyond the meaningless patter and exchange of brickbats in safe havens? No. Nothing has really changed. There is little to cheer about beyond the fact that, three months after her visit, Malala is now, deservedly so, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. It was nice hearing her reminding the world about the need to return the Chibok 217 to their homes. It was, to say the least, humbling that that feeling resonated across the world on the 180th day of the tragic tale in Nigeria. And so, as Chibok echoes in loud silence across the globe through the resolve of some people to fight the battle for this forgotten community, one can only encourage them to continue to cling on to hope amid this darkling plain. Yet, I cannot but remember how Malala rekindled hope in July when she took the battle to the doorstep of the authorities. No doubt, without the persistence of the Oby Ezekwesililed group and the challenge thrown by Malala, the Chibok story could have become another casualty of our ever-burgeoning dustbin of history by now. Malala it was who reawakened the dead conscience of those who remained insensitive and utterly indifferent to the plight of the Chibok 217. In a piece titled “Malala’s ‘bulala’ and a President’s koboko” published on July 19, I had painted a scenario in which “our ever-busy Very Important Personalities were grovelling to share the moment with the 17-year-old strong-willed girl who has given a whole new meaning to hope amid the suffocating misery in our country. No doubt, Malala’s inspiring story and her presence in Nigeria on her 17th birthday to push for a more humane interest in the plight of the Chibok girls couldn’t have come at a better time. Her outspokenness, candour, courage and determination to soldier on despite a failed attempt to cut short her life should rekindle hope in a society that has almost sacrificed the abduction saga on the altar of political shenanigans.”

    Today, that shambolic approach to an issue that has attracted international attention persists. It bothers me that there exist in our midst today persons who believe that the Chibok story is one successful tele-novella made real by the ‘political enemies’ of the President. It is also to our collective shame that some sponsored groups became tools in the hands of government and they tried all they could to put an end to whatever the bringbackourgirls group was trying to achieve. Twice, this same force has rebuffed attempts by the group to interface with their President on the way forward. Instead of seeing the bigger picture, they chose to fight dirty in desperation to hide the truth. What did they do when Malala questioned our humanity as a people? How did they react to the hot truth she pumped into some dead ears? Nothing! All they did was to recoil in shame, giggling through the soul-searching words the young lady spewed. Malala’s outburst, I wrote then, was one “body-piercing whiplash that the presidency absorbed with shocking equanimity. Just picture a scenario where a toddler was chastising adults for failing to live up to the expectations of a doddering infant!”

    Her words: “One important thing about today was my meeting with the President, Mr Goodluck Jonathan. I met him today and I told him that I hear the voices of my sisters. I’m representing my sisters and their parents today and if you are the elected President, you need to fulfil your responsibilities and your responsibility is to listen to your people, who are saying bring back our girls. Luckily, the President assured me of two things. He promised that the government will chose the best option to bring back the girls alive and safe. And the second promise he made, which is very important, is that he will meet with the parents of those girls that are abducted and I’m hoping that he will fulfil it. I’m hopeful that the President will meet you soon because he made the promise to me and to you Nigerians.”

    As I write this, one thing rankles. The government has not relented in blowing hot and cold over whatever it was doing to save the parents, the girls and concerned Nigerians from the misery. We just flow with the wind while the world waits for us to take action. Aside the occasional outcry in Abuja, all we have heard from Chibok in the last few months after the visit to Aso Villa is a worrisome loud silence. The last time our President spoke on it, he told a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations that he was determined to reunite the girls with their families as soon as feasible. That is the only thing we can hold on to as another day passes by with no news of the girls. 180 days after that sacrilege in Chibok, we are standing here, holding firmly to hope. That’s the only thing that keeps us going in this season of wonky legs.

  • Malala shares Noble Peace Prize with indian

    Malala shares Noble Peace Prize with indian

    A yet to be ascertained number of prisoners were believed to have died as soldiers and prison officials engaged fleeing prisoners during a jailbreak in Lagos yesterday.

    Scores of other prisoners were also said to have sustained varying degrees of injuries from the incident that occurred at the Kirikiri Medium Prison located in the Apapa area of the nation’s former capital around 3.30 pm.
    Already, the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) has ordered investigation into the incident, promising to release the details today.

    But a senior official of the NPS said the incident occurred after the inmates protested some privileges denied by a senior official who had just been posted to the prison, one of which was the use of cell phones by the inmates.
    The protest later degenerated to attempts by some of the inmates to escape from the prison, prompting the deployment of the armed security personnel stationed outside the prison to prevent them from escaping.

    Apart from the prison officials who also made use of sniffer dogs, personnel of the Nigerian Navy (NN), Navy Town and Kirikiri Police Station were also said to have been called in to assist the men of the Nigerian Prisons Service to secure the massive gates of the prison.

    The spokesman for the NPS, Mr. Ope Fatinikun, had broken the news of the jailbreak at the end of a three-day security session organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.
    He said: “In line with the spirit of this retreat, I want to inform the media that we have just recorded a jailbreak at the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison in Lagos. We will provide details on Saturday (today).”

    When later called by our correspondent, Fatinikun said: “The incident occurred at about 3.30pm, but prison warders were able to manage the situation. Like I said, I cannot give you the details till tomorrow.

    Another source, however, said the warders, who were caught unawares, tried to manage the situation.
    “As expected, there was a stampede during the jailbreak and some people were wounded. We are still trying to take stock to know the cause, the injured and those who escaped.”
    The source said it was learnt that the revolt might not be unconnected with the overcrowded nature of the prison yard.
    T

    he 1,700-capacity prison had 2,517 inmates as at the time the immediate past Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips (rtd), visited the yard on June 16 for the Jail Delivery Exercise.
    Out of the 2,517 inmates, 2,382 were rated as awaiting trial with only 135 convicts.

    The former Chief Judge, who expressed concern about the congestion at the prison, could only set free 71 inmates
    It was also gathered that some of the inmates had been complaining about overstretched facilities at the prison.

    But another source said the jailbreak might have to do with the alleged attempt by some criminals to set free their colleagues who were detained at the facility.

    “The NPS management has ordered an investigation into the incident. We will release the details in the next 24 to 48 hours,” the source added.