] Issa Aremu, Between Malala’s diplomacy and child abuse
The good children of South Africa fondly called the late iconic leader Nelson Mandela ‘tata’. Tata means ‘father’, a worthy tribute to the father of the nation and “a man who always had a great love of young people”. Very few world leaders had quotable quotes on children as the late Madiba. Out of the scores of Mandela’s sayings on the joy of children I could assemble for this short intervention on Malala’s seemingly rancorous visit to Nigeria last week, yours truly searched in vain for where children are seen as tools of shuttle diplomacy for good governance or diplomatic noise as we sadly recently witnessed.
By her own account, Malala Yousafzai who was born on 12 July 1997 was here in Nigeria on her 17th birthday for (in her own words) “a price which is to see that every child goes to school” in Nigeria. Pray how much price will a 17-yearold who barely two years ago, in the Swat District of Pakistan on Tuesday, 9 October 2012, escaped a gunman’s bullet in her school bus because of her activism for an allinclusive education in the Taliban enclave? On 9 May 2002, Nelson Mandela at a luncheon hosted by the then United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan at the special session of the UN for Children in New York City observed that “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”
As a Nigerian, something tells me that history might not judge us nicely that (for better for worse) we made Malala to pay another price by marking her 17th birthday mediating between the chieftains of #BringBackOurGirls” and the officials of President Jonathan administration. Of course, no solidarity is too much to put pressure on Nigerian government to intensify its efforts to rescue over 200 Chibok schoolgirls who were abducted on 14 April while writing examination. However, a solidarity from Malala who herself ordinarily deserves our solidarity paying a price such as abandoning her studies in God knows where for making a case for some girls to be in schools in Nigeria is one solidarity bordering on abuse. Nigeria certainly has its fair share of child labour, notwithstanding the fact that we have ratified ILO Convention No. 182 which prohibits the worst forms of child labour in 1999. The recent uncritical exposures of Malala to critical issues of governance such as rescuing the abducted girls, discussing budget allocation to education and even abduction of Boko Haram and I met the President Goodluck Jonathan for this purpose” amounts to an overload for a 17-year-old.
Ama Ata Aidoo is a Ghanaian writer who once remarked that “It’s a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.” Certainly President Jonathan could not have been said to be afraid of Malala. But the ease with which we were eager to render account to her beats imagination. Witness the president: “We appreciate your efforts to change the world positively through your powerful advocacy for girl-child education.”
And witness the damning remark of our daughter and even granddaughter about Nigeria. “My father and I and the entire family want to speak out for those 10.5 million children who are out of school. They have no access to education because of many problems. And I am hopeful that the international community will take serious action because if we think this country is in Africa and is not going to affect other countries, we are really wrong. If we leave 10.5 million children illiterate, these children can become terrorists, they can be violated and they can be deprived of their basic human rights, at the end they will not be able to help their country in developing”, she said.
“So if we want the whole world to be successful, it is important that every child should go to school. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, only 1.5% of the budget is spent on education which is a small amount compared to Pakistan which has increased its own to 4%. Money spent on education should definitely be increased. This is how this country is going to be developed and I believe in the power of education. If Nigeria must have a bright future, every child must have an opportunity to go to school,” she added.
It is debatable if a foreign head of state had talked at Nigeria as Malala did, there would not have been a legitimate diplomatic row.