HEROES

In Pakistan, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai now has the full status of a heroine.  For years now, the teenager has been in the forefront of the campaign for increased female education, in defiance of the Taliban. Her parents have despite all odds allowed their daughter to continue going to school because it is the right thing to do. They did not decide to sit at home and cower in fear of intimidation or death. Their daughter in particular rose to the occasion, understanding the dangers but nevertheless believing in something and standing for it. Malala and her female schoolmates have had to brave bullets in class and ambush attacks to acquire knowledge. Since she was 12, she has kept a diary of what it takes her and her girl-child colleagues to stay in school.       

Last week, however, the terrorists got her. Returning home from school aboard a minibus, thebullets of a fundamentalist caught her in the skull. The girl miraculously survived despite receiving two bullet wounds to the head. What a tragedy for a young brave and obviously very strong spirit. The girl is just 14. She lives in a turbulent part of Pakistan, is a woman and yet has managed to put her stamp on the world stage.

Malala is my role model. I wish that she were here with us in Nigeria. If we had people like her, then perhaps our country would not be like this.

Please take a minute to carry yourself to Malala’s world. Do you feel her bravery? Do you feel the faith of her parents in doing what is right by their child? The issue is about taking responsibility for us. I pray for Malala, this child, this tower of strength is now the symbol of Pakistani gender liberation. The brutal attack on her life by these cowards has only succeeded in drawing global attention to her cause; even more, miraculously, she lives! Malala is responding to treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, the United Kingdom.  

Malala Yousafzai in her short stint on this planet has already made her mark. She has already touched lives and given inspiration to others to stand up and fight for our rights because they are worth fighting for. She has etched her name in history and has shown that she is ready to lose her life for what she believes in. She is not a leader in the making, but leader of many already.  

Here in Africa, this year’s Mo Ibrahim Award for Leadership Excellence has no awardee.  They are unable to find an African leader worthy to receive it. Leaders that inspire are, at the moment, in short supply on our continent. Simply put, we have no heroes.

What is wrong with Africa, what is wrong with Nigeria?

This year alone we have gone through countless crises, from the hike in fuel prices, the fuel subsidy scam, the natural disasters that have befallen parts of the country, Boko Haram terrorism, ethnic cleansing, the deaths on our precarious roads, the queues at the petrol stations…  When are we going to start taking responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves? Are we going to sit and be witnesses to our own destruction or are we going to find the courage and follow in the footsteps of this brave young girl.

It is an indictment to all of us as a people that there are no recipients of the Mo Ibrahim Awards. If we had been strong and courageous enough to demand good governance from our leaders, then it stands to reason that there would have been awardees. We deserve the leaders that we get.

 Michael Jackson said in his song “The Man In The Mirror”. We have to make a difference. Who are we to be blind, pretending that we cannot see the ills around us? We really have no place to go.  No message can be any clearer, if you want to make your world a better place take a look at yourself and make that change.”