MAUUN: Immortalising Haneefa and the Need for Girl Child Education in the North
By Uri Jones
AREWA AGENDA – Remember Haneefa? The 5yr old girl kidnapped from school and murdered by her kidnapper? A street was named after her in a private university (MAAUN) in Kano set to open this month, by the founder Professor Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo.
This gesture warmed my heart. In a region ravaged by terrorism, where the oppressive ideals of feudalism is most potent and where beliefs and ideology clash against education particularly rigged against the girl child, but plaguing many children regardless of gender, this is a BOLD statement.
I argue that the North is as much wealthy if not the wealthiest region in Nigeria. They have more land mass, natural and human resources than the South, yet they are the most burdening region with the highest rate of poverty and illiteracy. What is needed to break that cycle is education. But it is the very thing Feudal lords and political elites suppress the Northern child at the bottom of the social strata, from reaching. Poverty and illiteracy is a political weapon of strategy for them.
Education! Nothing more. You can accept this or continue in denial and delusion. It can not be over emphasized. The number of out of school children running to 10m in the North, is a present danger and an even more astronomical one to the future.
Unlike the South, which has a lot of private schools to help bridge public inadequacies, the North (excluding Abuja) isn’t invested in education as much. Private schools that exist are mainly by the Catholic organization and a few political elites who have built unaffordable elite schools for the rich.
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Getting into politics is not the only way for the youth to change Nigeria. Young people make or get small money, spinning expensive cars, know someone and the next thing politics, even when they are clearly incompetent, especially where nepotism is rife. If each state in the North has at least 5-10 Adamus (Not gender specific, but women especially, you can do this!!) dedicated to the education sector, opening up affordable schools from early childhood/primary- tertiary level aggressively over the next 10years, that cycle will break.
I know so many people financially or competently capable to do this. It may not be easy, but it is worth it. Come together individually or collaborate in clusters, advocate for education courageously and build schools. NOT almajiri or religious schools. Actual SCHOOLS! The inequality gap will be closer with a burgeoning industrious and innovative middle class.
Yes it is a business for profit, but it has huge social returns for the well-being of society. Not only is the university relatively affordable compared to others, he also gives a quota of admissions to scholarships.
However, it takes will & vision. Adamu started this journey before the age of 40 by himself. I am told that even him setting up this school came with a lot of backlash from his own people for wanting to prosper people with education. Hence him building the first in Niger and now, the second in his home state, Kano. It is literally a war to go against such ideology.
This won’t bring back Haneefa, but in many ways, it immortalizes her and it advocates the need for education, especially for the girl child. May this street walk many women into higher education, whose parents like Haneefa’s insisted (or because they themselves battled to insist) on them being educated.
Well done MAAUN. Well done Professor Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo. Proud of you!
Written by Uri Jones
Arewa Agenda is a Publication of Young writers/journalist from Northern Nigeria towards Peaceful Coexistence and National Development through positive narratives
