Zannah Mustapha, the man who takes in orphans of Boko Haram terrorists and Nigerian military has been awarded this year’s UNHCR Nansen Refugees Award.
Mustapha is the founder of one of the few remaining primary schools in much ravaged Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri.
He was also instrumental in negotiating the release of 82 of the abducted Chibok girls by Boko Haram. He mediated between the federal government and the terrorist group. About 100 out of the 276 abducted Chibok girls are still unaccounted for today.
In the decade since its inception, the school has swelled from 36 students to 540. Desperate for an education, thousands more children have added their names to its waiting list. In 2016, Mustapha opened a second school just a few kilometres away from the first. Eighty-eight children, all of whom have fled conflict in the region, walk through its classroom doors each day. His school provides free education, meals, uniforms and health care.
Mustapha and his volunteer group of educators are not oblivious to the risks they face, but their work is too important not to soldier on.
“This school promotes peace,” Mustapha said. “It is a place where every child matters,” he added. “These children shall be empowered, empowered in such a way that they can stand on their own.”
UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award honours extraordinary service to the forcibly displaced, and names Eleanor Roosevelt, Graça Machel and Luciano Pavarotti among its laureates. The 2017 ceremony will be held on 2 October in Geneva, Switzerland.
