December 19, 2021

One outstanding hallmark of greatness is to do good when nobody is watching and expecting nothing. Nigeria’s Zannah Mustapha, a lawyer who has retired from active legal practice, epitomizes such hallmark.

Zannah was among top ten CNN Heroes of 2021. The sacrifice he made when nobody was watching has been noticed and eloquently rewarded.

Burdened by poor state of orphans in the north east, he floated the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School where he provides free education, uniforms, meals and healthcare for the children. These are children he never knew, does not have biological relationship with. They were orphans of civilians, military personnel, other security personnel, including children fathered by Boko Haram insurgents.

Some were highly traumatized children who had the harsh misfortune of witnessing the slaughter of their parents by insurgents. These children have no hope, no home, some no longer remember the names of their communities. They were a hurting army of young emotional wrecks. Hopeless, homeless and hungry.

But Mustapha offered them hope through his school. Now, the once disoriented swarm of juveniles are beginning to believe including aspiring to become doctors, lawyers and activists,

He has over the years helped to educate and feed hundreds of displaced Boko Haram orphans and his efforts had earlier earned him the United Nations’ highest honor. The CNN Heroes award for 2021 is yet another feather to his big cap.

“These are children who did not even know their second name. Some of them watched their fathers being killed by insurgents. We don’t need to know where you’re from, your ethnicity. All we see are human beings who need help, who need to be clothed, who need food and who need education.

“I am motivated by the energy of these children, their dreams give me hope,” he said as he explained the motive behind his humanitarian devotion.

Zannah has self-drive and he has sustained the social work even in the hardest times. He has acres of farm from where food is produced for his community of orphaned children. Such a life of self-denial is hard to come by in Nigeria where men and women flaunt their wealth, mostly ill-gotten, with competitive venom and rivalry.

“What keeps me going is the resilience of these children. It keeps my dream alive,” he said.

Mustapha, a peace-builder in a country racked by hate, is the first Nigerian recipient of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] Nansen Refugee Award, an annual award that honors exceptional service to the plight of displaced people.

He recalls: “At the Future Prowess School, it is a place where every child matters. All we know is that they are children and we have to find a future for them.”

In the harrowing days of the kidnap of Chibok school girls, Mustapha became a mediator, playing an active role in negotiating the release of some of the abducted Chibok girls.

“It’s still one of the highest points in my life,” he says of the release. “This is something that I worked for… and I had the confidence that I would get them and that confidence became a reality,” he added.

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Mustapha for his recognition among top ten CNN Heroes of 2021.

Mustapha’s recognition is based the humanitarian support he is providing to victims of Boko Haram terrorism.

A man who could stake his own life, risk being killed by insurgents, deny himself pleasure for the comfort of persons he never knew deserves the best of medals. This is why CNN could not look away.

President Buhari noted the selflessness, sacrifices and visionary role of the legal practitioner, who created multiple platforms to cater for orphans, widows and the vulnerable, encouraging many to return to school and start all over in life.

Buhari believed the timeliness and purposefulness of his interventions could only be divinely inspired, urging more public spirited individuals and corporations to partner with the state and federal government in ameliorating the situation in the North East.

According to the president, Mustapha’s recognition by CNN is most deserved.

Every society needs a Zannah Mustapha. Nigeria is lucky to have one, a shining light in a wasteland of looters of public till and pillagers of the people’s patrimony.