Mandela: Remembering An Icon In A Pandemic

The 2021 Mandela International Day celebration was billed to be the best since the day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in November, 2009. The declaration acknowledges the contribution of Dr. Nelson Mandela to the struggle for democracy internationally and the promotion of a culture of peace throughout the world and July 18 had been on the global calendar since it was first marked in 2010.Anticipating a lull in Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations had chosen a befitting theme, “One Hand Can Feed Another”, to mark this year’s event. That was not to be.

Of course, there was a momentary lull in the pandemic that allowed for member-states of the United Nations to step up their preparations. But all hope dimmed when the pandemic resurged. It was not only the pandemic that dampened this year’s commemoration. In South Africa, birthplace of Dr. Nelson Mandela, a looting spree ahead of the day by rampaging youths, ostensibly to protest the commitment of former president, Jacob Zuma to a prison term forced the government to put all activities on hold. A massive cleanup is ongoing even as individuals and businesses continue to count their losses.

But July 18 was not all doom and gloom. In Nigeria, a country that played a pivotal role in the decolonization process in South Africa, the day did not pass off with its fair share of drama. The day presented another opportunity for the Buhari administration to restate its commitment to its social protection programme with a call for more public and private participation in making schools safer and feeding school children. It was a call the authorities of Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies, MINILS, Ilorin, appropriately hearkened unto as part of its corporate social responsibility.

The Mandela Day celebration at the MINILS, observed in strict compliance with Covid-19 protocols, was addressed by top functionaries from the public and private sectors as well as representatives of trade unionists, rights groups, women and youth organizations and people living with disabilities from within and outside Kwara state. The highpoint of the event was management’s decision to extend care to students and other less-privileged children within the Institute’s immediate catchment area of the Institute. As a first step, the Institute undertook to feed and educate 35 secondary school students with plans to upgrade.

To Comrade Issa Aremu, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of MINILS, the Institute’s gesture was to compliment government’s school-feeding and safer school programmes, two universally acknowledged social intervention and protection measures of the Buhari administration. In realization of government’s determination to “make nation-builders out of youths with education and skills”, Comrade Aremu revealed that plans are afoot by MINILS to partner with stakeholders to realize the administration’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 through education and skill acquisition as a way of checking youth restiveness.

Indeed, banditry, kidnapping and all manner of youth restiveness have been on the upswing since the midnight killing of students at the Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi in Yobe state by Boko Haram fighters and subsequent kidnappings at Government Girls Science College, in Damboa, Borno state. For having an abiding faith in Dr. Mandela’s living mantra of “education is the most powerful weapon to change the world”, Comrade Aremu, commended parents and governments for their resilience in the face of the onslaught on the nation’s education with a call on Nigerians to support government and security agents in the campaign against banditry.

Mandela Day is a global call to action that celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform theworld and the ability to make an impact. The November, 2009, United Nations resolution that declared July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day was in recognition of the former South African president’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom and his dedication to the service of humanity in the areas of race relations, promotion and protection of human rights, gender equality and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups as well as the fight against poverty and the promotion of social justice.

By feeding and educating 35 less-privileged students, MINILS has given practical meaning to the theme for the 2021 Mandela International Day of “One Hand Can Feed Another”. This may be a modest gesture but, significantly, Nigeria’s National Labour Institute, under its new Director General has, in blazing another trail, signally thrown a challenge. How more public and private enterprises take up the challenge could determine the outcome of government’s social intervention and protection measures.

Magaji <[email protected]> resides in Abuja