In north-east Nigeria, where insecurity has disrupted lives, displaced families and deprived countless children of the opportunity to learn, Hadiza Aliu has chosen a different battlefield. Her weapons are persuasion, compassion, patience and an unwavering belief that every child, particularly every girl, deserves an education.

The north-east remains at the epicentre of Nigeria’s protracted insurgency, with persistent attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP, killings, abductions, displacement and the destruction of communities creating a climate of fear that has severely disrupted education. A 2025 education assessment cited in the Insecurity-Conflict-Education Nexus in NW/NE Nigeria report indicates that approximately 72 per cent of school-age girls in Borno State are out of school.

This makes the work of community-based female educators and humanitarian workers in the region particularly difficult and significant. One such is Hadiza. They are not merely promoting education; they are helping girls reclaim their right to learn in an environment where attending school can itself involve considerable risk.

Hadiza is neither a soldier nor a security operative or government official. She is a community mobiliser and volunteer whose daily responsibilities involve visiting households, engaging families and persuading parents to embrace practices that improve the lives of women and children.

For Hadiza, however, the assignment has never been limited to delivering health messages or encouraging immunisation. It has also meant recognising the silent struggles of children around her and taking action to improve their circumstances.

One such encounter would eventually change the lives of six young girls in Gambir Moduri, a community in Damaturu, Yobe State.

The girls, Hauwa, Binta and Asmau, all 12; Amina, seven; Aisha, six; and Fatima, five, are daughters of Mallam Bono Isa, an Islamic teacher who had operated an informal Qur’anic learning centre, known as a Tsangaya, from his home for 56 years.

While boys attended his Qur’anic lessons, his six daughters remained at home, occupied with domestic chores and deprived of access to formal education.

It was a situation Hadiza could not ignore.

“I became a mobiliser six years ago, but whenever I visited the Mallam’s compound in the morning, I would see the girls around, doing household chores. I was worried and discussed this with their father. I spoke to the mothers too about the importance of education.

“The girls were interested in going to school, and I told their father that his daughters were missing out on an education. It took one year to persuade him,” she recalled.

One year!

For Hadiza, that meant a year of persistence, repeated conversations and sustained engagement with a family whose patriarch needed to be convinced that educating his daughters was just as important as the religious instruction he provided to boys.

She could have walked away after the first unsuccessful conversation. She could have accepted the family’s circumstances as yet another of the many social challenges confronting her community.

Instead, she persisted.

Her determination eventually paid off. Their father agreed, and the six sisters walked out of their compound and headed to Moduri Primary School. For the first time in their lives, they were entering a formal classroom. Many other girls have similarly found their way into classrooms through her quiet advocacy.

For the six sisters, it was more than a journey to school. It was the beginning of a new chapter in lives that had previously been constrained by circumstances beyond their control.

A volunteer on a difficult humanitarian frontline

Hadiza’s achievement becomes even more significant when viewed against the wider environment in which community mobilisation and humanitarian interventions take place in north-east Nigeria. Reaching households, building trust and persuading families to embrace education, healthcare and other essential services are no easy tasks.

Community mobilisers often operate at the intersection of humanitarian interventions and the everyday realities of vulnerable families. Their effectiveness depends not only on the messages they convey but also on their ability to build relationships, understand local sensitivities and earn the trust of the people they serve.

Hadiza’s work reflects the demands of this responsibility.

“Sometimes I prepare for work in the morning but end up going nowhere because of insecurity. But the next day, I prepare again. Insha Allah, some other times we manage to go out,” she recalls, with a surprised smile.

Her daily routine involves engaging pregnant women and young mothers in Gambir Moduri on the importance of routine immunisation, antenatal care and other maternal and child health services.

Through these interactions, she has become a familiar presence in households, helping families understand the importance of practices that protect mothers and children.

But her intervention in the Isa family demonstrates something particularly important about community mobilisation: its impact can extend far beyond the immediate objectives of a programme.

A volunteer who enters a household to discuss immunisation may discover an entirely different problem requiring attention. A conversation about children's welfare can become an opportunity to challenge exclusion, change attitudes and open doors that have remained closed for generations.

That was precisely what happened with the Isa sisters.

The power of one persistent woman

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Hadiza’s intervention was her ability to persuade a father who had spent much of his life immersed in religious instruction to reconsider his position on the education of his daughters.

Mallam Isa was 70 years old at the time. His decision to enrol the girls was influenced by a growing realisation that education could give his children opportunities he had not enjoyed.

Explaining his change of heart, he said:

“I am 70 years old; I can die at any time. I have realised that my children need to be able to fend for themselves when I am no longer here.”

He also acknowledged the influence of the headteacher of the community school.

“When the school was established some years ago, I gave the headteacher my blessings. He commanded respect, and I was in awe of him. I have realised that the difference between the headteacher and me is an education. I want my girls to be respected. I want them to be independent and self-sufficient when I am no longer here for them.”

It was a significant shift in perspective, and Hadiza’s persistent engagement had helped bring the family to that point.

By speaking with the father and the girls’ mothers, listening to their concerns and patiently explaining the benefits of education, she helped create the conditions for a decision that would transform the girls’ lives.

Six girls, six new possibilities

The benefits of Hadiza’s intervention soon became visible.

For the girls, school meant much more than learning to read and write. It offered exposure to other children, opportunities to make new friends, social interaction and the chance to imagine futures beyond the traditional expectations that had previously shaped their lives.

The youngest girls, Aisha and Fatima, also benefited from the school feeding programme funded by the Federal and State Governments.

Their school provided additional support, including learning materials, textbooks in the local Kanuri language, teacher training and improved access to water through a solar-powered borehole.

For 12-year-old Asmau, the future was already beginning to look different. Although she had not yet decided which profession she wanted to pursue, she had developed a clear ambition: to support her parents.

Their father, too, was beginning to appreciate the wider benefits of his decision.

“I can see the difference already. They told me that they are now friends with children from other tribes. That in itself is an education,” Mallam Isa said.

The transformation was not lost on the school authorities. Idris Yusuf, the school’s assistant headteacher, disclosed that 36 out-of-school children had enrolled in the school, 28 of them girls.

The implications of such interventions extend far beyond individual families.

According to Phuong T. Nguyen, UNICEF’s Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, educating girls benefits families, communities and entire nations.

“Nations and families benefit when girls enrol in school, stay in school and complete their education,” she said.

“Girls’ education brings so many benefits – it deters early marriage and empowers families, because girls earn a higher income with each year of additional education. Also, children born to educated women are healthier and less likely to be malnourished.”

For the six Isa sisters, these benefits represent opportunities that might otherwise have remained beyond their reach.

A heroine who refuses to give up

For Hadiza, getting the six girls into school was more than another successful assignment. It was a personal victory and a powerful motivation to continue advocating for children’s rights and girls’ education.

Her commitment is perhaps best captured in her own words:

“Education is important. We are in the age of knowledge. I will not relent in advocating for the enrolment of girls in school, even if it takes 10 years. When you educate one girl, it is equal to educating 100 children.”

It is a declaration that says much about the woman and the philosophy that drives her work.

Hadiza understands that changing lives is not always immediate. Some families require repeated engagement. Some attitudes are deeply entrenched. Some communities have endured so much disruption that persuading parents to prioritise education can be an uphill struggle.

Yet she remains committed to the cause.

Her story is a reminder that heroism does not always announce itself through dramatic acts or make headlines. Sometimes, it is found in the quiet determination of a woman who refuses to walk past six girls whose futures are being limited by circumstances beyond their control.

Sometimes, it is found in the patience to return to the same household, have the same difficult conversation and continue believing that change is possible.

And sometimes, the measure of one person’s contribution to humanity is found in six little girls walking to school for the first time.

For Hauwa, Binta, Asmau, Amina, Aisha and Fatima, that journey began with Hadiza Aliu.

Their future may hold countless possibilities, but one thing is certain: a woman who believed they deserved an education helped open the door.

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