Over the years, the movement for women’s empowerment has grown stronger, breaking down walls that once silenced the voices of young girls. From grassroots campaigns in local communities to global initiatives, more platforms are giving women and girls the tools, resources, and confidence they need to take their place in society.

These efforts are not just about education; they are about creating opportunities, opening doors, and ensuring that every girl knows that her voice matters and her dreams are valid.

At the heart of this change in Nigeria is Nabila Aguele. With a career that began in law and evolved into governance, policy, and now leadership, she has leveraged every stage of her journey to create a lasting impact. Today, as the Chief Executive, Nigeria at the Malala Fund, she is driving strategies that break barriers for girls’ education and push for gender equality. Through her intentional work, from policy advocacy to community-focused initiatives, Nabila is helping build a future where every girl can learn, lead, and thrive. Her passion for change and her ability to turn vision into action have made her a force in the fight for inclusivity and opportunity.

In this interview with THEWILL DOWNTOWN’s Dorcas Akintoye, Nabila Aguele discusses her inspiring journey, the power of advocacy, and her mission to create lasting change for girls across Nigeria. She opens up about her work with the Malala Fund, the challenges and opportunities in advancing girls’ education, and why empowering the next generation of women is the key to transforming society.

You’ve had a diverse career, starting in law, moving into governance and policy, and now leading the Malala Fund in Nigeria. What moments or decisions shaped these transitions, and what has kept you grounded through these changes?

I would say that for each transition, the decisions were really rooted from active reflection on where I was, internal pulse check around, did I feel like the work that I was doing really was helping me develop the skills that I needed to have impact and really show up in ways that I now. So, for example, I see each in my career rather than sort of a career pivot, but a season in an overall journey. And in each moment, I’ve been able to carry forward all that I’ve learned—the connections, the skills learned, and I’ve been able to apply those skill sets in new ways in each season. My first pivot actually, or my first transition, I would say, was actually from science to law. So my undergraduate degree and my focus at the time was around the biological science BSc in human biology and informally pre-med. And as I went through that experience, it just became very clear to me that I was drawn more so to social and ethical at the time, I didn’t know what to call it, but I guess in hindsight, it’s development, it’s impact, it’s policy, it’s how regulatory systems drive change for people. And so at that time, I transitioned out of the sciences and decided to go to law instead. And once I entered the legal space, again, for me, it was about actively learning, growing, leaning into things that I enjoyed while being somewhat strategic, but more so looking for opportunities that felt aligned.

And, you know, following my graduation, I pursued patent litigation and ultimately was invited back as a law professor at my alma mater, the American University Washington College of Law, where I was able to teach upper level law students and also co-run the intellectual property law clinic, which is part of the school’s network of highly ranked internal nonprofit law firms, basically, where students represent real clients in cases and in initiatives that drive change. So I kind of found myself in that role very serendipitously. I didn’t actively pursue it. I would say the roles I actively pursued were my initial roles out of law school. But this opportunity came to me organically out of work that I had been doing. And, you know, as I was getting ready to be considered for full-time opportunities as a law professor, because I was doing this practitioner and residency fellowship, I just couldn’t shake this pull, this nudge to really be leaning into issues around Africa, Nigeria. And it also became clear to me at the time that my interest in terms of how I showed up professionally extended beyond core law practice or law teaching. So, I had to make a really difficult decision around would I stay on this path that was more or less guaranteed for me, and a path that I had realised much earlier in my career than I would have thought. I mean, at that point, I was in my early 30s or would I sort of leave it and, maybe try a new path with risk, etc, attached. And I ultimately decided that, if I’m going to have to go on the teaching market anyway, for positions, I may as well be brave and be bold, and try the things that so many people at the time were telling me, maybe this isn’t the best time for this, you should focus, you should lean in.

So your academic career, why would you give this up so many people aspire to this. At that stage, that was sort of the biggest of the transitions, I would say, because at that point, I had built a career already, I’d been in law practice and teaching combined for about eight years. But I just couldn’t shake this feeling that if I stayed on this path, and I became more focused in patent litigation and in academia, I would miss an important opportunity to explore this question about what it felt like to have a professional career that matched my personal experience of being a global citizen, of being someone who for whom human impact and social issues were central to the work that they do and somebody who drove change at the intersection of different disciplines and sectors, rather than being sort of a core sector specialist. So that sort of self-reflection and consultation process took several years. It wasn’t like an overnight thing. And it ultimately led me to apply to business school as a pathway to move home.

Anyone who’s done career transitions knows that the act of transitioning is grounding in and of itself. It’s very humbling. People will ask you, “Are you okay?” “Are you sure?” “Why would you throw away, everything that you’ve done to rebuild from scratch?”, “There’s so much uncertainty”, etc. But I think for me, what has kept me grounded is really that consultative and that active reflective process to really make sure I’m transitioning for the right reason. I think also what keeps me grounded is recognising that inasmuch as there isn’t certainty around where the transition will lead you. For example, when I went to business school, I did not know at the time that I would definitely become a special advisor in the federal government, I thought maybe I would transition into the private sector in Nigeria, and had sort of begun prepping with that in mind. But over the course of the experience, and the year I spent subsequently, it was very clear to me that that was not where I fit. And that an opportunity advising in government would really allow me to show up in that sort of intersectional integrated way that I really wanted to. So, I think for me, it’s about sort of being open to shifts as the journey unfolds, being open to changing your mind or shifting your assumptions about where you should be and why you should be doing it. And being highly consultative, but then always checking in with sort of what my goals are and my objectives, because people give advice, but everyone’s advice is based on their own perspective.

So many were like, why would you come to Nigeria and not practice law, you should come and you should go to law school, that should be where you focus. And I knew that for me, that was not the right path, even though it was the most obvious choice. And I chose instead to get an MBA and to not practice law in Nigeria, because I realised that for me, impact was more of what I craved rather than sort of continuing a career in law practice.

As Chief Executive, Nigeria at the Malala Fund, what does a typical day look like for you, and what aspects of your role excite you the most?

There is no typical day. And honestly, I love that variety. I’m somebody who really thrives in work that is dynamic and multifaceted and allows me to show up both internally and externally. As you may know, I’m the Chief Executive in Nigeria. My core mandate is driving and leading our overall country framework, which includes grant-making.

So, we grant-make to local organisations. And I also lead a team that does advocacy with policymakers and community stakeholders and nonpolicy stakeholders in furtherance of our ultimate goal, which is to ensure that girls are able to access and complete secondary school. With that in mind, some days, we are engaging with policymakers, whether it’s at the federal level or at the state level. Other days, for example, we are engaging with traditional rulers. In June, our co-founder Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala’s dad led a delegation of us to meet with his eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, to talk about his role as a champion around girls’ education, and to discuss how we could collaborate towards advancing male allyship and furtherance of girls’ education.

Other days, you know, I’m looking internally, I’m working with the team to build out our focus, our advocacy focus areas, doing desk research.

Some days I’m speaking at events or engaging with broader ecosystem players. And then also, collaborating with peers and sector partners and organisations, both nationally and globally to drive change. Because we believe very deeply in the power and the necessity of collective action. I think what excites me the most is the time that we spend working and supporting our education champion network. That’s what we call our grantee partners, not only in Nigeria, but across the world. And for me, it just really speaks to the dynamism of our CSO, nonprofit and social enterprise organisations in Nigeria, most of which are led by young people. And we have a great and growing portfolio of young women-led organisations that are driving change in the education sector. So, for me, any time I get to spend with them, learning about the work that they’re doing, thinking about with our team, how we can amplify our shared advocacy goals and watching them in action. For me, that’s really powerful. Also, for us, the voice of girls is critical. So, for example, last year, we organised an event for International Day of the Girl that was centred around the powerful voice of girls to speak about what their needs are with respect to education and what their challenges are. And what was so powerful about that event was that they were at the centre. They led most of the programming with stories, with calls to action, as panelists speaking alongside established, much more senior colleagues from government and development partners. And just to see and experience the power of their voice and conviction, I can never get tired of that.

And for me, being able to demonstrate and to remind people that our young girls have a voice and have a clear vision for themselves. They do want to go to school and they know what their needs are. And also our CSOs, our nonprofits are expert innovators and advocates around these issues. For me, that’s especially exciting. And just to give you an example, you know, in Adamawa State, for example, one of our partners, which is called CATAI. CATAI stands for Center for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability. They worked with the state government in Adamawa to develop the state’s first-ever education policy, which was gender responsive and had specific provisions around girls’ education. And it really speaks to the power of what happens when local organisations are funded and empowered to drive policy change.

The Malala Fund is known for its impactful advocacy for girls’ education. What unique challenges and opportunities do you see in implementing this mission in Nigeria?

So I think in terms of challenges, the main challenge, and we know this, is the scale of the problem.

First of all, the scale of the general out-of-school problem, but also the specific scale of numbers for out-of-school girls. So, for example, according to the most recent data, Nigeria as at the basic education level, so we’re talking primary to junior secondary, 7.6 million girls are out of school. We know that approximately only 9% of the girls from lower-income families are able to reach secondary school compared to 81% of those from higher-income, richer families. And we know that in Nigeria, multidimensional poverty and poverty broadly is a huge issue. There are so many barriers to education that include insecurity, poverty, norms, social norms that keep girls out of school. There are systematic barriers, including chronic underfunding in the education sector and in human capital more broadly. And even where there is money, that money is not spent efficiently. And it is not planned for in a way that is community and girl-centered. So, our planning systems lack gender responsiveness. There’s been some progress, right, both at federal and state, but by and large, there continues to be poor alignment between the outcomes that we want to see and the ways in which education sector plans are put together and executed. Child marriage and adolescent pregnancy continue to be a huge problem in Nigeria.

And it’s why we at Malala Fund are focusing on the right to education for girls impacted by child marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

Overall, nationally, over 30% of girls are married under 18. In the Northeast and the Northwest, that jumps to over 50%, with some states having child marriage numbers under the age of 18 being above 70%. This is according to the most recent NICS report conducted by NBS and UNICEF. So, these barriers, the lack of a coordinated, sustainable system, policy system, and the lack of really robust, holistic policies that are implemented efficiently and that speak to the needs and the voices of girls is a huge issue. Even with that, the opportunities are big as well. I mentioned earlier our young and dynamic civil society and nonprofit ecosystem. Increasingly, young women-led organisations as well. These organisations are driving innovation particularly at the state level. Many of them are supporting international organisations, multilaterals, with implementing and advocacy at the state level, even for some of our larger funded initiatives. And at Malala Fund, our sole model is to fund, partner, and advocate alongside these members of this dynamic civil society that includes organisations that are driving for increased education funding and better quality spend, as well as pushing for the right to access and complete secondary school for girls. And they’re doing this by engaging policymakers as well as community stakeholders and non-policy makers. Another opportunity is the resilience and clarity that our girls have across Nigeria. We need to listen more. We need to resource young women who are looking to start organisations to address their right to education. And we need to scale their voices, give them a seat at the table, and ensure that policymakers are listening and reflecting their needs and their expertise in whatever policy interventions we need to make. The last thing I’ll say about opportunity in terms of adolescent girls’ education specifically is that there is a fundamental right to education, which is what we’re pushing for. And that right should be preserved and addressed, irrespective of a girl’s status, right? But even beyond that, there is an economic and a development incentive to educate girls through senior secondary. Girls who are educated are better empowered financially and otherwise. They are better positioned to support and drive household income, and enter the labour market. And essentially, if your mother is not educated, you are less likely. In many places, you are unlikely to even go to school. So in order to stop the vicious cycle of out-of-school across the country, we need to address this particular set of girls and the gains, both economic from a health perspective, and from a financial inclusion perspective, are essential. And we need to pay attention to this, particularly in this moment in Nigeria, where, you know, the food crisis and the cost of living crisis is high despite recent economic reforms, and multidimensional poverty continues to be a huge issue. So there’s a huge opportunity in educating our girls, both for them and for our broader communities and for the country as a whole.

Beyond education, where do you believe investments in women and girls could create the most transformative changes in Nigerian society?

I think we need to continue to better share and underscore the reality that investments in education count towards investments in other areas as well. I think there’s a tendency to view these investments as separate priorities, almost competing priorities at times. So you’ll hear people say sometimes, we need to invest in health. Health is where we need to focus.

We need to invest in financial inclusion. That’s where we’re putting our money. So I’ll start by saying that investing in the education of adolescent girls, ensuring that they are able to finish education through senior secondary and making that a policy priority and ensuring that it has the highest leadership and political will at federal and state levels is by default integral to investing in women and girls. It’s why if you look at the Nigerian national policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment, education and skills building is a core pillar across a multisectoral set of pillars to drive economic empowerment with adolescent girls’ education being specifically called out. So I think, having that integrated approach for me is absolutely necessary. But with that in mind, investing in women’s and girls’ economic empowerment and looking at those investments as a holistic suite of investments that capture both investments in health, better health outcomes, investments in better financial inclusion, investments in digital literacy, and investments in moving women and girls up the value chain in sectors where they are the majority. So, for example, in the agriculture sector, we know the majority of people in that sector are women.

However, if you examine the sector, the majority are still at the lower end of the value chain. They are not empowered, and there are no structures and processes for them to move up. So being really intentional about where women and girls sit within sector value chains, specifically value chains where they are the majority, especially, I think, is really important.

I’ve mentioned financial inclusion. I think also, all of these things create better transformative change in Nigerian society because it has been demonstrated that these investments, whether it’s in women’s leadership, ensuring more women have a seat at the table, whether it’s investments in financial inclusion, health, et cetera, there are gains to be met not only for the women and the girls themselves, but for their families, their communities and for broader society. So I think understanding that it’s important to do this work because we cannot and should not leave our women and girls behind. And we candidly cannot afford it at this stage in Nigerian history. But I think also recognising that without these investments and if you look at countries, whether it’s in Africa or globally, those countries that are investing in human capital and are especially investing in women, girls and youth are the ones seeing sustainable gains in terms of development and economic outcomes and inclusive growth that is sustainable and country-driven.

So for me, it is a necessary aspect of a robust approach to transforming transformation across our society.

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