Seven years have passed since more than 276 schoolgirls aged between 12 and 17 were abducted by the murderous Islamist sect, Boko Haram on April 14, 2014. Although most escaped or were later released, some 112 girls remain in captivity. Seven years since Chibok, there has been no accountability for crimes against children by Boko Haram; over 600 schools have been closed for fear of abductions and the federal government has failed to protect children and schools despite several abductions. Further mass kidnappings have seen hundreds of school children killed, raped, forced into “marriages” or conscripted into Boko Haram. Having advertised its gross incapacitation, having demonstrated in word and deed its cluelessness over the whereabouts of the abducted girls, the government, despite repeated promises to rescue the kidnapped girls has been at a loss over their location and condition. The world has looked away, but the torment continues, especially for the families. Global awareness cannot, in itself, free the girls but it certainly can and should help. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign should be relaunched, and the tragedy of these girls must never be forgotten, even as international attention has moved on; nor should any effort be spared to rescue and bring them back home to their parents.
On the 7th anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok girls, the Presidency once again reassured parents and concerned citizens that the missing girls remain constantly on the minds of the government as they are always on the minds of their parents. Garba Shehu, the President’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, who gave the reassurance in a statement, also said the “release of the remaining Chibok girls is still work in progress. No one is giving up hope here. Efforts to secure their release through various channels and activities of the security and intelligence agencies remain on course.” According to Shehu, the recent decisive push by the military against the terrorists gives hope that a breakthrough is possible and can happen anytime soon. Shehu asked for support, understanding and prayers for the military as they discharge their historic mandate to quickly finish off the insurgency war and free all citizens held hostage.
But over 20 parents of the abducted girls have reportedly died from health complications induced by the protracted wait for the return of their children. A strategic team member of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) coalition, Allen Manasseh, told Arise TV that over 20 parents of the remaining 112 missing girls have died from blood pressure-related complications. Manasseh accused the government of doing next to nothing to address the concerns of the parents, saying the inaction of the federal government was a painful reminder that the administration did not value their lives. Also, the Chibok community under the Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA) lamented the missing 112 school girls, noting that their rescue was no longer a priority for the Buhari administration. The community reminded Buhari of his inaugural promise in May 2015 that: “We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.”
Six years later, that promise, like most Buhari promises remains a luxurious desire. Notwithstanding, the missing Chibok girls are Nigeria’s daughters, their continued disappearance and unknown circumstances mirror the possibility of any Nigerian child being in that situation. Therefore, the painful suspense of their condition should worry all; their unexplainable absence should trouble all, and the pain and unimaginable sorrow of their parents and family should feel all Nigerians with anguish. That President Buhari, like his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, remains clueless about their whereabouts should frighten all. This slow, tacky and inept response of the government can be viewed as deliberate; is the government genuinely interested in the plight of the girls and their parents? Are Nigerian leaders so emotionally disconnected from the predicament of ordinary Nigerians? How would the President, Vice President, Senate President, any governor or minister react if their daughters were so abducted? All Nigerians, especially anyone with a female child, should pause for a while, take a deep breath, and imagine how it might feel to have one’s daughter abducted and held for more than 2,549 days and counting. Imagine how parents and relations of these girls have been feeling in each of these days. Certainly, the mental torture of not knowing the fate of one’s daughter in the hands of terrorists is far worse than losing a child.
There is no doubt that the inaction of the government, as observed in its obvious incapacitation, its lack of diligence, and seeming disregard for the plight of the Chibok girls and people outside the corridors of power, was responsible for the viral worldwide reaction to the abducted girls. Nothing would have happened but for the voices of Nigerian women and other influential women leaders around the world who triggered a groundswell of international reaction and a global social media campaign under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls that consistently and tenaciously shamed the scandalous inattention and feeble government response and mobilized the world to appreciate the gravity of the tragedy. The Chibok girls should haunt every Nigerian who is a historical witness to this assault on young girls. Every abducted girl in Nigeria should be an open sore on the memories of the ruling elite in such a way that, in their own living children and grandchildren, they would see a potential Chibok girl.
Tens of thousands of children in Nigeria are missing out on their education because of the authorities’ ongoing failure to protect schools, particularly in northern Nigeria, from attacks by insurgents and other armed groups, according to the global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International. No one has been arrested or prosecuted for the abductions of schoolchildren from Chibok and other locations. The lack of justice and accountability has led to an escalation of attacks on schools, forcing school closures and left parents in despair. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 10.5 million children between the age of 5 and 14 are out of school in Nigeria. Following the shutdown of schools across northern Nigeria, there has been a rise in reported cases of child marriages and early pregnancies of school-age girls. The federal government must provide adequate security to schools to ensure that children and teachers are safe.
In 2018, Amnesty International revealed that Nigerian security forces had failed to act on warnings that Boko Haram fighters were heading towards Dapchi town in Yobe state, where they later abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College. AI has documented at least five more abductions of schoolchildren between December 2020 and March 2021. The frequency of these attacks shows just how unsafe schools have become, while the lack of justice has only emboldened the kidnappers, leading to many more abductions since Chibok; and prompting state governments in Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Jigawa and Katsina to close down schools, contributing to the huge number of children that are out of school in Nigeria. The UN currently puts the figure at 10.5 million.
“Attacks against schoolchildren, teachers and school buildings show a callous disregard for the right to life and the right to education by both the bandits and insurgents on one hand and the Nigerian authorities who have failed to end these horrifying attacks, on the other. The Nigerian authorities risk a lost generation, due to their failure to provide safe schools for children in a region already devastated by Boko Haram atrocities,” AI noted in a statement. The tragedy of the missing girls of Chibok must not be forgotten, and must be seen as one part of an ongoing and wider catastrophe, to which there is still no end in sight. Their continuous ordeal is not only an insult and embarrassment to Nigeria’s international image, but an assault on humanity’s collective decency. If there is any hope of ending this horrendous spiral of violence, there should be no rest for the government until the girls are found. Like all humanity, we cry from the heart: Bring Back Our Girls.
