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| Chibok Girls |
Nigerians should be hopeful the girls would be united with their families
When 276 girls were abducted on the night of April 14, 2014, from
Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, nobody imagined that
they would still be missing more than one year after. But reality has
dawned today not only for their grieving parents but indeed for all
Nigerians: 500 days on, we still don’t have any clue as to where the
girls are and how many of them are still alive. Even the 57 (of the
girls) who found their way back to safety in the weeks following their
abduction are still struggling to come to terms with the realities of
having to adjust to living as 'normal' a life as is possible, after such
a traumatic ordeal. One can then imagine the fate of those still in
captivity.
However, with the new resolve by the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration to end the insurgency within the shortest possible time frame, Nigerians continue to hope that all the girls will be brought
home, sooner than later.
For sure, the military has been re-invigorated and motivated with new
leadership and the requisite equipment to tame the fighting capacity of
the insurgents. Targeted bombings within the dreaded Sambisa forest,
where the insurgents are said to be hiding in various bunkers, have
begun in earnest. Rumors abound about some discreet negotiations being
held towards safely rescuing the girls. With the goodwill and confidence
that the new dispensation enjoys in this renewed war, it is sincerely
hoped that they are well founded. But the tragedy goes beyond the fate
of the Chibok girls.
From recent accounts, almost 2,000 unnamed citizens of our country have
been held captive by the terrorists. To all intents and purposes these
persons were 'invisible', never having been reported as missing in any
official records or capacity. They were kidnapped individually or in
relatively smaller batches, over the period of three years that the
insurgents were ravaging the communities in the North East. Had they
never been found, therefore, hardly anyone would have known that such
staggering numbers were in captivity.
Indeed, the heinous incident at Chibok only appears to have raised
national and international alarm because of the sheer number of young
girls that were carted away in one fell swoop, and from a space everyone
presumed to be safe: their school premises. One step that must be
taken, therefore, is for the federal, state and local governments to
open a Missing Persons' Register and Bureau, if only to enable the
tracking of our more vulnerable citizens, thereby assuring of their
welfare and well being.
As we set about treating and rehabilitating our traumatized, vulnerable
and homeless fellow citizens, we must institute clear mechanisms for
synergising the efforts, as well as monitoring and evaluating the
implementation of the projects and program-mes of the sundry bodies
established for reconstructing lives and communities. These initiatives
include those being handled by the Office of the Commissioner for
Refugees, the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency, the Presidential
Initiative for the North East, the Victims Support Fund, the Safe
Schools Initiative and the Countering Violent Initiative in the Office
of the National Security Adviser.
On a day such as this, it is important that all well-meaning people of
the world, who simply find it unimaginable that young girls should
remain in the custody of terrorists for such a long period of time,
continue to support efforts and initiatives aimed at ensuring the swift
and safe return of the Chibok girls. We are aware that a series of
activities have been slated in Nigeria as well as around the world to
remind everyone about the Chibok girls but those efforts should go
beyond mere symbolism.
Finally, we cannot but commend the leadership of #BringBackOurGirls
(BBOG) for keeping the issue on the front-burner all these days and
weeks. By their sacrifice, the Chibok girls have come to symbolize all
the other individuals, known and unknown, who have been abducted and
kept against their will, by the Boko-Haram insurgents. For the sake of
our humanity, we must find closure on this issue of the abducted Chibok
girls, otherwise we will remain tormented by the failure to stand by our
most vulnerable when they needed us the most.
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