Chibok: A nation’s pain

Hannatu: I keep thinking it’s a bad dream and I will wake up and find that its not real. Here in London, there was a protest on the abducted Chibok girls.Rakiya: Our network of Women for Peace and Justice has been asking questions and mobilizing citizens to protest and demand answers. Since April 14 2014 […]

Hannatu: I keep thinking it’s a bad dream and I will wake up and find that its not real. Here in London, there was a protest on the abducted Chibok girls.
Rakiya: Our network of Women for Peace and Justice has been asking questions and mobilizing citizens to protest and demand answers. Since April 14 2014 when over 200 young female students from the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State were abducted by heavily armed men, citizens have been protesting nationwide.
Yagana: It did not begin with Chibok. We recall the possible abduction of 24 girls at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, on the 25th of February 2014, where 59 boys between the ages of 11- 18 were also murdered in cold blood.
Nike: We note with concern the poor handling of information about the exact number of girls who are still missing and the fact that as yet, no one has claimed responsibility for the abduction of these girls.
Rakiya: Some of the questions we are asking are: Why did government fail to beef up security around our children in schools in the north-east even after the devastation and pain of the 59 innocent children murdered in FGC BuniYadi, on February 25th   2014?
Hannatu: When institutions get warnings from the terrorists e.g., the warning after Buni Yadi that girls would be targeted or that Giwa Baracks in Maiduguri would be attacked, why did security agents fail to beef up security in such places?
Gini: It is amazing but how is it possible in the age of drones and Google Maps and aerial shots that over 200 girls will vanish without a trace? How is it possible that in places where there is a state of emergency, four trucks and numerous motor bikes can move around in a convoy – undetected by the military – into the school at Chibok and then out of the school with the defenceless girls to an unknown location?
When will the Federal Government accept offers of assistance being made by friendly governments?
Nike: Is someone profiting from this insurgency? Why are Nigerians not safer than they were a few years ago, despite the massive increase in federal military spending – N922 billion in 2012, N1 trillion in 2013 & N845 billion in 2014 –? Why despite these huge amounts do we keep hearing that our heroic soldiers are under equipped and under prepared to face the terrorists?
Rakiya: What is being done about our porous borders that allow for free flow of arms and indiscriminate entry and exit into the country  thereby encouraging all manner of criminal activity? Should the complicit attitude of our neighbouring countries specifically, Chad, Niger and Cameroon that overlook these activities continue to be ignored?
Gini: Why is there more focus on communication about the security of delegates to the upcoming World Economic Forum Africa in Abuja than communicating with Nigerian citizens on their security?
Hannatu: What we have done is to organize protest march in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Port Harcourt
We recognize that what we are dealing with in Nigeria is complex and has evolved over decades. We speak out, however, because the lives of our children are at stake.
The longer it takes to rescue our girls, the greater the dangers they are exposed to.
Nike: As mothers, fathers and siblings we call for the urgent and complete end to the politicization of the insecurity in Nigeria and for the security agencies to secure the lives of our most vulnerable and most precious resource: our children.
Isa: The collaboration on this tragedy is commendable. There have been protests in London and New York and among citizens from all walks of life. The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) joined in the call for action on the abducted girls. CISLAC observed and sadly too that unless violence or attack occurs within Abuja vicinity, the response from the federal government is always minimal and ineffective. It identified the Federal Ministry of Education, as a major stakeholder which should be championing the release of the abducted students and providing necessary moral support for the school and parents concerned However it has so far showed no appreciative intervention.
Yagana: I read the CISLAC press release which observed that despite the existing state of emergency in Borno State, large numbers of students were abducted by insurgents to an unknown location without intervention from security personnel. To add salt to injury, while the parents of the abducted students groan in pain; political elites are making callous and unguarded utterances that will only worsen the situation.
Nike: We cannot adequately tackle the insurgency if corrupt practices at the nation’s borders continue. This has made it difficult to check movement of illegal arms and ammunition and lately, human trafficking by the insurgents.
Hannatu:  The states ravaged by the insurgency are groaning in pain, pauperized and traumatised. It is disturbing that the families and communities that were affected by the insurgency have not been adequately compensated, rehabilitated nor reintegrated into their communities.
Isa: CISLAC made useful recommendations to ease the problem. First it called for prompt and sincere effort by the Federal government to rescue the abducted students and reunite them with their families.
Yagana: It also urged the Federal Ministry of Education to collaborate with state governments and traditional institutions both within the affected states and neighbouring communities to map out workable strategies to rescue the students.
 Rakiya: There was also a call for effective collaboration with neighbouring nations to help strengthen the existing search and assist the rescue teams as they may need to extend their search to neighbouring countries. The operation will require synergy.
 Hannatu: The level of poverty in the states affected by the insurgency requires sincere and concerted efforts to compensate, reintegrate and rehabilitate the victims of the current and previous attacks.
Rakiya: Given the concerns about politicization of the insurgency CISLAC called on all well-meaning Nigerians to unit and promote national integrity and disapprove dirty politics and all efforts to promote violence in any region in the country.
It also urged political elites to refrain from making statements that could only add to the trauma experienced by the victims’ parents, jeopardize or threaten the peace and security of the citizens and country.
Nike: I am happy with the recommendation made for adequate security to safeguard the nations’ borders and to address corrupt practices in the border management. However when the chips are down security is not the sole responsibility of security agencies but every body’s business.