On this Children’s Day, Chibok schoolgirls on my mind

Children are bundle of joy to every family, the future generation of every society and the pride of every nation. The celebration of Children’s Day comes up on the 27th of May every year. I remember when I was a student over 30 years ago, we always look forward to Children’s Day when children from […]

Children are bundle of joy to every family, the future generation of every society and the pride of every nation. The celebration of Children’s Day comes up on the 27th of May every year. I remember when I was a student over 30 years ago, we always look forward to Children’s Day when children from various schools come together and go out to the parade ground for March pass. The students would be dressed in their colourful school uniform holding banners with the name, slogan and logo of their schools. Every government worker will be at the parade ground. The police or Army music band will play music during the march, while the Governor will salute the students. It is a day of celebration that will forever be in my memory, where there is no ethnic, religious or tribal difference because I went to a Catholic school (Queen of the Apostles, Kakuri Kaduna).We saw sisterhood in the eyes of each other, we were friends and family, even though I’m a Muslim I never miss the choir session every Saturday with the reverend sister and that never stopped me from observing my five daily prayers. Unfortunately, that spirit of togetherness has been replaced by hatred, tribalism, religious bigotry and ethnic hatred.
The aftermath of the abduction of Chibok girls has today proven that Nigeria can unite and fight a common enemy irrespective of tribe, religion or ethnic affiliation. This has shown that children are a precious gift from God and it is our collective responsibility to ensure we give them the love they deserve, protect them and teach them the importance of moral values, one of which is the bedrock and foundation that parents can give their children is education. It is the pride of every parent to educate their children so that they can be able to shape their life, realize their ambition and aspire to reach their goals in life and finally contribute to the society and humanity at large.
I’m sure the abducted children of Chibok will not be different from the rest of the children in the world; they will also be nursing their own individual ambition as well as planning for their future in different fields to fulfil their dreams. They would also have been busy making preparation and looking forward to the 27th May, 2014, to celebrate their day under normal circumstance. With the insecurity and the State under emergency rule may be the children may not even have any activity in mind but prefer to stay home with their family and help with the house chores. Unfortunately these children are in captivity, all these activities I’m talking about will not be enjoyed by the Chibok girls because they have lost the freedom to enjoy the day. It will be exactly 43 days today since these innocent children have been made prisoners in their own country by their captors for no fault or crime. I pray the temporary loss of freedom will not impact negatively and discourage the girls to pursue their dreams and aspirations in life. We need to keep hopes alive and continue to give our girls the love, guidance and encouragement, let them know that the world value and cherish them and above all has been campaigning and praying for their release. It is our wish and prayers that you will regain your freedom so that you can go back to school and continue your studies and aspire for greater heights.
To the government of our dear country we are still appealing to the president he should not just double his effort but quadruple it to ensure the rescue mission is concluded within the shortest time to enable the girls unite with their parents and celebrate the Children’s Day like any other child. Please #BringBackOurGirls.
And to the international community, we are most appreciative of your concern and the sacrifice your troops made by leaving the comfort of their families and coming to foreign land to help out in the rescue mission. This also is another one that will remain in our memories.  

Baba is of Global Initiative for Women & Children, Kaduna